"Checks, Please!" (McCall Fashion Book, Autumn 1941)

 If McCall Fashion Book can be believed, the "must-have" fabrics for coats in 1941 were plaids.  Every coat listed in its Autumn issue was illustrated in a plaid version, often with a caption pointing out how suitable plaids would be for making it up.

To modern eyes, these coats appear decidedly formal.  The writers of 1941 spent a lot of ink telling us how casual they were.  This, more than anything, tells us how standards have changed since then.

Shoulders were inevitably "well-padded", though "rounded"!

CLOTH OR FUR CLOTH
The casual coats all have an excessively casual appearance this season.  The nth degree of casualness.  They are bulky-looking, with wide sleeves, deep armholes, huge pockets.  Like all of them, this coat has the look of slipping easily over anything—dress, jacket or suit.  It has the new smooth shoulder, well padded even though rounded.

"New Ideas in Jumper Costumes" (McCall's Magazine, April 1908)

 I had something more elaborate planned for today, but Real Life™ stepped in.

In American parlance, a "jumper" or a "jumper" dress is the same as a pinafore dress in British or Australian English—that is, a sleeveless dress made to be worn over a longer sleeved blouse or top.

[Left] This lovely gown is made with a blouse waist of white China silk, with a narrow pointed yoke and and a stock collar of Irish lace.  The sleeves are short, reaching just below the elbows, but long sleeves can be used instead if preferred.  Over this blouse is worn a most attractive over-blouse of the skirt material, a soft shade of pink chiffon broadcloth.  This is edged with narrow black velvet ribbon, set off by a line of soutache braid and trimmed with tiny ball buttons.

[Right]  One of the new princess jumper skirts, worn over a waist of allover lace, is illustrated on the colored plate... A fashionable green and white checked woolen was chosen for the jumper skirt, but the pattern is suited to broadcloth, cheviot, serge, Panama, as well of fancy woolens of all sorts... The waist or slip in our model is of allover Renaissance lace, but any variety of lace, China, taffeta or fancy silk, allover embroidery or lingerie can used for its development if desired.

"Romance Returns to the Mode" (McCalls, March 1934)

 Merry Christmas, everyone!  And as we count down the hours to Christmas 2024, let's take a look at the evening fashions of 1934.  As you can see, sophistication was the last word in evening styles—though younger women sometimes chose to wear girlish frills instead.  

Incidentally, the fashion illustrations of the day were even more exaggeratedly distorted than fashion illustrations usually are.  While tall, slender models are favoured in most eras, the legs of these models are so long that you would have to reduce their length by a third to approximate the proportions of an ordinary woman.

No. 7714.  This Véra Boréa will take you to dinner and the dance with a romantically modern demeanor.  The skirt falls smoothly to the floor, outlining the contour of the figure on its way.  The sleeves are fluted; the back cut out appealingly. 

No. 7700.  The neckline swathes the throat discreetly, the sleeves taper subtly to a slim wrist, leaving your audience totally unprepared for the cowl that drops breathlessly in back, the godets that trail into a train.  It's a fashion for gala occasions!

"Soft Frocks, Won Over To The Cause of Inflated Sleeves" (McCall's, June 1935)

 Sometimes I post things because I have something meaningful to say about them.  Sometimes I post things simply because they look good.   Please enjoy this picture of 1930s summer dresses from McCall's.

TAFFETA is all over the place this season.  Here, in the navy chiffon frock, it makes the collar, bow and cuffs.  And of the various taffetas, the dotted ones are the smartest ones.  No. 8291.

SCARFS are as important as ever, and there are several new ways to wear them.  The white dress shows one of them.  You will notice that the sleeves are gathered into the armhole.  No. 8303.

RUFFLES, the kind that it's a toss-up whether to call them ruffles or capes, make pretty necklines.  The ruffled neck of the dotted dress is both high and low, and pleases everyone.  No. 8301.

"Gowns For Daily Use" (McCall's, February 1914)

 The remarkable thing about these "gowns for daily use" is how smart they are—what a contrast to the everyday fashions of 2024!   By 1914 fashion had well and truly left the curvy Edwardian silhouette behind and women were striving for a flattened and more streamlined look.  Skirts tend to be narrow and taper towards the ankles, but note the carefully placed pleats allowing some wearing ease.

NO. 5687, LADIES' DRESS⸺This is an unusually new model, wide tucks being combined with sleeves in semi-raglan fashion.  This frock, made of deep red serge, would make a practical addition to the winter wardrobe.  Revers of red-and-white plaid silk, with a crushed girdle of the same would be very smart.  Long, tassel-finished sash ends would be an attractive feature.

NO. 5699, LADIES' DRESS⸺The simplicity and good style of this frock would make it especially adaptable for business women.  

NO. 5671, LADIES' WAIST⸺Kimono or peasant styles still hold sway.  They are simple in construction and lend themselves to various styles.  The blouse illustrated, developed in heavy lace with tunic of the same, is very striking.  The fullness of the blouse is gathered at the neck, giving an entirely new effect.  The V-shaped neck and surplus waist is especially becoming to slender figures.

NO. 5697, LADIES' ONE- OR TWO-PIECE SKIRT⸺Dame fashion has given her approval to large waists, exaggerated hips and extremely narrow skirts around the ankles.  We have no model that so fully carries out this fashionable outline as this illustration.  The drapery at the sides of this skirt accentuates the outline of the hip.

"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! 

"The Sports Coat is Short and Swagger" (McCall Style News, November 1932)

 

 

 

Inside this little brochure this ensemble is described as : "Ladies' and Misses' Ensemble; coat in three-quarter length... four piece skirt".  It is portrayed on the cover in some kind of tweedy check with contrasting patterned collar and cuffs.  The dress buttons on one side and has a low hip yoke: the coat has patch pockets (trimmed in the same material as the cuffs and collar on the dress). 

Suits II (McCall's Magazine, October 1900)

 As we move into a new century the skirt suit is still going strong.  As ever, it is shaped on fashionable lines, but it is noticeably less ornate than the dresses of the same era.

 

 

 

The figure on the left shows a model wearing a jacket made from McCall's Bazaar Pattern no. 6171 and a skirt from Pattern no. 6169.  The two become a suit by being made up in the same material.  The vest is part of the jacket, and is made of the same material as the insertions in the skirt.

At left we have a Misses' Eton Costume.  Except for the length of her skirts this is very like the suits worn by her adult counterparts.  At centre is "an up-to-date coat and skirt costume", the jacket of which "may be composed of material matching the skirt".  At right is a Ladies' costume made of "pebble cheviot in the new gray and black shade".
 

"It's Smart to Restyle" (McCall Style News, July 1945)

Now for another round of WWII restyling—courtesy, once again, of McCall's Patterns:

"MCCALL 1064—Printed Pattern for Making Over the Tops of Old Dresses...With this new "conservation pattern", turn an old dress into a smart makeover.  Cut any of the yokes or lower waist sections shown, from the two master patterns for blouse fronts and backs.  Results: the high-style, two-tone effect, achieved with contrasting fabric."

I have another version of the same pattern from 1944 posted here—re-using and "making-do" clearly applied to pattern companies as well as home dressmakers!  This illustration of the pattern includes ideas for making over sleeves and accessories as well as the bodices.

McCall's, November 1946

"SPRING STYLES FOR WOMEN", McCall's wrote in November 1946:

"may look somewhat different, depending on the ingenuity of designers, but skirts cannot be longer and additional amounts of materials cannot be consumed.  The Civilian Production Adminstration says that fabrics are still too scarce to permit any real changes the basic limitations on women's wartime styles.  It estimates that another inch on women's skirts would consume 50,000,000 yards of fabric within a year."

 Clearly the postwar years were hard on everybody!  However, whatever The Civilian Production Administration decreed, the women of 1946 were still trying to use "additional amounts of materials" in their dress.  It is obvious, even from the McCall's patterns advertised in this very magazine, that skirts and sleeves were widening, and that hemlines were stealthily creeping down.

"To lengthen or not to lengthen the skirt, is the moot question, and if to lengthen, how much?  After listening to the pros and cons of this controversial subject, we come to the conclusion that skirts will go down to midcalf eventually if not now."

"Then there are the sleeves—but you know about the new big sleeves."

"The hipline is now the spot where the trimming should be placed!  And in this connection old fashioned worlds like "pannier" and "bustle" have been creeping back into our vocabularies.  It all adds up to a very new look to a dress, a rather quaint look sometimes—and to a smaller waistline.  With broad shoulders to the north, and round hips to the south, the waistline can't help but shrink inwardly between them."

Smaller waistlines, rounder hips, longer skirts.  It all sounds a bit like Dior's "New Look", doesn't it? 

Fashions from McCall Style News (September 1940)

Sometimes it's nice to just take a snapshot of what women were wearing at one point in time. Here's an image-heavy look at the styles of  81 years ago, courtesy of one of McCall's monthly pattern pamphlets.

 

Coats, nipped in at the waist or flaring out, trimmed with fur cloth (not fur, as indicated in the header).

Suits, a 1940s standby.  These have some decidedly military touches (in particular, the pockets!) which show which way people's thoughts were trending.

A slim-fitting coat and a suit which really is trimmed with fur (as opposed to "fur" cloth).

Smart shirt-waisters with panels and pleats—also pockets!  

 

 

This is described as an "informal" evening gown, for satin or lame.   The neckline, front and back, is comparatively modest.

Also for evening: a dress with "wide straps" and a "slightly full" skirt, baring more flesh at the shoulders and back.

Dinner dresses, at the left in velvet, at the right with bows. 

Crimes in Crochet, II (McCall's Needlework and Crafts, Spring-Summer 1970)

 It's time for another look at the things people did with yarn and crochet hooks in the 1970s!  Below are some "essential fashions for 1970" as presented in McCall's Needlework and Crafts.

 

 

Here we have a "flower-striped shift with its own scarf" alternating "bands of chain stitch daisies".

 

 

For the beach: a "Riviera pants set in sunniest yellow, follows a slim line, flares for bell pants."  Very 1970s!

 

 

Also for the beach: "bikini and cover-up dress... combine openwork crochet with pattern."  Ah, the infamous crochet bikini—and to be honest, the dress isn't covering up much!

 

 

Some groovy "casuals to crochet reflecting the cooler look in fashions—five dresses crocheted for day-into-evening wear."   

 

 

... And the remaining two dresses from the page opposite the previous photograph.  There's still more than a touch of the 1960s about these dresses!
 

Miss America Models McCall's Patterns (McCall's Home Catalog, Spring-Summer 1961)

 Social media is still young, but the use of "influencers" to push products goes way back.  In this case the influencer is Miss America 1961, and the product is McCall's patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She's not mentioned by name in McCall's Home Catalog, but she was Nancy Fleming of Montague, Michigan.  After her stint as Miss America she went on to get a bachelor degree from Michigan State University and a teaching certificate from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966, which would have put her at the heart of the 1960s student movement! While I can find no evidence of her being involved it would have been an interesting contrast to her early days as a beauty queen.  She worked for a time as an elementary school teacher, before a brief career in show business.  Amidst all this she found time to get married (twice) and divorced (once).

Two Versions of McCall Style News (from September 1947)

 As it happens I own two editions of McCall Style News from September 1947: the US edition and the Australasian edition.  One looks forward to a northern autumn, the other to a southern spring, and each version offers us a different selection of seasonally appropriate patterns.

First the cover.  The US edition features a long sleeved overblouse, perfect for cooler days and lengthening nights.

The Australasian version, on the other hand, features a short-sleeved dress in anticipation of warmer weather.  

Most of the inside pages of the US pamphlet are taken up by dresses.  These two are typical examples.  In design they are a modified version of Dior's recently released "New Look".  Skirts are a bit longer and fuller (but not to "New Look" extremes) and waists are slightly indented, but shoulder pads are still worn.  It seems American home dressmakers were not prepared to copy the excesses of Parisian fashion designers!

The pattern descriptions make much of the necklines of these models, and once again, note the long sleeves.  These dresses were designed for wearing in cooler weather.

To be worn over the dresses: two coats.  McCall's 6993 and 6982 with back flares.  No. 6993 comes with a hood, and it's "smart" to wear no. 6982 with the collar up.

On the other side of the world, the Australasian edition of McCall Style News also featured lots of dresses.  On the left is no. 6909—"Silk Suit-Dress... so useful, and cooler than a real suit".  In the centre no. 6900—"Flaring Skirt... with pockets that give you the new rounded hip look."  At right, no. 6913—"Tunic Drapery... A flattering woman's design".

There were no coats illustrated in the Australasian edition of this pamphlet.  The editors gave us a page of separates instead—two shirts with full sleeves (one plain, one trimmed with lace) and a selection of pleated skirts.

From the US: a skating costume zipped up the front...

... While in the southern hemisphere, we are offered clothes for days in the sun.  The outfit on the left is a tennis costume, and the illustration on the right depicts a skirt that could be worn over it to turn it into a "sports dress".  In the centre is a bathing suit—"side buttoned, worn over trunks.  Drawstring bra, halter straps that tie in a bow in the back."  The recommended material for the trunks is wool jersey.  It almost seems too elaborate for a day at the beach—personally I wouldn't like to swim in it!

Evening Dresses from McCall Style News (1946)

In keeping with the times I was going to post something about clothes to wear at home—then thought, "Nah.  People are sick of being housebound.  Let's get out the ol' glad rags and dress up for a party!"

The odds are that people in 1946 were also probably sick of hard times and ready for a bit of fun.  In my collection I have no less than three issues of McCall Style News from 1946 sporting pictures of evening dresses on their covers.

January 1946

February 1946

May 1946

McCall Style News, December 1928

The cover of the December 1928 issue of McCall Style News features five patterns from the McCall Company.  In keeping with our Christmas theme, one of them is for a Santa costume!  The others are for fashionable fur-trimmed coats, including one for the little girl on the left.

Fashions from "McCall's Magazine", September 1907

Glancing back at my recent blog entries, I realised that I'd been neglecting the early 1900s.  To make up for it, I'm posting these two plates from McCall's Magazine in September 1907.  The artificial "S Bend" figure that was so fashionable in this decade is clearly on display in these illustrations, with clothing that emphasises the models' thrust-out bosoms and their back-projecting rear ends.

 

"Nos. 1659-1645 [Left]—All the very newest fashions are illustrated in this handsome fall suit of blue satin-faced broadcloth.  The body of the blouse jacket and the sleeves are cut in one and seamed on the shoulders, down the outside of the sleeve and under the arm.  The trimming consists of Hercules braid put on in a very stylish manner... The skirt is cut with seven gores and is box-pleated all around.  It is made of one of the new blue and green plaids, a blue check effect with a green plaid overthread."

"Nos.1647-1648 [Right]—Capes to be decidedly the thing in New York this fall, and this costume shows the new cape wrap, one of the very latest novelties."

 

"No. 1646 [Left]— Princess effects are always extremely stylish and becoming to women of good figure, and for this reason they are introduced into may of the new fall fashions.  The costume illustrated on the opposite page has a Princess front and back and the regular waistline or a corsage effect, if preferred, at the sides.  One of the wine-colored shades of broadcloth was chosen for our model, but cheviot, ladies' cloth, English serge, taffeta, peau de soie or almost any variety of reasonably firm silk can be used instead if preferred."

"Nos. 1675-1677 [Right]—This smart walking suit is a particularly stylish design for fall.  In our model, the jacket is of golden-brown taffeta and the skirt of broadcloth in the same shade, but the entire costume can be made of cloth if preferred.  The jacket is of one of the new Eton effects that will be worn this season.  It is made with a straight, loose front and back, pleated on the shoulders on each side and stitched in narrow tuck effect to yoke depth."

Day Dresses from "McCall Style News" (August 1933)

Paris was still the capital of fashion in the 1930s, but Hollywood was giving it a run for its money—at least as far as the average woman was concerned.  A few privileged women bought upmarket fashion magazines like Vogue, but in an era when most people went to the cinema at least once a week a great many more got their fashion ideas via the silver screen.  The studios also used to release publicity photos of their stars and starlets, dressed to the nines by their in-house designers, to be published in the fan magazines.

While the patterns in this booklet aren't direct interpretations of movie costumes, they show a definite Hollywood influence.  The most obvious is their use of organza ruffles, made popular by an Adrian design for Joan Crawford in "Letty Lynton" (1932).  Indeed, the "Letty Lynton" dress became so fashionable that it inspired dozens of knockoffs and reinterpretations at all price levels.  The broadening shoulders in these designs were also a Hollywood inspiration (once again from Adrian designing for Crawford).  Lastly, the emphasis on design details (such as bows, jabots, etc.) framing the face, surely came from the requirements of designing for the movies—where actresses were often filmed in medium- or close-up and embellishments lower down on the costume would be lost.

"Frocks in the New Bridge Length"

"Shoulders Going Up Via Flouncing"

"Tailored Types for Street Wear"

"Bows and Jabots at the Neckline"

"The Fashion... Cape or Jacket Atop a Frock"

... "Its Advantages... Twice Useful, Twice Chic"

"Organdy Rustles Around the Neckline"

"Interest and Width Above the Belt"

"Simplicity and Slenderness Below"