Making a (somewhat) historically accurate 1930s cheongsam
It’s summer holiday for me already and I have plenty of free time, so I decided to try my hand at making a 1930s style cheongsam. I started this in freaking April and only finished now because of supplies ;3 I’ve never made any cheongsam from the 30s before so this is gonna be half tutorial half me trying to figure stuff out. I cannot guarantee 100% historical accuracy, although I try my best. I don’t think people will actually follow this and make a whole cheongsam, but if someone does, please tell me about it and feel free to ask any questions :D
You can read about 1930s Chinese fashion in this post.
I wanted to make something glamorous that exaggerates some typical features of the 30s such as the wide, shiny binding, tall collar and drapey floor length skirt. I was heavily inspired by this one worn by 阮玲玉 Ruan Lingyu.
I’m gonna make something like this: short sleeves, floor length skirt, slits up to mid thigh (so I can show off my lace petticoat uwu), 厂字襟 (厂 shaped closure), with double row wide binding and a really tall collar with three buttons.
However, since I wasn’t able to find a similar fabric in my local fabric stores’ websites, I decided to go for a green polka dot cotton poplin which did exist in the 1930s and is also great for my budget. For the pankou, I chose elaborate floral ones for the collar and front closure and plain white 一字扣 yizikou for the side, a common historical practice. The binding will be made from green and white polyester satin; polyester did exist in the 30s as well and was a popular novelty choice. This cheongsam is for summer so it will be unlined, plus the poplin is stiff enough to hold its own shape.
Now, prior to the 1950s, cheongsam makers used 平裁 pingcai, the historical Chinese method of pattern making without any darts, tucks or shaped pattern pieces. The whole gown is cut as one continuous piece with the fabric folded over twice. By doing this, the center front, center back and shoulder would be on fold and have no seams. Unlike historical hanfu pieces which were very, very big and required additional front pieces, 30s cheongsam were slender and didn’t require them, meaning there is no 中缝 zhongfeng, center front seam. Instead, the front piece is cut open at the 大襟 dajin, the front closure. Since I don’t own any period originals, I cannot use their pattern, so I followed this tutorial on bilibili to draft my own. It’s in Chinese but I think you can still understand with her calculations and drawing. I have no idea if this is what people used back then, but the end result is pretty convincing and the idea is legit so I guess it’s alright. She did use a bust dart though, just ignore that.
So this is the finished pattern on paper. There is the main piece, the collar piece and the placket (which I will need two pieces of). The equations are from the tutorial, I don’t know why they are like that. There are no darts or tucks, and the main bodice is cut twice on fold. The overall length is 145cm and I’m 168cm tall so it should be just about floor length for me. The slit is 60 cm, sitting on the middle of my thigh, which is accurate to around 1934-36. The collar is 8cm tall, which was tall even for the 30s but still within the acceptable range, and it’s cut on fold as well. The placket doesn’t have to be so wide but I want to have a nice big placket :))
You may have noticed that since the front is one piece and cut open at the front closure, there is no seam allowance for the placket/front seam so when the cheongsam is buttoned, it will be slightly distorted. There is a commonly used historical method for countering this and there are multiple names for it; I’ve heard people call it 偏襟法 pianjinfa, bias closure method, or 归拔 guiba, which is a general term for abusing the bias cut in dressmaking. It’s explained with diagrams in this article and this one. Hopefully as I start explaining it will make sense.
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