Jaunty 1930s Dresses with Back Fullness

These dresses from the December 1936 McCall's magazine look thoroughly jaunty. From the front, the bodice, waistline, and hip fit smoothly. But in back, the skirt flaunts its fullness. Who wouldn't love to have one of these back-flared frocks?

Love those hats, too!

Happy Mother's Day: Mother-Daughter Fashion from the Mid-1940s

With Mother's Day only a few days away, it seems timely to post about that wonderful fashion trend of the 1940s and 1950s, Mother-Daughter fashion! This trend to dress mothers and daughters in matching outfits certainly provided charm for the ladies in the family. In this post, I feature mother-daughter dresses from the mid-1940s that are perfect for spring and summer.

Mother Fashion - Simplicity 1553

Daughter Fashion - Simplicity 2068

A dirndl skirt in swing length and artfully puffed short sleeves - very nice! Add sash ties or not. The style looks especially cute when contrasting fabrics are used. I rather prefer view 2, myself. :)

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - A Frock Trimmed with Self-Fabric Plaits

While this tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears and the 1920s describes a plaited (pleated) trimming for a "young girl's frock", I think this excellent tip would also apply to a frock for any age!

In her usual marvelous style, Ruth guides her home sewists with clear illustrations and precise steps. And note her tip for the novel feature of flipping the hem to the outside and trimming it in place with the plaiting (pleating). So clever and so simple - I love it!

Ruth recommends a crisp fabric as most effective, and says the sketch is of "changeable pink taffeta". I can picture this frock in pink taffeta - can you?

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - A Smart Parisian Frock with Cascading Drape

I was watching Downton Abbey last night (oh my gosh - don't you just love the costumes for Edith and Mary?!) It makes me want to sew up a whole wardrobe of 1920s frocks. It is hard to believe there is only one episode left. :( At least we still have Miss Fisher of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries to get our Flapper Era fix.

To help you with your Downton Abbey or Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries frock envy, just turn to Ruth Wyeth Spears and her wonderful tips from the 1920s. In this tip for the home sewist, she covers the latest frock style from Paris with her usual simplicity. This frock, with a  unique neckline with offset jabot collar, and artful cascading drape below the waist, is designed for print fabric. Inspired?

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Dress Up Your Frocks with Lace Medallions

It's "blond on blond" in this inspiring tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears and the 1920s. The tip is perfect for making a special holiday frock. The insertion of medallions of filet lace adds an elegant touch. The thin bands that trim the front bodice and dropped waistline are of filet lace as well. All the trimmings are placed on the fabric itself, rather than being see-through. Don't forget to add the satin ribbon bow & streamers of "deep strawberry tone"!

Dreamy fashion for the 1920s home sewist!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: A Ruffled Summer Frock with Picoted Edges

While Ruth Wyeth Spears feels that this style is for the "sub-deb" (that is, sub-debutante, so pre-teen girl), I think this very feminine summer frock would be lovely fashion for almost any age. Aside from sewing this frock from soft georgette, Ruth describes a technique for creating a picoted edge - very clever, our Ruth!

To learn more about hemstitching (which in the 1920s was evidently something the home sewists paid for, rather than created themselves) that you can create yourself, check out this very informative Youtube video from Professor Pincushion.

In Search of Style & Scraps from the Past: A Dress Sewn from a Sears Catalog Pattern

It's the early 1940s, and where would you shop for a "Superior" pattern for an afternoon dress & bolero, as well as the fabric? Why, the Sears Roebuck catalog, of course! Today's finds were in a pattern from the early 1940s, and included both the catalog page that illustrates the pattern, and scraps of fabric from the resulting sewing project!

First, here is the pattern:

"Shop at Sears for Fashion-Right Fabrics and Patterns"

In Search of Style 

And here is the page from the Sears, Roebuck & Co catalog that was tucked in the pattern:

Note that the ensemble on the model is the very same pattern! And fabric at only 49 cents a yard! Which fabric swatch do you like? I actually like blue print that is on the model, though all the patterns are pretty. :)

Here is a close-up from the pattern instructions. Note the "peek-a-boo" breast pockets on the bolero:

Scraps from the Past

Also inserted in the pattern were these lovely rayon scraps (yes, rayon!). I can so visualize this ensemble in this wonderful floral pattern on a soft taupe-brown.

I'd say it is inspiring fashion from the 1940s and Sears!

Sew a 1920s Wardrobe in a Weekend Using Ruth's Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s

So sorry that I disappeared for the summer! What can I say? Life took over and left little energy for my blog. Life hasn't slowed down any, but items keep popping up and I just have to get back in the groove. Besides, I have missed you all!

So I resume my blog with this shout-out for Costume Academy! They are hosting a "1920s Wardrobe in a Weekend" retreat this weekend! What a fantastic idea, I only wish I could attend. Wouldn't it be fun to sew a one-hour day dress, an evening dress, and an accessory, all from the 1920s, and all in one weekend? Be sure to check out their website, and all their period costume events. They are surely a place to put on your "must-visit" list! I love too, that they have events for other fashion periods as well. Something for everyone. :)

In honor of Costume Academy's event, here is a post from our beloved Ruth Wyeth Spears and another tip for home sewing from the 1920s. Use this tip to inspire you to "jazz up" your 1920s frock with lace!

On the subject of Ruth Wyeth Spears, I was contacted by one of the organizers (Nicole Carlson) of this weekend's event at Costume Academy, asking to know more about her. While I do not consider myself an expert on Ruth, I shared what little I do know. 

Ruth learned her craft first by serving an apprenticeship in a dressmaking shop, and then went on to art school (with her goal being a career in fashion). In 1921 she launched her career in fashion through illustrating sewing directions and the processes of sewing. Ruth's fabulous syndicated series began to appear on the women's pages of small and large newspapers throughout the US in 1925. I do not know the year that her series ceased publication, but I think she continued publication through the 1930s at the least. Ruth created the topics based on questions from her readers. Her illustrations were so popular that they were widely copied in books, booklets, classrooms, and patterns.

Hats off to the successful career of Ruth Wyeth Spears - inspiring fashion in her readers all the way to the present!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Teen's Petal-Skirted Party Dress

If you need a 1920s-style party frock for a teen girl, this tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears describes how to whip up a lovely petal-skirted dress.  Just get a few yards of crepe de chine in a lovely color and in no time you can have your girl looking chic for a summer party! The simplicity of the design amazes me - Ruth's techniques require no pattern and allow you to fit the dress to wearer. Don't be held back by the idea that this is a young girl's dress - I think it would work for any age!

As an interesting aside, girls remained girls much longer in the 1920s. Note how Ruth Wyeth Spears refers to "young girl" and "young daughter" in this sewing tip, but defines that as 16 to 18 years! Of course, back then sizes were defined in "years" as well. :)

Scraps from the Past: Sunny Summer Wartime Frock

The pattern: Du Barry 5791 (1944)

I love how the original owner wrote her name on the pattern, and drew an arrow to the version that she sewed. Someone also wrote in very faint pencil vertically next to "This view": "no geathers will bring back" - a somewhat mystifying statement, I can only guess at what was meant. The handwriting is different from the writing in ink, so it may have been someone else.

The scrap: This floral cotton print is just a smidgeon of a scrap that was tucked inside this vintage pattern from the war years. But it is still enough to let us envision this frock in a summery print of blue flowers with pink and green bits. It paints a very pretty and sunny picture!

Pattern of the Week: Another Smocked Frock from the 1920s

My pattern of the week features this wonderful pattern from the 1920s for a girl's frock (size 10) that is structured with honeycomb smocking! If you don't want to tackle smocking, the pattern includes instructions for using shirring instead.

This pattern reminds me of a tip from the 1920s that I posted previously, in which Ruth Wyeth Spears describes how to accent a frock with smocking.

Both use honeycomb smocking to shape the fabric artfully and provide structure without darts or yokes or bands. Inspiring, don't you think?

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Freshen Last Season's Frock with a Trig Little Jacket

Well! Ruth Wyeth Spears describes how to make a "trig little jacket" that she calls a bolero in this wonderful tip for home sewists in the 1920s. :) With this tip, Ruth illustrates not only a sleeveless little bolero to dress up last season's frock, but also matching belt and matching cuffs on the frock! Very stylish, smart, and trim indeed. Another inspiring tip for your 1920s wardrobe!  :)

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: A Smocked Frock!

How many of you have tried your hand at smocking? In this tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears, frock fullness is artfully "gathered" with honeycomb smocking at the neckline and the hips. Using a typical technique for Ruth, you apply the smocking before you cut the dress. And as usual, Ruth's clear instructions make it look easy!

Smocking is actually a wonderful technique and there are magazines out there that are devoted solely to the art, especially in Australia, the UK, Canada, and South Africa, full of very cute smocking patterns.  Vintage patterns for smocked items usually included transfers that consisted of the dots that Ruth describes, which simplified hand marking the dots. Nowadays, there are pleating machines for smocking that make it even simpler.

But you don't need a smocking dots transfer or a machine to add smocking. Just follow Ruth's instructions to be successful!

Happy smocking!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - The Art of Trimming a Frock

In this tip for home dressmakers in the 1920s, we learn some key rules when trimming a frock, whether it is embroidery, a lace collar, flowers, or other trimmings. The key to looking smart is simplicity - you want to look fashionable, not "home-made" or worse yet, frumpy! :) Ruth Wyeth Spears always provides such wise fashion advice.

1930s Formal Frock

The perfect frock for graduation, a prom, any festivities that a young woman can attend! This lovely formal gown from 1937 features a long flared princess-seamed skirt, lightly fitted bodice, shirred shoulders and cuffs on the puff sleeves, and graceful sash ties. So pretty!

1930s - Another Lovely Frock

I love the artful design of the bodice in this lovely dress from the 1930s - gathers at a contoured high waist, with cute little tie belts at the natural waistline that tie in back. Drawn with sheer fabric, it is simply a delight.

1930s Sunny Frock with Peasant Details

Endearing and cheerful peasant lines distinguish this 1937 frock, with its colorful print (use your imagination!) trimmed with bright rick-rack and matching buttons!

Note the choice between puff sleeves and flutter sleeves.

And speaking of peasant lines, spotted in the line at Starbucks this morning was a skirt that shares a couple of things with this 1930s dress - a bright print fabric and rick-rack trim. Cute!

1930s Frocks - Tie it High

A collar that forms a tie belt? This wonderful detail plus a high waist, puff sleeves, and straight princess seams provide charm in this dress from 1937!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - A Lovely Frock with Draping

In this tip, Ruth describes a marvelous technique of artfully adding graceful panels and an elegant draped band ("girdle") at the hips to add beauty to a plain slip-over frock. As always, yardage and detailed, illustrated instructions are provided and make this look simple. Love it!

Summer Colors to Keep You Cool - 1930s Style!

I've notice that blue and teal are very popular this summer. So how about these beauties from the late 1930s? I think they'll do nicely. :)