July review

This is going to be a very short post because, as expected, I had very little free time in the month.

I have discovered that one of the joys of knitting is that unlike dressmaking it lends inself to working in short bursts - you can just pick it up and do a sneaky row or two if you have a few spare moments. Thus the body of my new Wondrella cardigan is complete. I decided to do the sleeves next, rather than the collar and bands. However, I picked up the stitches in a bit of a rush, and after I had knitted the first row I realised that I had picked some of them up in the wrong place.

The two stitches to the left of the marker were picked up too far in

There were more iffy stitches than just those two, and because I am that fussy, I decided that I needed to fix them all. However, I didn't want to take the whole thing out and have to space out and pick up 118 stitches again. So I undid the row of knitting, and then tried an experiment.

I transferred all the stitches to the right of the stitch marker, plus the two that were wrong, onto a length of scrap yarn. Then I took the leftmost stitch off the yarn, and pulled out the loop for the stitch, used a crochet hook to pull it back through in the correct place, and placed it back onto the needle. I did the same with the second stitch, and then returned all the other stitches on the holding yarn back onto needle.

All now in the right place

I suspect that this is nothing new to seasoned knitters, but I was very pleased that I had worked this out for myself. I'm used to (mostly) being able to fix sewing hiccups, but knitting is a whole new world. To be honest, it probably took longer to do it this way that if I had just frogged the sleeve and started again, but learning a new skill was far more satisfying.

More new skills await with my dress. I have got as far as sewing bodice darts and shoulder seams, and the next stage is the side seams and sleeves.

Progress so far

I went for the radical approach of actually looking at the instructions, and discovered that they differ slightly from the methods I used for the peppermint batik dress. Hopefully once we are into August I'll find some time to try them out.

Vogue's mature woman goes globetrotting

Following on from last week's March 1942 issue of Vogue, another recent acquisition is the December 1959/January 1960 issue of Vogue Pattern Book.

Marking the start of a new decade

Naturally much of the magazine is given over to sewing for the festive season but, rather surprisingly (to me, at least), there is also a feature on Vogue Patterns in Russia.

Not what I was expecting

The article is about what it calls the "Moscow Fair", which was actually the American National Exhibition. This was held in Moscow in 1959, and ran from 25 July to 4 September. While the reciprocal Russian exhibition in New York concentrated on heavy industry and space exploration, the American National Exhibition was far more focussed on consumer goods. According to the accounts I have found online, US household names such as Sears, Kodak and General Motors took part, and clearly so did Vogue Patterns.

Whereas the 75 official exhibition guides were all younger than 35, a deliberate decision to reflect America's youth, Vogue Patterns chose to include a model to "represent the mature American woman". The woman selected for the role was Mary Whelchel, and the article is written by her. As the introduction states, she had "often appeared in Vogue Pattern Book", as one of the models who represented Mrs Exeter in both the Pattern Book and the main magazine. Although given that she celebrated her 44th birthday while in Moscow, she was at this point far from "approaching 60" as Mrs Exeter had been described when she first appeared in print.

The first two pages of the feature . . .

. . . and the last two. All the images are enlarged below

The exhibition included fashion shows, presumably featuring clothing from American manufacturers, but here Mary Whelchel focuses on her 'personal wardrobe', mostly made by her from Vogue patterns. A trip of seven weeks, combined with a baggage allowance of only 75 pounds and temperatures ranging from 45° to 90° F (7° to 32° C), required careful planning and clothes which could be part of multiple outfits. A big part of Mary's solution was her "wardrobe-within-a-wardrobe".

Some of the options in the capsule wardrobe

This consisted of two dresses with different sleeve lengths made from pattern 9747. Open-end zips replaced the waist seams, allowing the tops and skirts to be worn as dresses or separates. The capsule wardrobe was completed with an extra 'top', also made from 9747, and a coat with two zip-in linings. This was made from 9489, and could be worn belted and without the lining as a warm dress.

Vogue 9747, "Easy to Make"

Vogue 9489

As well as straight skirts, Mary’s wardrobe also included two pleated skirts made from pattern 9410.

Vogue 9410, "Very Easy to Make"

One was white, worn here with a matching blouse made from 9485.

Vogue 9485, "Easy to Make"

Not shoes I would wear for sightseeing!

The other was made in a leopard-printed silk.

Browsing in the pattern department of the GUM department store

The matching blouse was part of suit pattern 4028, with the jacket and skirt made in beige jersey.

Vogue 9048, this pattern was also available in Junior Miss sizes

The hood of the blouse worn as a cowl collar

According to the article "suits are essential to every travel wardrobe" and Mary made two - the beige one above, and 4867 in a black and white silk blend plaid.

Vogue 4867, another Special Design pattern

With Pat Nixon, wife of the then Vice President

She also had a three-piece, made from 4860. Like the pattern illustration, hers was made in red with white edging.

Vogue 4860

In Red Square

Her final daytime outfit was a knife-pleat skirt with a blouse and short jacket, all made from 4997.

Vogue 4997, I was unable to find the pattern for this one

For evening parties she made Vogue Paris Original 1391 by Jacques Heim in moss green chiffon.

Vogue Paris Original 1391

Mary made her version with a narrower belt and a fuller underskirt

Mary describes her role on the trip as "an American "ambassadress of goodwill"", something which she enjoyed. Most days were busy, but in the evenings the Vogue Patterns party was able to explore Moscow, and go to the ballet and opera at the Bolshoi, and also the State Circus. There were also some interactions with ordinary Russians. She writes about giving her lipstick (warmly received) to her female cab driver, and conversations, mostly in sign language, with people on the street. One of the most frequent questions she received was about why she didn't dye her greying hair! I’m not sure if this reflects Russians' view of American society at the time, or if it's just an age-old question directed at older women everywhere!

Fabrics and patterns in 1942

I have recently acquired a copy of the March 1942 issue of Vogue. Unsurprisingly, it was the cover which first attracted me.

Anything with wooden cotton reels is going to pique my interest!

The illustration is by Pierre Roy, a French Surrealist artist who had done several Vogue covers in the 1930s. You can see another example of his work here. Discovering the identity of the artist explained the mystery of why a tape measure in centimetres appeared on the cover of an American/British publication!

Sometime between November 1940 and March 1942, Vogue Pattern Book ceased to be a separate supplement and became part of Vogue itself, where it would stay until Spring 1949. There are some interesting articles and advertisements in this issue, but this post concentrates on the Pattern Book, and the features on fabrics.

The first of these is the "London Spring Fashions and Fabrics" mentioned on the cover. It consists of drawings of seven outfits created by designers in the recently formed Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, alongside descriptions and close-up photographs of the fabrics used.

Designs by Bianca Mosca, Worth London and Hardy Amies

Designs by Hartnell, Digby Morton, Bianca Mosca and Peter Russell

Following on from this is a double-page colour spread on woollens.

Colourful woollens for spring

Most of the issue is printed on smooth, slightly glossy, magazine paper, but eight of the Pattern Book's 12 pages are printed on something more akin to heavy newsprint.

The Pattern Book section still has its own 'cover'

Special Designs patterns

Couturier patterns

For children

Regular patterns

Only the photograph section uses glossy paper, presumably to reproduce the images properly.

Vogue 9247

Vogue 9291

Vogue 9192

Vogue 9246

Vogue 9246 can be made either entirely from fabric, or with the bodice section knitted. Knitting instructions are provided at the back of the Pattern Book. There is no suggestion that they are also included with the pattern, and as they are for a 34" bust only and the pattern is available in sizes 30" to 40", this option seems to be of limited use.

Knitting instructions and other information (click to enlarge)

A 34" bust seems to be the Vogue standard at this time, as the yardage requirements listed above the knitting instructions are also given for that size. There is also a column for the number of coupons required to make the pattern up. Separate collars and dickies have their own coupon allowances, although presumably these were prime candidates for some 'Make Do and Mend' from a worn-out garment.

In total, there are 41 adult patterns and five for children in this issue. It would be interesting to see if the number of new patterns issued reduced as the war went on.

1960 summer dresses

As predicted, I've had very little sewing time this week, I haven't even managed to cut out all of my dress. So, as both the patterns I am using for it date from 1960, I thought that for this post I would take a look at the June/July 1960 issue of Vogue Pattern Book, specifically summer dresses.

The dress on the cover, Vogue 9732, has a fitted bodice, gathered skirt, and a very narrow tie belt.

Holiday clothes feature heavily

Gingham is described inside as "having it good this season". As well as the violet version on the cover, it turns up in yellow for Vogue 9205.

This one has a button front bodice

There's more gingham on the back cover, although it is printed rather than woven and alternates with rows of "turquoise daisies" (?) on this Cepea cotton. The dress, another fitted bodice and gathered skirt, is actually made from a McCalls pattern, 5001.

The style makes good use of the print

There are yet more similar dresses in this feature.

L to R: 9971, 5028, 5013, 9991 and 4104

Vogue 9945 has the pleated skirt of Simplicity 3663 and the scooped neckline of Butterick 5748, but is constructed with a wide midriff band and a separate bodice section with short darts above it.

Vogue 9945 - what's in the basket?

The pattern also includes a matching bolero which is, apparently, "tucked in the basket" in this photo (clearly another of Vogue's 'take it on trust' moments). Very oddly, a tiny line drawing of the back view on page 66 is the only indication of what the bolero might look like. I have included an image from the Vintage Pattern Wiki for the curious.

This is

It's not all full skirts, however. There are some sheath dresses as well.

L to R: 9968, 9998, 9952, 9946 and 211

With regards to the fabrics featured in the issue, there are no conversational prints, but "bold design and vibrant colour" are Vogue's predictions for the summer.

Florals and geometrics

More florals

What really caught my eye in the second spread however was the black and white photo.

Can you tell why?

And lo and behold, there's another one.

Clue - it's the image on the right

Corded bias waistbands. You don't see any for ages (possibly ever), and then three come along at once! Clearly it was a 'thing' in 1960. I shall have to try it now.

An easy (I hope) project

Welcome to the first in a series of short blog posts. July is going to be a very busy month for me - but sadly not with fun stuff like holidays. In fact, the majority of it is going to be pretty stressful. This last week has been busy, too, as I've tried to pre-empt issues which might come up in the next few weeks.

Amid all this chaos I want a nice, non-taxing, project which I can pick up easily when I do have some free time. So, not my pineapple dress. Instead, following on from the success of my peppermint batik dress, I’ve decided to pursue my plan to re-use the bodice pattern and make up Simplicity 3662.

It's more of this!

I'm going to use this cotton poplin, which has been in my stash for a couple of years.

The colours are far brighter, but my camera refuses to capture them properly

Because it is such an obviously directional print, it wouldn't work with a circle skirt. Instead it needs a skirt which is either in panels or a tube. Panels would take a certain amount of work, because while I couldn't pattern-match the motifs I would want to at least align them. And I just don't like gathered skirts, on me at least. This design however, with its deep pleats (similar to the peppermint batik dress), seems like it would work. I am not going for the closed pleat at the bottom, though - for someone who takes quite long strides that looks like a recipe for disaster!

I will make the skirt on the right

View 1, in black, has a tie belt, but view 2 is described as having "corded piping in the waistline seam". This is a technique which I've never used before, so I'm tempted to have a go.

Interesting waist treatment

So far, I have resized the skirt pieces, and tweaked both them and my hybrid Simplicity 3662/Butterick 5748 bodice pieces to make sure that the darts match up with the pleats. So now I'm ready to start cutting out.