The Gored Skirt in the 1970s: Butterick 4139
This skirt pattern shows you how some basic cuts come back again and again, with slightly different emphasis, to serve current purposes. In the 1930s, gores--that is, pattern pieces widened from the waist to the hemline--only flared towards the lower-calf hemline. The gored look of the 1940s had more width as hemlines crept upwards and easy movement became a priority during World War II with gas rationing and more walking and talking public transit. The width of gored skirts grew enormously with the New Look in 1947, and hemlines dropped again as fabric was no longer rationed. The A-line silhouette of much of the 1960s meant that gores were not much used in mini-skirts, and simple cuts--skirts of 2 seams only-- were popular.
In contrast, this pattern from the 1970s makes the most of the 8 gores to give width and movement to the fabric of the skirt. It is fitted only at the waist and top of the hip line, then flares out from there, and ends around the knee, which reminds me of 1940s skirts. The idea of easy movement is implied by the slight sway of the pale orange skirt on the right. The style flexibility of the gored skirt is apparent in the range of blouses as much as in the lengths. The long, party skirt is for an evening out, shown here with a white gathered blouse trimmed with lace. But a bowed blouse and two collared blouses indicates that it could be worn as a shorter skirt for work or for spectator sports. In fact, the shorter blue skirt's is worn by a woman holding binoculars, as if she was at the races.
Gored skirts require two things for sewing success: fabric with drape in a solid color or a small, non-directional print. The first to allow a graceful sway as a woman moves. Think crepes or challis. The second to avoid matching a print and to allow a close placing of the pattern pieces. If you have to lay each piece with the hemline oriented at the same end, you end up need a lot of fabric. If you can nestle them close toe each alternating pieces hemline near waistline, you can use a lot less. The shorter versions only take about 1.5 yards and the long 3 yards for 36" hips.
The style is so versatile that when I saw this in a pile of vintage patterns, I moved it from the patterns I merely use for study, to the ones I will definitely be making.
