"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".

Home Fashions (July 1914)

 Here we are, a couple of months out from the First World War, and looking at these summer blouses it's clear that the process of simplifying women's clothing is already well under way.

Clockwise, from the striped blouse on the left:

Pattern No. 18,998... an example of the newest and simplest shirt blouses.  The smart roll-collar is so arranged that it can be rolled high or low as desired.

Pattern no. 18,999.  The top centre figure represents a pretty crossover blouse, with the sleeve set in.  The collars and cuffs of a contrasting material form a pleasing finish.

Pattern No. 19,101 shows the popular new yoke which is cut in line with the sleeve.  The fronts cross over slightly, while the wide revers add a smart touch to the blouse.

Pattern No. 19,100, a dainty design for embroidery.  Cut all in the one-piece, with added collar and cuffs.

The diagonal closings are novel, but the most noticeable thing about the blouses is that they no longer have the high, boned collars and excessive ornamentation so fashionable only a few years earlier.

"The Maternity Outfit" by Eleanor Chalmers (The Delineator, July 1909)

 

"Last year coming home from Europe," writes Mrs Chalmers,

I crossed on the steamer with an attractive young married woman... a lithe, active figure in a well-cut, well-tailored suit in the daytime and radiantly lovely at night in a black chiffon Empire dress that she had had made in London. 

You can imagine my surprise when I met her, several months later, driving in Central Park with a most bewitching baby.  We had sat at the same table, lain in parallel deck chairs and had really seen quite a bit of each other on the way home, and yet, as I told her, I had never suspected it for a moment.

Once upon a time, "baby bumps" were not for showing off, and maternity clothes not only had to allow for expansion, but also conceal the wearer's condition.  The moderns of 1909 thought this was an improvement on the old way of doing things:

The new maternity garments conceal the figure perfectly and allow women to go about in a sane, natural manner.  The old morbid, recluse-like banishment that women used to accept as their common lot is rapidly becoming one of the antiquated ideas that belong to a less enlightened era.

(Imagine how much time Victorian mothers of large families must have spent hiding themselves from public view!

 

Ideally, maternity wear should be healthy as well as concealing.  Mrs Chalmers continues by discussing some of the latest ideas (1909 style) for "healthful" garments and lifestyles:

The first thing that a woman will need is an every-day out-of-doors dress or suit of some kind, for it is most important that she should keep in the open air at least a couple of hours a day.  Most women use a skirt and shirt-waists—a combination that I do not altogether favor, for, as I said before, a complete dress with the weight resting on the shoulders is a far more healthful sort a of garment than one in which the skirt is supported at the waistline.

"I do not advise," the author continues

a skirt of one color, and waists of another.  It draws a sharper line of division in the figure than a one-color scheme carried out as shown in the first illustration...

The waist has a little fulness at the waistline in the back, which should be drawn into a belt tape that you can fasten around the waist, holding the fulness at the front.  The belt tape is much better than the belt stay, which would have to be altered from time to time.

(The illustration above shows the belt tape.) 

  

For a shirt-waist suit the skirt should be cut in the round length—never shorter, unless you are going to use it merely for rainy days.  A short skirt is awkward in a maternity dress and makes a woman look worse than is at all necessary.   The method of making the skirt is the same as for any gored skirt pattern except that there is no need to fit it to the figure over the hips and at the waist.  It is mounted on an elastic band run into a casing—a sort of self-adjustable affair that takes care of itself quite nicely.

Next comes a suit that is really a maternity dress:

While the shirt-waist suit is very neat and practical I lean toward the maternity dress shown in the second illustration.  At first glance it looks quite a little like a semi-tailored suit.  In reality it is a dress consisting of a seven-gored, high-waistline skirt mounted on a French waist-lining, and a coatee that can be of the same material as the skirt if one uses it for an every-day sort of dress, or of dried lace, net soutached tulle, etc., if one wants it for reception or formal occasions.

It's good to know that pregnant Edwardian women (unlike their Victorian counterparts) were allowed to have a social life.  

A proper maternity outfit, however, did not end with a shirt-waist suit and a maternity dress.  For cooler days:

... one should have some sort of a long coat or wrap for traveling, driving, etc.  I should advise a straight slightly fitted coat made with generous overlapping double-breasted fronts.  (Illustration no. 3)  It is an easy thing to move the buttons, and the coat will always look well.  It is a very simple coat to make, for it is very slightly fitted and extremely severe in cut...

The little house dress in Illustration 4 is a pretty thing and can be put to any number of uses.  Décolleté and with short sleeves, it makes a graceful sort of dress for home dinners in any soft material... High necked it makes an excellent day dress... The skirt, I think, for this particular kind of an outfit, is better gathered, as shown in the illustration, than tucked, though it can be used either way.  The gathers are softer and more disguising.

 

 

Illustrations 5 and 6 are excellent types of wrappers and matinées for maternity needs.  The empire styles are far and away one's wisest choice wherever it is possible to use them, not only because they are pretty and protecting to the figure, but because the weight of the garment falls on the shoulders.  I would make the belt of the dressing-sack about six inches longer than the usual size and draw it in on a ribbon.

If you want to read the article in its entirety, the full magazine is available online at the Hathi Trust.

Concerning Coats III (1930s)

 In 1930, the questions on every fashion pundit's lips were, "Where was the waistline going to settle?" and, "How far were skirts going to lengthen?"

And the waistline—another very important question!  This is as it has been for the past few seasons, a moveable feast.  Some dresses show the old normal waistline, in others, the waistline is creeping up to above the hips, giving a different proportion to the silhouette.

The only position the waistline has not yet achieved is under the armpits.  But who knows?  This may probably be in fashion next autumn. 

Australian Home Journal, June 1930

 

Weldon's Ladies' Journal, December 1930

In other words, belts were going to be literally, as well as figuratively, tightened during the straitened 1930s.  My sources indicate that tweed was the most popular material for coats, though other fabrics were worn too.

There is a dashing touch about the coats of this year, suggestive of out-door sports more than sober city occupations. Every flapper sports a tweed coat, or its nearest counterpart. Flannel, by the way, can be obtained in attractive designs, and looks very well when smartly tailored. The great advantage,  of course, is that it looks well- and costs less than a good tweed. Particularly smart, for flecked tweed  is a style with narrow belt, deep pockets bound with braid, and a scarf collar that can be worn loose, or caught with a pin.  Another style has full raglan sleeves, with broad, buttoned cuffs, a very full skirt finish, and stitched inverted pleats at the back. 

"Coats are sporting", The Evening News (Rockhampton, Qld.) 8 May, 1930

Chicago Mail Order, Fall and Winter 1931

The Chicago Mail Order catalogue for Fall and Winter 1931 features three of their "Style Queen" coats on the cover.  All are very typical of the early 1930s, being slender and fitted to the wearers' figures, belted at the natural waistline and sporting large fur collars.

From left to right we have: an "All wool crepe bouclé" coat with a "genuine natural cat lynx fur" collar, an "All wool monotone crepe coating" with "two voguish ways of wearing the new two-way collars" in fur-effect fabric, and a coat "of Good Quality All Wool Tricot Broadcloth" with a plastron collar of wolf blended dog fur dyed to resemble red fox.

McCall Style News, November 1932

McCall's describes these street coats as being "long and luxurious", and interest is added to the collar and shoulders with—from left to right—an optional cape, a detachable collarette and a fur cloth collar.

Modes & Travaux, July 1933

A new style of coat was introduced in 1933: the swagger coat.

The new "swagger" coat needs no introduction... There will be many of these swagger suits worn.  

"Spring Shows Its Influence", Everylady's Journal, August 1933

Coats, even the full length ones, fall from the shoulders, and every designer in Paris shows some version of the three-quarter, bell-shaped coat, hanging coolly, even if it is not so full in the back, while quantities of box jackets are shown everywhere.  There is another type of coat that looks new this season.  It just meets up the front, instead of overlapping, is frequently buttoned from the top nearly to the knee, and in walking opens below to show the frock.

"Fashion Gossip from Continental Centres", Everylady's Journal, June 1933

Examples of both kinds of coats are shown in the illustration above.  The "swagger" or bell-shaped, falling straight from the shoulders, would be a fashion staple for many years to come!

Petit Echo de la Mode, October 8 1934

1934 sees the same mixture of full (but not full length) coats and more fitted coats reaching to the hem of the wearer's dress.  All these examples from Le Petit Echo de la Mode are embellished with fur collars and cuffs.  

The fashion icon of the day was Marina, Duchess of Kent, and we are told that "Marina blues and greens are all the rage" and

When, however, winter finally comes, coats will be worn that have a still fuller line at the back, and will be often of materials with quilted effects, though corded materials will also be used. Big checks are featured in dull colors and pastel shades which are "delicate without being wishy-washy."

"New Fabric Trends", The Australian Women's Weekly, 9 March 1935

Singer Easy-to-Make Wardrobe, Fall-Winter 1935

In this pamphlet, Singer encourages women to take up sewing by selecting a few paper patterns to make up a complete wardrobe, and comparing the cost of making each garment to the price of buying ready-to-wear.  For a coat, Singer chose Pictorial Pattern No. 7927, a swagger coat, and had it made up in "luxuriously soft Kapco all-wool tweed".  The estimated price: $6.96, as opposed to an approximate ready-made price between $25.00 and $29.75.

National Bellas Hess, Midsummer Sale 1936

National Bellas Hess describes these coats as "popular swing-back coats" and they were available in various mixtures of wool and rayon, plain or in a fashionable plaid check.  

National Bellas Hess, Fall-Winter 1937

 All the coats in this catalogue from 1937 have raised sleeve heads (looking almost like leg o' mutton sleeves in some cases), extended shoulders and elaborate collars (some made of fur).  Belts seem to have come back into fashion, though they are wider than the belts fashionable earlier in the decade.

National Bellas Hess captioned the first coat "Stand up and Cheer" and the second "The Sweeping Beauty".  A particular selling point seemed to be their flared skirts, and the "swagger" appears to be temporarily in abeyance.

Weldon's Ladies' Journal, November 1938

Weldon's offers its readers two free patterns for a "Town Coat With Dolman Sleeve" (left) and a "Smart Fur-Trimmed Winter Coat" (right).  "48-inch fur cloth" is suggested for making up the warm and fuzzy looking coat on the left. 

Though Weldon's features two slender-line coats on the cover of its "Portfolio of Fashion", there are still plenty of patterns for wider, swagger coats, inside.

Petit Echo de la Mode, October 1 1939

These coats featured in Le Petit Echo de la Mode have a definite (and literal) flair.  All the fashion indicators in 1939 pointed towards narrowing waists and broadening skirts.

One look at these new coats will give you their idea; they are shorter than ever and definitely racy.

Most of the coats are quietly and plainly fitted from the waist up; all of them, like everything else this year, are full skirted.

Newest shape is the coachman's coat, a tight-waisted coat cut with a bunch of fullness at the back.  And you can't miss the checks; they are as bold and colorful as the parrots at the zoo, done in vivid greens, purples, reds and yellows.

"The New Coats", Australian Women's Weekly, 22 April 1939

However the coming war would put these trends on hold with rationing and shortages—but that's another story.  And as spring is around the corner in Australia, I might put this series on hold until the weather turns cold again.

His and Hers (Avon Catalog, Holiday 1976)

 Did you know that Avon sells clothes as well as makeup?  Me neither—until I found this Avon clothes catalogue from the 1976 Holiday season.

As in many of the catalogues of this era, Avon has a section for His and Hers Fashions, illustrated by photographs of couples wearing matching outfits.  Well, it's true that nothing says True Love more than dressing like your honey... and I admit I was only a kid in the seventies, but I never saw a couple dressed like this in reality.   "His and Hers" was probably a marketing ploy, though the clothes were real enough.

To start we have a couple dressed in "The 20th-Century Shirt"

...a screen-print futuristic fashion, uniquely engineered to flatter every size.... Two different contemporary scenes front and back in 100% Enkalure® nylon that's cool and comfortable to wear

with "Natural Colored Prewash Canvas Jeans with Braided Belt".

Our next couple are hanging out in "His or Her Striped Shirt[s]" and "His and Her Dress-Up Jeans" of "polyester and cotton... special brushed sateen finish... The legs are fashionably flared".

  

Care for a spot of archery?  This couple have decided to hit the target wearing matching knit shirts with denim trim and "His and Her Striper Jeans"

...in brushed cotton denim.  Side panels with narrow strips that are worked horizontally inside the panels.  Results?  A slender silhouette, a great fashion maker.  Match them with our his/hers denim trimmed shirts and you've got an unbeatable "boutique" look outfit.

"Performance Minded His and Her Separates" for riding—or at least petting a horse.  This couple is wearing "British Army Shirt[s]" in cotton and polyester with shoulder and sleeve epaulets.  Below they are wearing "His and Her Wrangler® Jeans" with straight legs in 100% cotton, indigo dyed, prewashed denim.  Lastly, their boots are "His and Hers Genuine Leather Boots by Dingo".

Interestingly, "She" is wearing a turtleneck underneath her British Army Shirt, while "He" has his undone to reveal his manly chest hair and his 1970s gold medallion!

Australia's Lost Department Stores V (Grace Brothers, Spring 1948)

 At last, a lost department store I can remember!  Though Grace Brothers was taken over by Myer in the 1980s, it continued trading under its original name until 1999. 

ME91R—Ensemble of British Delustered Crepe Rayon for smart Matrons.  Frock features the new treatment of self plaiting on shoulder and soft shirring on bust.  Self covered buttons and loops to waist line and pleats in front of skirt.  Matching coat with self plaiting on shoulder and sleeves.

Known as "The Model Store", Grace Brothers began in 1885 when two immigrants—J.N. and A.E. Grace—opened a small shop in Sydney.  Two years later they moved to larger premises on The Broadway, Glebe, and their story from that point was one of expansion—first outwards, into neighbouring premises, then upwards into a purpose-built, multi-story building.

Grace Brothers began its move to the suburbs early, opening a branch in Parramatta and a branch in Bondi in 1933.  Depression and war prevented Grace Brothers from moving further afield until the 1950s, but meanwhile they introduced all the latest conveniences to their main store: Otis elevators, chrome furniture, a hair and beauty salon and an 'American Shop' where they sold the newest fashions from the United States.  They even built an auditorium, which hosted many events, including fashion parades, Christmas pantomimes and farewell dances for soldiers during the Second World War. 

During the war, Grace Brothers' premises was commandeered by the Federal government for use as General MacArthur's headquarters.  This was not quite the disaster for the store that it first appears, as the compensation they eventually received for it enabled Grace Brothers' postwar expansion.  They expanded their suburban empire, introduced an in-house credit scheme (Graceway Home Credit), started a removalist service (still going strong today) and a travel bureau.  They were even the first retailer in Australia to install a computer—a "massive" IBM in 1967.

Grace Brothers was listed as a public company in 1960, which lead to a strange turn of events in 1983.  Grace Brothers moved in on its Melbourne rival Myer, taking over its Sydney and country stores, only to see Myer turning the tables and taking over Grace Brothers in turn!  

Like most other big department stores, Grace Brothers' main business was selling clothing and acessories.  These things figure prominently in their catalogues and in their magazine "The Model Trader".  In the beginning, most of the clothing they sold was made-to-measure, with vast workrooms hidden behind the scenes in their Broadway store.  By the First World War the workrooms were being replaced by stockrooms as people started buying ready-to-wear.