a contemporary, early 40's style sewing pattern!

I haven't bought new sewing patterns this year, partly because there weren't really interesting retro-tyle patterns released, partly because I was more concentrating on knitting. The big 4 Vogue, Simplicity and Butterick didn't have many vintage reprint patterns this season and certainly nothing for us, 1930-40's fans. However, one contemporary pattern,  Butterick 5951 stands out. It looks totally like an early 1940's dress, don't you think? Why on Earth is this one not listed as a retro pattern?!


Above the envelop picture and technical drawings next to a similar 1938 dress. The Butterick dress has a flattering V-neck, interesting vertical gathering in the front, totally 40's sleeves and two equally flattering skirt options. It's a pity you can't see any details because of the busy print of the sample dress.

Crochet collar and cuff pattern from 1934!

I thought it would be fun to finish the Miss Lemon wardrobe series with a 1930's project, Miss Lemon could make herself!
I turned to my favorite source of vintage magazines, the Australian Women's Weekly again and choose a fairly simple but impressive crochet pattern of a collar and cuffs from 1934. Collars and cuffs were the ultimate accessory to brighten up last years frock as they wrote quite often:

"Here's another of those completely adorable collar and cuff sets that go on and of in the twinkling of an eye so that your best friends never know whether it is the same frock you are wearing so often or not. The set is delightful for a dark frock, and adds that ultra-chic touch of smartness that turns an ordinary dress into a most distinctive one." 

Gauntlets were very fashionable in the early and mid 30's. Already in 1933 a similar crochet pattern was published to make gauntlet attachments for simple fabric gloves:

"Here is another of fashion's irresistible little notions that can be worked at almost lightning speed from an ounce of wool and then attached to any pair of gloves to match your daintiest frocks. White fabric gloves with white crochet gauntlets would look so smart with a black and white outfit. And white tops on beige, brown, or grey gloves would be equally effective."

Bows were an 'inseparable' element of the 'Continental' knitted and crocheted designs in 1933-1934. We know Miss Lemon loves matching cuff and collar sets, so let's imagine she took out the crochet needle in the evenings, after a long day in company of her demanding boss, Mr. Poirot!



"An enchanting little set, comprising collar and cuffs, as sketched by Petrov*. Then you can step forth blithely to work in the knowledge that you are as chic as any girl could wish to look."

* Petrov (also known as Geoffrey Claude Turton) was a cartoonist and magazine illustrator. Petrov regularly contributed to the AWW magazine in the 1930's.

The original collar and cuff ensemble was designed to be larger than mine. I wanted to make a contemporary version which could be worn without appearing 'overdressed'.



   

Pattern notions:

- I used a metric size 2 crochet needle.
- The size of the finished items may vary by the size and weight of the yarn used. I would recommend to start by making the bow of the collar. This goes quite fast and gives a good idea of the sizing!

Below the big bow, a small bow and cuff (sizes in cm)
   

The finished big bow:


A finished small bow:

- To make a larger collar add a multiple of 2 chains to the starting row of chains.
- If you don't use mercerized cotton yarn you may expect about 5-10% shrinkage! In order to avoid an unusable small sized set you should make the pieces slightly larger: add some length to the desired cuff circumference and collar length.

What is Mercer cotton? In 1851, John Mercer (1791-1866) found a way to increase the luster of cotton by adding caustic soda, sulfuric acid and other chemicals to the fiber. By altering the cotton, it was found that it didn't shrink as much when washed and took dye more readily. Mercerized cotton is also more mildew resistant than standard cotton fiber and has a softer appearance and feel.

My pattern modifications:

• For both the collar and the cuffs less chain rows were made (collar 12 rows, cuff 11) The original 18 and 16 rows seemed a bit overwhelming, I felt less rows would give a nice balance for the bows. My bows are made as described in the pattern. For the collar I made 3 rows of 4 ch, 4 rows of 5ch and 3 rows of 6 ch. For the cuffs 6 rows of 4 ch and 5 rows of 5 ch.
• Size of collar: I increased the chain length of the collar. The 110 chains of the pattern formed a length too short to make a nice v-neck.
• Picot's: I used slipstitch instead of d.c. to make the picot's, because that's the way I learned it and it makes the work look finer too i.m.o.
• Edging bows: The bows are made with smaller, 3-chain loops, so 2x3 d.c. as described for the collar was way too much. I used 2 d.c.-picot-2 d.c. instead.
• Edging cuffs: Again, I used the 2 d.c.-picot-2 d.c. edging for the loops and loop edges (picture below left). This gives a neat finish. I found that the 3 d.c.-picot-3 d.c. stretched out the edges of the cuffs too much

   

The crochet terms used in the original pattern are the UK terms. Interestingly, another crochet pattern I found in the AWW used the US terms. Getting confused? I certainly was, but the picture and crocheting a test piece helped.

The abbrevations used in the pattern and the corresponding US terms:

ch. = chain

d.c. = single crochet

treble = double crochet
For more explanation of UK and US crochet terms click here.

  
This pattern appeared in an 1934 issue of the Australian Women's Weekly magazine. All original newspaper images through Trove, all other images are mine.

Notes on finishing:

- After reading the pattern descriptions I wondered where the press-studs should be placed, where the small bows should be sewn and whether I should finish all of the edges of the cuffs or the sides should be attached first. I guess those days these things were more evident to the readers than now. As far as the edges of the cuffs go, the pattern doesn't mention crocheting round or sewing the sides together (though it seems like there are no visible edges on the picture) so I choose to finish the sides and upper edge with the picot motifs. I attached the bows in the middle of the cuffs, just on the last two rows of the treble stitches.

- I didn't used press-studs, planning to handsew the collar and cuffs to the sweater instead. It can be easily removed before washing.
- It can be handy to attach the bows separately with small safety pins. That way they can be easily removed, washed and starched again. Besides that the bows can be worn separately as a brooch.
An advice from the AWW's 'Miss precious minutes' series: 
"Attach white touches by tacking or fastening by tiny gold safety pins, then they can easly be removed and laundered."
- Starching of the finished collar, cuffs and bows before finishing (=assembling bows) is necessary! The lace loops won't stand in place on their own. Iron everything on a thick towel with the right side down to keep the surface structure intact.

To see my finished set in action click here!

On Miss Lemon's nightstand...1930's women's magazines online!

Do you remember how Miss Lemon knew all the facts about society scandals, marriages, engagements but also happened to read the latest news in the papers? Of course, this is all imaginary, but I like to think se was a regular reader of at least one of the era's women's magazines.



Recently I discovered a truly AMAZING source of 1930's magazines online! Trove, the Australian National Library provides scanned issues on their website of the 'Australian Women's Weekly' magazines from the early 1930's until the 1980's. And it is there, free to read for all of us! How great is this idea?
Now we are able to follow the fashion history as well as real history through the eyes of women from the Great depression through WW2, the post-war era and beyond! Actually I had to set a limit for myself: I'm not going to browse through more than 2 issues a week, to prevent spending all my free time behind my laptop, though it is very tempting!


source of all pictures in this post: Australian Women's Weekly magazine through Trove

A LITTLE HISTORY:
In England 'Woman's Own' was the first of the mass-circulation weekly women's magazines that appeared in the 1930s. By the end of the 1930s there were over 50 magazines aimed at women readers like 'Nash's', 'Lady's companion', 'Britannia and  Eve' and 'Everywoman' among others. Several of these had hundreds of thousands readers!
The 'Australian Women's Weekly' is an Australian monthly glossy, but the magazine was started in 1933 by Frank Packer (at the age of 26!) as a weekly publication. This Australian Women's Weekly wasn't just some few-pages plain newspaper. No, it was an extensive, 40 pages magazine with illustrations and photographs as well. Those 40 pages were filled with news items, fashion, tips for women, complete short stories, occasional embroidery and crochet patterns as well. Basically they tried to cover everything from political news items to tips about home making.
Humor was surprisingly important at the time, there are a lot of cartoons, jokes and 'funny' incidents to read throughout the magazine. Health issues from pregnancy to removal of tonsils, from overtraining of athletes to healthy ways of sports got attention too. From juicy society stories (details told by 'insiders') to the for us boring details of society parties the latest news were provided. Not much different from what the magazines offer today! Reporters from London and Paris made sure women didn't miss anything and sent their stories "by Air Mail".
Several pages were devoted to home making and cooking. And of course, there were many, many articles about independent, interesting women who were stepping up for women's rights! As entertainment they provided weekly short, illustrated romantic stories to read. In the '40's also detective stories get a place, a chapter a week like the the Poirot series from Agatha Christie. Occasionally a full novel was added.
The magazine was filled with advertisements of clothing, beauty products but also hot water boilers, motor oil and laxatives. I guess even back in the 1930's the big money which was necessary to maintain a magazine like this came mainly from the advertisers. From june 1934 they introduced colored illustration covers and from the 40's regular colored illustrations and photographs inside the magazine as well. By the end of the 30's most fashion items got more structured and grouped in a 'Fashion portfolio' section, rather than being spread over the magazine like in the early years. The early issues had coupons which readers could send back during the month to receive a free sewing pattern per post.
From 1937 a free 'Knitting book' section was added once a year. In their second year, 1934 they held the largest knitting contest sponsored by a journal. The readers could win 157 prizes worth of £250 prize money. Several of the 'dainty', 'clever', 'smart', 'gaily' and 'gay'* designs were sent in with 'effective' details, 'in the vogue' of the actual season. Love that language, don't you?
*'Gay' was used in the original meaning of 'joyful' throughout the 1930's and 40's.
In 1942, midst of the war years they announced a 'coupon-saving contest' in which readers could show how they saved coupons by making over outdated items or by reusing scraps of wool rather than buying new. Not spending your coupons saved more money for the troops and supported your home country's war efforts...



But now back to 1933. To give you an idea of what Miss Lemon could have been reading I selected the highlights from a september 1933 issue of the very first year of the magazine:

The front page: 
- Margaret Saw to everything - How Lord Mayors Charming Daughter Spent Wedding Morn
"The wedding of Margaret Hagon and John Collins on Tuesday last, which has aroused such widespread interest throughout New South Wales and Queensland, was indeed one of the social events of the year"

The main articles: 
- World conference on hair fashions - New short cut likely to be adopted
- Stepping from Victorian age to 1933 - Extraordinary story of woman who lives with blacks since 1899
"How many Sydney women would like to spend 34 years practically without sight of another white man or woman, yet happy enough in the company of aborigines? Yet that is the condition of Mrs. Bates, who is now the guest of the Government at Canberra. And, after all, Mrs. Bates hasn't had much need to restock her wardrobe, for she has lived continuously among the aborigines for 34 years. What is more, she likes her isolated existence, and is always willing to help them in any emergency."
- Men don't like vamps in business - "Women Secretaries Favored for Their Ability and Loyalty"
- War talk in Australia is like in 1914
"There has been a sudden agitation for Australia to join in the world-wide race for bigger armies and navies. Mrs. G. A. Wood, a prominent worker in the cause of disarmament, has written the following article for The Australian Women's Weekly, in which she opposes war-mongering."
- Evening Ensembles from Hollywood
- The fashion parade - What to wear to sports events
- History of Antique furnishings
- Saide takes her first plunge - a photo series of bathing suits
"They are mostly completely missing as to back, and thoroughly modest for the reminder - pyamas and slacks and what not."
- Creating charm in your kitchen
- Spring frocks are gaily patterned - and they are practical too
- Every dog has his day - stars and their pets
- How to make tender and crusty short crust pastry - with several delicious, tested recipes!
- Move with the times
"Nothing is so old-fashioned to-day as gross extravagance; nothing is so unpopular. Nowadays people who give colossal parties with riotous profusion of viands and wines are shuddered at, rather than run after."
- A crocheted center piece or tray cloth with the Sidney Harbour bridge -  pattern sent free on request "What a fitting or memorable gift such as this would  make for an over-seas friend!"
- Training is important in girls's sport - "Australian girls not allowed to overtrain"



The smaller news items are intriguing as well:
- The tragic drama of dorothy Wright - Inside facts revealed about the death of a 24 years old Australian girl who shot herself in the "sumptous Paris flat" of Roland Coty, son of the perfume magnat
- An editorial - mind body and doctor -
 Harnessing the minute - Seconds count in life
"If only we had time!" is the cry of to-day as the precious hours fritter through our fingers. And yet do we value time? Do we realise the power of the minute? As children, we heard our fathers say, "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves." This platitude might equally apply to time. Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves. In these days of economic turmoil, when life has become a game of "General Post," in which we never know exactly what is going to happen next, it is important to make the best of free time by becoming an expert at something."
- The churches may unite
- Women pharmacists organize - There were a 100 women pharmacists in the NSW (New South Wales) area at the time, of which 80 in the metropolitan area
- Women of many nations confer overseas
"It would seem that we are now in the ebb tide of the woman's movement, and some of the hard-won privileges of women are endangered in this time of economic stress. There is all the more need, therefore for women to hold international conferences when they see jeopardised so many of the causes they have worked for the right of women to work on equal terms with men, the welfare of children, peace and international understanding, racial and religious tolerance."
- Sex ban lifted in Methodist church
- Women delve into nations big problems
- The Awkward moments competition - readers tell and win prizes
- Hockey finals, golf championship and racing reviews



The regular series:
- Careers for girls - in this issue: Mannequins delight in work - "A well-paid vocation and not so hard"
- Points of view
- Let's talk of interesting people - this week Martron A.B. Pocock who used to be a war nurse
- Women's news as told by the camera
- Things that happen - incidents sent in by readers
- Music and radio
- The body beautiful
- What my patients ask me - by a doctor
- Intimate Jottings - on art and society news and scandals - Private views - the critics about new movies
- The new books at glance
- The old gardener presents - This week: Spring's floral debutantes
- The mirror of society - news about engagements, parties and clubs
- Clever ideas - on how to remove stains, for example
- Before baby comes - For mothers and young wives
- Best Recipe Winners
- Just chatter
- For fun and fancy - jokes!
- Cartoons



Short stories:
- The real thing - a complete, illlustrated short story
- The Goddess - an illustrated "story of irony and of a woman's divine loveliness"
- The dream - "The dear intimacy had been destroyed. Was their ideal marriage to go the way of most?"

Want to read more? The old issues of the Australian Women's Weekly magazine are available through Trove, the Australian National Library. You are warned, once you start reading it is highly addictive!

Retro inspired printed Burda patterns

I wonder if anyone knows and tried these printed Burda patterns?
They look really pretty, with old fashioned artwork and the prices are (at least, here in Europe) half of the big 4 pattern prices. Overall, a nice selection of mostly 50's and 60's garments.
Strange enough I can't find any review online. My biggest problem with Burda patterns is that the garments like jackets are very loosely fitted or have a lot of ease. I always make size smaller than my measurements indicate. The back of the envelopes state 'fitted' for the 50's patterns and 'semi-fitted'  for the 60's patterns. Promising! The Vintage Vogue patterns look for me the best, I love that there is some variation in the designs they choose to re-issue. The Retro Buttericks are mostly dresses and Simplicity has only a few Retro patterns.

I've bought the two patterns above. The packaging is not much, the patterns and instructions are sealed in cheap plastic. That means once you open it you have to store your pattern in an envelope because you can't put them back without tearing the plastic apart...
Surprise, surprise, there are no seam-allowances included. To tackle this problem I've got a 'parallel' tracing wheel with chalk which you can adjust to add seam allowances while tracing:



Basically you trace along the pattern lines with the wheel (at the right) while mark your fabric with the chalk (left) along the line with a seam-allowance included. No need to measure and mark seam-allowances after tracing anymore! Really a time-saver. Why didn't I know that?...
But back to the patterns:
- The instruction booklet consist more text than diagrams than I'm used to with the big 4.
- I like the fact that the pattern pieces are printed in a different color, this makes easier to trace the outer lines.
- But nothing is perfect, so the printing is a darker shade of the same color which makes it impossible to write the instructions over while tracing.



While looking at the pattern pieces I wondered if there are any 'vintage'  features like shoulder darts and darts around the elbow on the sleeves... As far as I can see there aren't any. Both of the jackets have seams through the shoulders, so that's not clear and there aren't any visible darts on the two-piece sleeves.
No time yet to start on one of these patterns, I think I'm going to try the knit dress from the september Burda first. I need a quick and easy project right now, since we are still busy finishing stuff for our new home.

   

   

   

   

   

    

Pattern hoarding...again

 
I can't sew, so I just buy new patterns... Sounds logical, right?
I had to get these two. There are a million versions on the internet of the Tracy Reese dress (right) and it looks good on everyone! It is a simple summer dress, well for next year of course since the warm days are gone here. The McCall's dress on the left is rather interesting since it has a peasant-style neckline with raglan sleeves but it is still fitted and doesn't look baggy. I imagine it as a top, rather than a dress.
Two new Butterick patterns which I've got with the less than 2$ pattern sale:

 

Shawl collar, kimono sleeves, fitted but with a flared 'skirt' - this coat has everything you want in a coat...



This one looks so pretty on the model, and I love the 3/4 sleeves!

Gerties book for better sewing

My favorites: 1940's zip-front dress, The bow-tied blouse, The scalloped-waist skirt and The wiggle dress (Gertie's book for better sewing)

Finally, the book has arrived! The website stated 'in stock' so I didn't think it would be on the way for a week.
Can't wait to start a few new projects once we are in the new house. (For now, the downstairs toilet floor had to be removed - once again...)
What I like about this book is that it it is not really a beginner book, but more of a source for advanced techniques. And it has patterns! For each design there is a variation too. Just look at the modern take on a 40's dress with a front zipper! If you want to see all of the designs, take a look at Gertie's Flickr photostream here.
Last week when it was on sale I've also ordered Gertie's Butterick coat pattern. Since patterns are really expensive here in the Netherlands and there are hardly any sales once in a while I place an order in the Vogue or Butterick online pattern store. Especially when they have sales I often end up with 7$ worth of patterns and 25$ shipping costs. But still, that would be the price of two patterns here instead of four...