Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - Fitting the Frock for the Stout Figure

Okay, for any of you who have "bulges", Ruth explains how to ensure that your figure too can have long, loose lines. 1920s fashion may have favored the slender or "average" figure, but Ruth finds a way for those with less-than-ideal figures to "look inches taller and pounds thinner".  Sound familiar? It's the goal of many women throughout the decades!

History of Sewing - 1960s Vintage Pattern Sizes and Body Types

 At the end of the 1950s, seamstresses hopefully had adjusted to the "new sizing" changes that occurred in the mid-late 1950s. But in the 1960s, more changes are afoot. New figure types will be added (junior petite and chubbie girls), some figure types will be merged (sub-teen or pre-teen and teen become young junior/teen), and at the end of 1967 another complete sizing shift will occur.

Revisiting the End of the 1950s

To refresh your memory (if you don't want to review my post on 1950s pattern sizes),  here are pattern sizes from a 1959 Butterick Sewing Book. Note that there are separate pattern sizes for sub-teen, teen, junior, miss, woman, and half sizes. Note also that the Junior figure type IS considered a fully-developed (or mature) figure type, not a youthful (that is, teen-like) size. The Junior figure is simply relatively higher-busted and shorter-waisted than the Miss figure type (and maybe a tad shorter).

 

 Early and Mid 1960s

Although sizing from the end of the 1950s through the mid-1960s remains consistent, note that the sizes are NOT consistent from one pattern maker to another. Compare the Butterick sizes above, with those from Vogue (Vogue Sewing Book dated 1964) (Note that the "New Sizing" referred to here are the size changes from the late 1950s.):

McCall's Easy Sewing book from 1964 provides sizes and figure types similar to those of Butterick, but replaces Sub-Teen with Pre-Teen, and adds the Junior Petite figure type:

 

And in 1966, McCall's sizes are still the same. This McCall's Step-by-Step Sewing Book provides a nice comparison of the Misses figure type with each other type.

1967 - Time to Change to New Sizes!

In late 1967 sizes change yet again!!! Effective November 1, 1967, pattern companies made the shift to new sizes developed and approved by the Measurement Standard Committee of the Pattern Fashion Industry. The pattern sizing change was made to correspond more closely with standard ready-to-wear sizing (at that time). Was access to better or more food a factor in the size changes of the late 50s and this change in the late 1960s? A good topic for research and discussion!

The sizes affected Misses, Women's, Half-Size, Junior, and Junior Petite. Teen and Pre-Teen sizes were replaced with a new size range - Young Junior/Teen.

Sizes essentially shifted downwards. For example, for the Misses figure type with bust 34, the size changed from 14 to 12. The ratio of hip to bust remains the same (bust 34, hip 36), but the waistline is reduced by a half inch (a full inch for some sizes): Before: bust 34, waist 26, hip 36 - After: bust 34, waist 25-1/2, hip 36.

McCall's Step-by-Step Sewing Book from 1968 does a great job providing a comparison of the former sizing with the new:

 

And here are the "new sizes" as published in a Simplicity Sewing Book from 1968, which includes a  "Chubbie" figure type for girls: