"These Patterns Enclosed" (Australian Home Journal, January 1952)

 The Australian Home Journal's free patterns for January were for three summer "frocks".  The magazine gives instructions for making them up, but no suggestions for materials—and come to think of it, no sizes, either.  However, most of the patterns given away in other issues of the Australian Home Journal were sized for a 36 inch bust, and the cover illustration would indicate that printed cottons would be the most likely fabric to be used.

Cool Cottons.
Summer cottons, streamlined for sports, cool for casual wear and becomingly attractive when you feel like dressing up, lend themselves to unlimited variety of designs.  With florals, stripes or plain grounds, they are equally attractive for all ages...

Duffel Coat and Waistcoat (Woman and Beauty, October 1951)

 Get out your drafting pencils and sewing machines! This one is for my readers who enjoy making up vintage patterns.

Both this smart duffel coat and they dandyish waistcoat are ideal for autumn.  Both are easily copied from the diagrams and both are in three main pattern pieces.

The duffel has elastic through the waist and draft-proof sleeves.  It an also be made without the hood and worn with a scarf.  The cross-over waistcoat turns a skirt into a delightful outfit.  It opens flat and straps from the fronts button over to fasten at the back.

Concerning Coats V (1950s)

 The 1950s was a fairly conservative decade, and overcoats, being an expensive wardrobe investment, tended to be fairly conservative too.  Except for a few minor details, such as buttons and trimmings, coat styles mainly stayed unchanged through the decade.

There were three main coat shapes in the 1950s: fitted, flared and straight. 

Wakes, Winter 1950

CORDED BACK "FASHION AWARD" DRESS COAT in pure wool gabardine  A superbly styled dress coat with divinely slender, perfectly balanced lines achieved by expert tailoring and craftmanship.  Double breasted princess front with new high buttoning rolled collar and two bound "button-hole" pockets.

Can Can Skirt (Flair, April 1958)

 A lot of magazines published sewing patterns for garments that their readers could make at home, but this issue of Flair included instructions for making a circle skirt without a pattern.

The instructions are fairly simple. A modern dressmaker's main problem would be finding a suitable substitute for the fabric recommended in 1958!

On page 24 and 25 we showed you the dual personality skirt made from Comspring's "Can Can" bonded cloth, which is 72" wide.  We made our skirt in a reversible black and marbled grey . . . and incidentally made it in a matter of minutes.  It's easy!  All that has to be done is to buy a piece which is twice the length of your skirt length measurement, plus twelve inches, which is the diameter of the circle you will cut out for your waist.  Then double the fabric lengthwise, and fold in half across the width.  This gives four layers of fabric from which, at the corner that has all the folds of fabric, you cut a quarter circle, by measuring six inches down from the corner and tracing an arc from point to point in tailor's chalk.  Next step is to measure down from the waist arc, the length of your skirt and again cut in an arc.  When the fabric is opened out, there is your skirt in a full circle with the waist opening in the centre (this should measure approximately 37 inches).

To gather in the waist without a placket (necessary if your skirt is to be reversible without a lot of bother with zips and hidden fastenings), buy a length of soft 1" wide elastic (black in our example) which is the same measurement as your waist is.  Then, stretching the elastic as you work, proceed with very loose stitches, to hand-sew the cloth to the elastic.  The stitches must be loose to enable them to expand with the elastic when the skirt is pulled on and off.  So there is your skirt — made with a minimum of cutting, a minimum of sewing, and no seams or hems to bother with.  Wonderful!

"Our Cover Girl Wears" (Vanity Fair, May 1955)

 Vanity Fair featured a simple dress by "Polly Peck" on the cover of its May 1955 issue.

OUR COVER GIRL WEARS... the shirt dress of the season, to wear on vacation and after you get back—in hyacinth blue and white striped cotton, satin bowed and belted, its skirt a rush of gathers at the waist, by Polly Peck...

Polly Peck was a ready-to-wear firm established in the 1940s by husband and wife time Raymond and Sybil Zelker.  Sybil did the designing, while Raymond managed the business.  It was one of a number of businesses set-up postwar to supply a growing market for good-quality women's ready-to-wear clothing.

Sadly, Polly Peck was the subject of a takeover in the 1970s.  The new majority shareholders were less interested in fashion than in turning a quick profit, expanded into areas far removed from Polly Peck's core business, and went bankrupt after a major share trading scandal in 1991.

Australia's Lost Department Stores VIII: Boans (Spring-Summer 1958-59)

 Most of the department stores I've discussed so far have been clustered in the big cities of the east coast, but now I'm heading to the city of Perth in the far west of Australia.  Western Australia is separated from the rest of the country by immense stretches of desert and Perth lies over 2,131 kilometres from Adelaide, the nearest capital city.  However the story of Boans is fairly typical for an Australian department store.  It begins in 1895 when Harry Boans arrived in Perth and set up a "grand palace of drapery".

(The cover depicts Boans's new—in 1958—suburban store at Cannington:

Boans Waverley, with its 35,000 square feet of space containing 80 departments, will be open from 8.35 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. on weekdays, and from 8.35 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

Facilities included free parking, a playground, a hairdresser, a subscription library, dry cleaning, shoe repair and a chiropodist!)

Frock and Jacket from Paris (New Idea, March 11 1959)

 

Almost exactly 65 years ago, The New Idea published this pattern for a paired dress and jacket.  Home dressmakers who want to add a touch of fifties glamour to their wardrobe, should have no trouble in following the pattern today.

If you are a working woman or a housewife on a shopping spree, this is just the suit for you to wear to the city.  This outfit is simple in design and the instructions are easy to follow.

You will be perfectly at ease, without that negligent look, in this dress and jacket.  The outfit is quite suitable for this time of year, with its short-sleeved jacket and tuxedo lapels. 

MATERIALS:  2 2/3 yards of 56 inch flannel; 14 in. zip fastener.
CUTTING: Reproduce the pattern on paper marked with four-inch squares.

TO MAKE THE FROCK; Place the pattern on the unfolded material.  Make the bust and back darts.  Join the front and back by the side and shoulder seams.  Try on the frock and make any necessary alterations for the fit.  Join the neck facings by the seams AA and the armhole facings by BB and CC.  Place the facings right side against right side and sew.  Turn the facings inside and hold them in place by hidden stitches.  Make the hem at the bottom and place the zip on the left side from E to E.

TO MAKE THE JACKET: Fold the material in two lengthways and place the centre back on the fold.  Allow extra for seams and hems.  Make the bust darts and join the fronts to the back by the side seams from the armhole to A and by the shoulder seams.  Fold the facings of the side vents back to the inside and hold in place by hidden stitches.  Sew up the sleeve seams and place then with X to the front and B meeting the shoulder seam.  Make the hems at the bottom of the sleeves.  Join the facings by seams C.  Place them right side against right side of the coat.  Turn them inside and hold them in place by hidden stitches.

Just a few strands of pearls and long gloves will transform this dress into a cocktail frock that will be perfect for dinner and a show after a day in the rush and traffic of town.  

"Lastex Swimsuit" (Distinction, Spring-Summer 1957-8)

On the cover of Distinction we have a:

 Strapless lastex swimsuit, shirring at top and shirred pants.

As you can see, it's a fairly structured garment.  Though we aren't given any details, it's clear that a lot of internal scaffolding was needed to hold the swimsuit up and mould the wearer's figure into shape.  Lastex had been introduced in the mid-1930s, but was only just becoming popular for swimwear.  Cotton was another popular material for swimsuits in the 1950s, and nylon was starting to make a splash (first used for swimwear in 1956).

Distinction was a bit of an oddity of a magazine.  Published in Sydney between 1948 and 1972, it set out to describe what was in fashion with few words and lots of pictures.  It carried no feature articles and no advertisements, but sold a few dressmaking patterns through its pages.  Its pictures were largely uncredited (which makes me wonder whether some of them were pirated from other magazines).  While it's a great reference for mid-century fashions, I'm left wondering who was its intended readership.  Perhaps it was aimed at people in the rag trade looking for designs to copy?

Anyway, here is some of the magazine's advice to readers in the Australian Spring and Summer of 1957-58:

Waistlines have moved again; this time to a position 2 or 3 inches above the natural waist, demanding attention by high placed belts, wide cummerbunds, draping and short jackets...

Shorter sleeves will play an important role for warm weather practicality.  Capelet and balloon sleeves vie with the dolman, set-in and unmounted styles for popularity.

Hemlines for street dresses remain approximately the same position, perhaps an inch longer, but certainly no more.

More detail is given to skirts, they look freer and easier, but it really isn't so—they are still basically slim.  This illusion is created with pegged skirts being curved at the hipline but tapered below...

The mood for absolute femininity is expressed in fashion by the use of soft clinging fabrics...

Christmas Countdown (Vanity Fair, July 1953)

 Continuing our Christmas countdown, we take a look at a gala evening dress from 1953.  In some ways the 1950s was a backward-looking decade, with fashions leaning towards old-fashioned formality, femininity and glamour.  However, it was also the first decade to fully make use of modern easy-care synthetics for clothing.  The dress below illustrates this paradox beautifully.  It would not look out of place in Victorian ballroom, but it's made of nylon!

Evening beauty in nylon.  Atrima from Harrods.

Butterick Pattern Book, Spring 1951

The week has rolled round and I find I don't have anything prepared for my latest blog entry.  So instead of panicking, I grabbed an image at random from my collection.  

 5590—In the sprightly and enchanting mood of Spring, the bolero costume... brief, scalloped jacket over a smart, simple dress... 

Jacket is photographed in houndstooth check rayon suiting: the dress and jacket trim in Sanchu tissue faille, both fabrics by Burlington Mills.

Hat by Anne Rellie; Gloves by Wear-Right; Jewelry by Core.

Very neat, very accessorised, very 1950s! 

"Answers to Your Question on Suit Making" (McCall's Style News, April 1953)

 In the early 1950s, women's suits were very fitted and very structured.  This left the average woman who wanted to wear a suit in a bit of a dilemma... buy a ready-to-wear suit in standard sizings (that might or might not fit) or try making her own?  McCall's obviously preferred the latter, and in this issue of McCall's Style News it even offered a few hints on how to make a success of it.

Above: McCALL'S 9248.  The diagonal swing of the jacket closing is something new.  Notch collar, two-piece sleeves, slim skirt.

First was the vexed problem of shoulder pads:

So much is said about natural shoulders.   Should I make my suit jacket without pads?

Definitely no.  Use thin pads.  The new smart shoulder pads are delicate, beautifully shaped and excessively thin.  You need just that amount of padding in the shoulders of your suit.  Don't use any old pads, they are probably all wrong. 

Interfacing was another worry.  It was clear that some dressmakers would prefer to do without it:

Is it necessary to put interfacing into a suit when the material is firm in itself?

Definitely yes.  Especially in the collar, revers and through the shoulders.  Often down the closing.  Your pattern tells you where, and that is expert advice.  Don't make hard work of it.  Hair canvas interfacing is easy to work with—it's a woven material, not stiff or hard and the needle slips through as lightly as through silk.

Wouldn't interfacing make the points of collars and revers bumpy?

No, because you do not carry the interfacing up into the corner.

Keeping everything in place was another problem:

What can I do to keep the waistband of a suit skirt from wrinkling down?

Make a belt of boned belting in the same width as your skirt band is when finished.  Sew hooks and eyes on the ends, and stitch this belting belt to the top edge of your skirt band.

And there in a condensed form you have it—the not-so-simple art of making a woman's suit in 1953.  I suspect less experienced dressmakers would have given up at this point, and turned their attention to making something easier! 

Easy to make... (Elle, 1955)

 

Once again I feel like posting something for the benefit of the dressmakers who read my blog.  The pattern below is from the August 21st 1955 issue of Le Petit Echo de la Mode, and is for an autumn  dress that is "Easy to make, Easy to Wear".

"But Yes, You Have Time..." (Elle, July 23, 1951)

 This one is for my readers who are enjoying a northern summer—a simple pattern for a terry towelling beach coverup.  The instructions are minimal, alas, and the translation my own (with help from the Dictionary and Google!)

Cut, Stitch, Love the Terry

Terry cloth is everywhere, in all bright and cheerful tones ... it washes easily, it does not wrinkle, it has, in short, all the virtues especially the essential: it is furiously fashionable.

The terry tunic.  Two rectangles assembled by the side and shoulder seams, short and straight sleeves, a horizontal neckline bordered by a lapel, two patch pockets, an elastic drawstring at the waist, English seams (so that the fabric does not crumple)...All this is as easy as pie and will make you an ideal bathrobe to wear over a bikini. 
(1 m. 60 by 90 cm)

Front

Back

"Pale, Bulky Frocks" (Wamsutta advertisement, 1956)

Sometimes the most telling details can be gleaned from fiction:

 Thrasher had rolled the single sheet of mimeographed paper into a child’s telescope and was sighting  through it.  Far below his office, clearly limned within the paper circle, he watched the summer visitors moving lazily about Rockefeller Plaza.  The men wore white, yellow, and blue sport shirts without ties.  Many of them wore cameras around their necks.  The women were in pale, bulky frocks, patently different from the dark sleekness of dresses worn by the handful of native New Yorkers.

Gerald Green, The Last Angry Man (1957)

 

Our protagonist, an advertising executive, notices the style differences between native New Yorkers and visiting tourists.  And what better way to illustrate them than with a piece of 1950s advertising?  Some of the female tourists no doubt made their own "pale, bulky frocks", hoping to look as pretty and as feminine as the women in the Wamsutta advertisement above.

"A Dress To Make By Guy Laroche of Paris" (Woman's Journal, January 1958)

 Couture was not for everyone: even in the 1950s only the super-rich could afford one-off, custom-made designer garments.  However, less wealthy women also wanted to wear the latest styles from the salons of London and Paris.  How did they do it without breaking their budgets?  Well, they might have bought mass-produced copies of couture fashions.  The couture houses made a large part of their income by licensing copies, and further down the line there were people selling pirated copies of the copies.  The materials and the workmanship were poorer, but the general style remained.

Alternatively, the would-be fashionista could have made her own version of a couture garment, using an authorised pattern.  In January 1958 Woman's Journal offered its readers the chance to buy one such pattern (Model Pattern 3556) based on a design by Guy Laroche.  The interesting thing is that the magazine printed a photograph of the original dress as well as a photograph of a version made from their pattern.

Below is the original model we bought and photographed in Paris.  A romantic short evening dress—young as a dream—full-skirted and low-backed.  To get the effect of this warp-printed satin, an excellent material to use would be Jacqmar's warp-printed satin-cotton.

 And ... we show our copy of this charming dress made in beautifully plain duchesse satin... The bodice front of the dress continues round the back to form a strap and ties with a large bow at the back of the neck , while the full skirt forms pintucks down the panels , and the seams are double stitched to give a gored effect to the skirt.

POINTS TO NOTE

1. The full skirt is gathered into waist, and pin tucks are stitched on the wrong side to give a gored effect.
2. The bodice front has a round neck line, and is cut with extensions which are joined to the wide tie-ends to make the large bow on the nape of the neck.  The small, cap sleeves are cut in one with the front and completed with two-piece underarm gussets.
3. The back of the bodice is cut into a low V which is partly filled by the bow.  It is fitted with darts and the waist edge of the bodice extends ¾-inch below normal waist line.

Peggy Page Advertisements (1959)

 These ads were originally published as two double page spreads in a 1959 issue of (British) Vanity Fair. Peggy Page could clearly afford to place four colour full-page ads in one issue of a fashion magazine!

The firm had been founded in London in 1933 by Harry Massey, who brought an expert, Sam Krohnberg, from the United States to set up production along American lines.  His most important innovation was introducing American sizing to British ready-to-wear. 

 

 

 These dresses are typical of the youthful fashions popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  Fitted bodices spread out into full skirts reaching a little below the knee.  Nothing is too extreme or exaggerated.

 

 

 Also typical of the late 1950s are the brightly coloured prints.  Flowers are popular, along with stripes and geometric shapes.

Found Online: Winns Catalogues VI (1950s)

 Now for the final installment of our study of Winns catalogues.  The State Library of New South Wales takes us to 1955, just before the advent of rock n' roll.  It's a conservative era, so don't expect any dramatic changes to the fashions.

Autumn and Winter 1950

As if to make up for the scantiness of the war years, all the clothes here use lots of material.  The skirts are long and full, the jackets boxy and full.

So snug and comfy are these finger length Topper Coats of Luxurious All Wool Coatings with brushed wool effect.  An ideal any occasion coat, being equally attractive over your evening frock as with street or sports wear.

A Superior Quality All Wool Fabric is used in this Sweepingly Full Flared Skirt.

Knitted Two-Piece Jumper Suits smartly styled in all wool fancy knitted design of self colours.  The jacket fits snuggly over the hips, the skirt is cut on a flare to give that swing.

My mother recalls being an awkward teenager around this time, and finding the calf-length skirts most unbecoming!

Spring & Summer 1950

This copy of Winns catalogue has been mended, and tape covers part of the text on the front cover.  This is a pity, because the dress on the left is made of a "Wonder Fabric", but the actual name of the fabric is hidden!   A number of new fabrics (trademarked or not) were being touted as "wonder fabrics" in 1950.  Here are a few of them:

• Miltum, a silvery fabric with a metal finish on one side
• Terylene, (an early polyester) just going into production at ICI in Britain
• Celanese, an acetate fabric
• And of course, Nylon, a decade old at this point, but coming into its own as the fabric of choice for making shirts, socks, lingerie, nightdresses and, of course, stockings!

That's leaving aside the natural fibres that were now being treated to make them crease-resistant, flame-retardant, moth-proof and colour-fast. Wonder fabrics indeed!

Autumn & Winter 1951

Winter 1951 sees a full-length coat and a suit feature on the front of Winns catalogue.  

These Smartly Cut Coats are featured in English All Wool Mohair Like fabric.  Generous swing style (note inset of back which is the feature of coat).  Attractively finished with large pockets and novelty button trim.  Fully lined of course.

This Charming Tween Seasons Suit is of Smooth Satin Back Crepe, the collar and pockets of the slimly styled Jacket are cleverly trimmed with embroidered thread, popular gored skirt.

Your Little Girl's Favourite Frock for this winter.  A nice rich Corduroy Velveteen with its lace collar and velvet bows, the pockets are trimmed to match, ties at back.

The coat is very full, but the bodice of the suit follows the wearer's figure closely.  Having watched re-runs of the 1950s Superman TV series in my childhood, I always think of suits like these as "Lois Lane suits"!

Spring & Summer 1951

All Winns' summer dresses for the 1950s are going to conform to this basic pattern: short sleeves, nipped in waist, bouffant skirt, light materials.  The variations for Summer 1951 are:

New, muted brilliance and the crisp feel of fashion in Floral Organdi.  Graceful flared skirt, wide sash, pearl buttons, cap sleeves and collar are effectively scalloped.  The captivating frock for any occasion.

The prettiest frock you can wear this summer, featured in Satin Back Crepe.  The soft falling skirt is gored with an unpressed pleat in front, pockets are lace trimmed matching the yoke, pretty plastic gold buttons and neat roll collar all add to make this a classic for you.

Autumn & Winter 1952

In the upper left hand corner is a "A cosy Winter Frock in the popular Velvet Cord" for a "Winsome Maid".  For the adults:

Popular coats in pinwale Velveteen (finely corded), the all-occasion garment, being ideal for either sports, street or casual wear.  Yoke action back gives ample freedom, finished with belt at back.  

The Very Newest in Ladies' Skirts, now so popular overseas.  They are in a nice All Wool Fabric with diagonal contrasting coloured stripes, cut with twelve gores.

Smartly Cut Casual Coats in All Wool Coating, very popular box style (note inset for the very attractive back treatment).  Beautifully lined throughout, finished with two very large pockets.

Spring & Summer 1952

Summer sees more summer frocks on the cover of Winns catalogue.  The little girl at the top left is described as wearing a "Winnsome" (pun no doubt intended) spot dimity with Swiss embroidery.  Her elders are wearing a "Morocain crepe Frock... with self toned embroidery" and a "Summery Frock ... in a panel stripe and floral British crepe".

Autumn & Winter 1953

An interesting thing to note is that all the garments illustrated on this cover are made of pure wool (as is all the knitwear inside).  By the end of the decade you would expect to see at least a few of the jumpers and cardigans advertised to be made of Orlon or a similar artificial fibre: light, moth-proof and easy to wash!

Lest you get the impression this catalogue is dominated by separates and casual wear, page 3 illustrates (in colour) "dressy" frocks with pearl and bead embroidery, and classic 1950s evening dresses made of taffeta.

Spring & Sumer 1953

The word of the moment is "Everglaze", a new-ish (in 1953) method of treating cottons.  The little girl at the top is wearing a "Winnsome" (that pun again!) dress in checked Everglaze, and the woman on the right is wearing a "gaily coloured floral frock, featured in an imitation linen with new "Everglaze" finish.

Everglaze was:

...the trade name for a scientific process which imparts stiffness, spring, lustre and other permanent properties to cotton materials as well as giving them new surfaces.

The possibilites of these new fabrics in the fashion field are legion.  Suitable for round-the-clock wear, and equally attractive for beach or ballroom, the bring within the range of the budget buyer long-wearing garments with the luxury appearance of those made from more expensive materials.

(Weekly Times, Melbourne, 31st of October 1951)

Autumn & Winter 1954

Autumn and Winter 1954 sees Winns promoting suits and separates.  The little girl wears a double breasted all wool suit.  In the centre a woman models a "superbly tailored Ottoman suit" with a nipped-in waist.  At the right is a model wearing a short coat with "novelty button pockets... a perfect combination with your skirts for casual wear".  The skirt is made of flannel and has sun-ray pleats.

Spring and Summer 1954

The dress in the centre is "styled in the latest Straw Fabric" and is "strikingly different".  Though straw cloth was mainly used in the making of hats, it seems to enjoyed brief popularity as a dress fabric.

However, not all "straw" fabric was actually made of straw.  The Glen Innes Examiner of March the 17th 1954 reported:

One of the new cloths of moderate price which will be in the shops this year will be "straw" fabrics made from cotton yarn in which thick and thin yarns and coarse weave help to capture the appearance of the original straw cloth which is too expensive for the average woman.

It's up to the reader to guess whether the dress on the cover of this catalogue was acutally made in "straw fabric", or whether it was made in a cotton imitation!

Autumn & Winter 1955

The cover of Winns catalogue for Autumn and Winter 1955 is unusual, because it features fashions designed for "the larger figure".  Larger women usually don't appear on the cover of clothing catalogues, unless it's for a firm specialising in selling outsizes!  Perhaps Winns discovered that they had a large number of older women customers in 1955 and wanted to represent that part of their market.

Except in size, these shirtwaist dresses don't differ much from similar fashions for slimmer women on the inside pages of this catalogue.  Perhaps the most interesting thing to note is they're made in darker fabrics with small repeating patterns: an old trick to make the wearer look thinner than she really is!

Spring & Summer 1955

... And finally we come to our last catalogue.  

The figure on the right illustrates how haute couture got translated into inexpensive ready-to-wear.  It is described as "the new H-line, manufactured in Polished Cotton".  The "H-Line", intoduced by Dior in 1954, featured a slightly flattened and raised bust and a dropped waistline.  Here, a year later, Winns is selling a dressed belted at the normal waist, but with a bodice fitting tightly to hips where the skirt flares out.

You'll notice that the larger woman on the left is not wearing an H-Line dress.  This was a silhouette definitely not for the full figured: the Australian Women's Weekly insisted that it was preferably worn by the slender and small-boned!

"With Or Without Pockets" (New Idea, October 17 1956)

 This was a "Gold Seal Pattern" offered in the New Idea issue of October 17 1956 (just send postal note for 3/6 with your order form).  The pattern was available in sizes 14, 16, 18, 20.

A SMART coat-frock style that is suitable for any time of the day.  Make it in a fabric for Spring, or in a Summer material for the warmer days ahead.  This is a must in your wardrobe, as it is so variable.

I've got to say that I find those big pockets on the left-hand model enviable!

Suits VII (Vogue Pattern Book, 1955)

 The skirt suit was as popular as ever in the ladylike 1950s.  In 1955,Vogue Pattern Book devoted fully half of its covers to suits.

February-March 1955

"This spring it's pale tweed (like this butter yellow) for suits (like this tapered box jacket suit).  Noteworth: the collar that rolls away from the neckline, the low-placed belt.  Vogue Pattern S-4573."

August-September 1955

"A twelve-month-of-the-year investment... the good little jersey suit.  Here in a bold herringbone in black and white.  News: the bare neck, the spark of red in the hat and gloves.  Vogue Pattern Number S-4625."

October-November 1955

"Tweed, the seasoned green of an early autumn countryside... a suit as relaxed as a day in the country.  News... the follow-through of polished green leather accessories... the park of sky-blue.  Vogue Pattern No. S-4638."

"New Idea Star Pattern" (New Idea, June 8 1955)

 

New Idea wasn't a fashion magazine.  It was a weekly that offered the standard mix of fiction, recipes and housekeeping advice found in most women's magazines. It also published many knitting and crochet patterns—and each week advertised a few sewing patterns, obtainable by writing to the magazine.

This pattern for a "feminine house dress" is aimed squarely at its main readership: housewives.  The magazine suggested that it be made up in cottons "in gay designs" and it featured a buttoned yoke, ric-rac trim and gathered pouch pockets.  The magazine promised that the wearer would feel like "the queen of the household" in this dress—no doubt while doing her daily chores!