#vintagedressmaking

[professorpski]

Party Wear Early 1930s, Or Just Look at Those Seams (low whistle)

Fashion does not actually work by decades, so these early 1930s gowns for sale at Augusta Auctions have some of the hallmarks of the loose torsos that we associate with the 1920s, and the handkerchief hemlines too. But by the late 1920s, skirts were lengthening down wards from their mid-20s high point above the knee and belts had crept up from the hipline to reach the waistline again.

These two silks evening gowns are from the early 1930s, glowing in crepe back silk satin in what they call "ashes of roses" i.e. a greyed rose and in what they identify as pale pink which shows dark cream on my screen. I am featuring some of the close-ups, so you can see how they were draped just below the waistline, a feature that would draw attention to the sway of a woman's hips.

And you can see the complex piecing of the skirts. See how the cream dress has a diamond shape set into the bodice, and then multiple angles cut into the skirt which echo one end of the diamond. These look like cuts and seaming that include multiple bias choices which takes both careful cutting of the fabric and careful seaming so as not to overstretch the elasticity of the cut edges. By using bias-cut fabric around the hips, the designer gives a woman a bit more room to move, and also adds an erotic feature as her movements are closely followed by and revealed by the fabric. With such a sheen to the fabric, these movements would have just that much more slinky glamor in the days before stretch fabrics.

This is part of their Fall into Fashion Vintage Sale which you can learn more about here: https://augusta-auction.com/auction

[professorpski]

“Soon the knitter herself will visualize a thousand of other ways in which a motif can be used, and so fave at her disposal an exhaustible variety of fabrics. Thick fabrics or thin fabrics, patterned fabrics or plain fabrics, those blazing in colour or decorated with beads, she can make fabric imitated fur (Looped Knitting), Lace, Picot, Filet, or Crochet, and even cloque and woven fabric, by a mere change of technique. Every ornament known to dressmaking can be imitated, even hemstitching and buttons!”

When Mary Thomas wrote this in 1945 in Mary Thomas’s Book of Knitting Patterns when dressmaking was the most common craft women learned. Circular knitting, which she called seamless knitting, was viewed as peasant knitting, interesting historically, but not something most women likely to do. So, comparing knitting to dressmaking was a compliment. In fact, sewing pieces of knitted fabric was taken for granted and Thomas offered the same garment block or garment schematic that we see in dressmaking in the section explaining how to plan an entirely original sweater.

Similarly, Thomas urged her the reader to imagine new ways of patterning a knitted fabric through her choice of stitches. Every section of the book suggests how variations might be introduced to the stitches she explains. She valued the experimentation and imagination which created the stitches she taught and clearly saw yet more to be invented.

You can find this and other Thomas books at Dover Publications: https://store.doverpublications.com/0486228185.html

[professorpski]

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.

[professorpski]

Not Going Anywhere Fast in 1950, Vogue 1964

This 1950 ensemble with sleeveless dress and matched caplet captures the other skirt silhouette introduced by Christian Dior in 1947: the long and narrow. We tend to think of the long, wide skirt as the New Look of the post-war era, but Dior also offered long, narrow skirts that year as well. Both had the small waistlines and soft shoulders you see here in a Vogue Pattern re-issued in modern sizes.

I was intrigued by the shape of this dress  The bodice has a deep horizontal tuck whose purpose seems two-fold: decoratively, it both echoes the deep stitching that holds the capelet’s self-lining in place and makes the waistline seem even narrower as the eye notes the pleat is wider than the bodice where it hits the skirt (that portion is gathered).

Then, the skirt of the dress has deep pleats at the waistline which create more space for the body and seems easier to wear. But look at the sketch of the pattern piece, and you see that the pleats are not meant to add walking easy. Instead, the skirt narrows from those pleats at the waistline down to the low hemline.

Looking at the fashion illustrations, we can see that walking was never the point. This ensemble was a dressy afternoon outfit, or an evening out ensemble. Think concert, cocktail party, dinner out. See the large, black hat and long, black gloves, the corsage, and pearls around the neck to the right, and the long white gloves worn with a veiled hat and again pearls on the right. Standing, chatting, flirting, and sitting were the main activities, not walking, which is why this is not a practical day ensemble with walking ease, but one where the waist pleats help show off the small waist and the roundness of the hips. A quiet, but effective means of drawing attention to the figure.

Find it at your local fabric store, or online here: https://simplicity.com/vogue-patterns/v1964

[professorpski]

The Sweeping Ball Gown, Vogue 1963 

This glamorous strapless evening gown dates to 1948 that has been re-issued by Vogue Patterns in modern sizes. It shows all of the luxury of post-war prosperity that one hoped for from post-war prosperity. Just a year earlier, Christian Dior had shown the New Look which offered up day dresses with enormous width at the low hemlines, cinched waists, and soft shoulders. It was a break from the more practical looks of the war years, with hemlines around the knee and padded shoulders, and narrower skirts. This was a silhouette which would live on into the 1950s.

Evening gowns followed suit with even wider hemlines, and here you have one that is more than 7 feet around . To create the mass of the skirt, hold it away from the body, and  make the waist look even tinier, crinoline net is used underneath as interfacing, some 3 plus yards of it. An overskirt cascades down the sides, a feature that will ripple with the wearer's movement. Such an abundance of skirts means that the dress takes around 8 yards of fabric at 60” width. Yes, that is a lot of fabric.

The bodice, which is boned on the inside, is also cuffed on the outside, with a clever shaping so that the front points inward and upwards towards the face. A graceful line and a dynamic one that indicates movement and energy. 

They recommend faille, satin, dupioni, and taffeta, plus brocade, but brocade will probably weigh too much. Satin is beautiful but you can mar it so easily, or at least I can, so I would recommend silk dupioni or shantung whose texture will wear better and catch the light in interesting ways too. And there are soooo many gorgeous colors to choose from. They do suggest that overskirt may be made of a different fabric and the illustration of the back of the dress done in white hints at that. If you look closely, you will see a more textured fabric at the lower left, a lace perhaps? But a harmonizing color might work too. So many possibilities. 

This bodice will need a close fit, so you may want to muslin it in a test fabric. Although it may be possible to use the fitting of the lining to ensure the fit of the fashion fabric. Obviously, with so much fabric on the line, you want to make sure it is something you love. If you have to buy fabric online, I would indulge and buy more fabric than a tiny swatches to make sure. 

You can find this at your local fabric store or online here: https://simplicity.com/vogue-patterns/v1963

[professorpski]

Peachy Keen: Evening Ensemble by Christian Dior, 1950s

This lovely ensemble is part of an upcoming auction on September 20th, 2023 at Augusta Auctions which specializes in vintage fashion and textiles. The color alone makes me sigh as I am soooo tired of black for evening wear and I am always charmed by the way silks catch the light. This color silk satin will make the woman wearing the cocktail dress and short jacket simply glow.

This is a clever way to pair a strapless dress with a jacket that keeps the neckline bare, but still allows a bit of coverage or of warmth when you want it. It has the clearly marked waistline that was so popular in the 1950s, coupled with the pleated skirt front and back that allowed a woman to worry a bit less about the size or her hips. And the pleats at the front of the bodice, paired with darts, help balance out the hour-glass silhouette then preferred.

The dress has a separate belt made of the same material which closes with a hook and eye. I have come to think that making matching belts for dresses, whether evening or day dresses, is the easiest way to finish them off. It avoids the sometimes fruitless fishing around your belt collection for something that harmonizes or matches. The large bow on the belt was created beforehand--in fact, almost all such bows attached to dresses were created beforehand from what I can tell--which saves the wearer trouble and the fabric wear and tear. This one probably has interfacing within it to keep that nice, large spread. These are practices well worth adopting when you want a decorative bow.

Augusta Auctions tells us that the dress is "lined in silk organza, boned bodice & interior construction typical of Dior couture." Partly this was to create the shape of the dress and partly for the convenience of the wearer. When an evening dress was custom made, the mark of haute couture, a woman did not usually have to search around for the right strapless bra to wear underneath it; the dress itself contained what amounted to a bra. Interestingly, the label tells us this dress was not made in France but in England and then it was sold by a Canadian retailer which tells you how easily Paris fashions crossed the Atlantic at a time when that city was still the center of all western fashion.

You can see this and more of the sale here: https://augusta-auction.com/auction/85

[professorpski]

That Not So Simple Knit Dress: Simplicity 5364 from 1972

We tend to thinks of knits as perfect for very simple garments we simply pull on. The T-shirt, T-shirt dress, leggings, etc. But when knits first became common in women's wear because of innovations in machines that could knit fabric, they were not shown as all that simple. The T-shirt dress showed up in the 1950s and came with the full assortment of accessories including hat and gloves. The synthetic knits which became so popular in the 1960s still had zippers down the backs of the dresses they were made from.

Similarly, this formal evening dress from the early 1970s required a knit fabric, see the "STRETCH" directions on the front that literally stretched out the font. It was not a great deal of stretch, in truth. 4 inches had to stretch to a bit over 5 inches, while we have super stretchy rayon/lycras today that practically double in width when pulled hard. But it was far more stretch than the "bonded knits" which were popular for A-line shapes and had no stretch at all (and not purpose as far as i can see). They especially recommended matte jersey (which would be Quiana in those days), cire jersey (which has a wet look and would have looked sooooo louche), and tricot (which we see today only in lingerie fabrics). But any jersey with stretch from cotton to rayon to polyester or nylon was approved.

With only a bit of stretch built into the fabric, the pattern, which was close fitting, has shaped front and back pieces and back straps. It shuts at the back neck with buttons and loops while a zipper shuts the back bodice and then the top of the long gathered skirt.

It gives you an idea of how formal an evening gown could still look in the 1970s even after the Youth Quake revolution in fashion which claimed there should be no rules of any kind of clothing. But people still liked to dress up, so they never gave up on formality entirely.

[professorpski]

Cousin to The Seven Year Itch Halter Dress, Butterick 6938

There is a famous scene in the 1955 film, The Seven-Year Itch, a movie set in a hot summer in New York City when air conditioning was still rare. Marilyn Monroe is standing over a subway grate and the whoosh of a train blows up the skirt of her white halter dress giving some relief from the heat.

This re-issued 1950s pattern from Butterick is the cousin to that famous white dress. There are differences--Monroe’s dress by Travilla had a pleated skirt, a waist-tie, and no buttons in front--but they share a silhouette of fitted bodice with a halter neck and a full skirt.  Indeed, you could alter this pattern to make it look more like the iconic dress, but the ensemble here is both charming and practice.

The buttons on the front bodice appear on the little jacket as well. And the jacket is a nice addition since air-conditioning can create a chill on many a summer evening out.  While the buttons are functional, you get into the dress with a side zipper.

The dress and jacket take 6-7 yards of 45″ fabric, and they suggest crispy cottons like chambray, broadcloth or pique, or fancier silks like taffeta or shantung.  I  would either test muslin the bodice or add extra-large seam allowances (3/4″), so that you can tweak the close fit. You need to take into account the shape of the shoulders, the bustline and the waistline and how they relate to each other, are you long-waisted, short-waisted, etc.

Realize the skirt will be WIDE, and you may prefer to pleat it rather than gather it at the waist to reduce bulk. The 1950s designers loved the fitted bodice with the enormous skirt, but many of us find it overwhelming to the eye.

You can find it at your local fabric store on online here: https://simplicity.com/butterick/b6938