This Sunday I have fashions and underthings from
Showing posts with label searscatalog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label searscatalog. Show all posts
catalog Sunday
This Sunday is Sears fall winter 1940-41
This Sears has a reversible cover. Here is the back. The rest at NVL.
This Sears has a reversible cover. Here is the back. The rest at NVL.
catalog Sunday
Hello all. I thought as a way to share my many, many vintage catalogs, Id introduce a catalog Sunday to my blog. Ill post excerpts from my Sears, Montgomery Wards, Lane Bryant, and pattern catalogs so to show the latest styles for men women (plus sized women too) and even kiddies.
Today's post is women's fashions from the Sears fall/winter 42-43 catalog.
Check every Sunday to see a few pages of surprises!
Thanks!
Today's post is women's fashions from the Sears fall/winter 42-43 catalog. Check every Sunday to see a few pages of surprises!
Thanks!
Greetings from the Shirred Skirt Test Lab
Shirred Skirt Fabulousness from the 1949 Sears Catalog
In between muslining my Sencha blouse, schmoozing over falafel with the fabulous Bloggers and Blogettes (more on this later!), fighting off a nasty cold and decluttering the apartment for Cartoonist Baby, I've been working out the pattern-free pattern for my reversible shirred-waist full skirt:
This skirt is the foundation of my spring mini-wardrobe contest plans--like the no-elastic yoked knit skirts I've been making, it should be stretchy enough to accommodate the most pregnant of bellies, but will still work just fine post-maternity.
But, horrors! As you recall I hit a roadblock recently when I discovered that my purchased Burda shirred-yoke skirt pattern was a circle skirt that just Would Not Do with my vertically patterned purple cotton lawn.
What I really needed was a pattern for a full skirt, like this 1950s number:
Or like this RTW reversible Gap skirt (the reverse side is a solid). It's not a maternity skirt at all, it fit me just fine before I gained 30 pounds of belly, bustage and baby, AND it is still quite comfortable in my third trimester!
Except no pattern is really needed at all for a dirndl/full skirt--as Gertie revealed in her tutorial on a non-elastic version, it's just a bunch of gathered rectangles. All you do is choose how full/gathered you want the skirt to be in relation to your hips (two times? three times?), "draft" a waistband piece, gather, cut and sew.
Construction is a bit different for a reversible elastic-shirred version with a deep yoke instead of a waistband, of course. And I've never shirred a stitch before in my life. So here's a peek at the Mikhaela test lab:
As you can see I've worked out some measurements and a likely construction sequence and cut out my (wearable) test garment pieces in a small-scale gingham ($1.50 a yard from Fulton Fabrics!). Right now I'm playing with different elastic shirring techniques on some muslin--none of my sewing reference books are very detailed on the subject, and online tutorials and advice differ widely on ideal stitch length/tension and how tightly the elastic should be wound on the bobbin.
I don't know yet if the test tube version of my shirred skirt will be a success, but once I achieve World Shirring Domination I promise not to take it too far:
(Crossposted to my blog, Polka Dot Overload).
Circle Skirts and Vertical Stripes? Ask the Sears Catalog!
What was I thinking? Last night I sat down to wash the fabric and tape together the skirt pattern for my mini-wardrobe contest entry--it's an elastic-shirred waist circle skirt in a purple lawn print, which I planned to make reversible by lining with a black dotted swiss cotton lawn. Here are the flats and planned fabric again:
As I ironed the fabric dry last night, I realized that the bold motifs ran in vertical stripes down the fabric--how would I ever lay this out with my bagel-shaped pattern pieces?
In my doubts I turned to one of my favorite fashion reference books, "Everyday Fashions of the Fifties: As Pictured in Sears Catalogs" (second in my heart only to "Everyday Fashions of the Forties"). My worst fears were confirmed--there was nary a vertically-striped (or otherwise vertically patterned) circle skirt in sight, though there were a few horizontal or chevroned striped numbers. All the vertically-striped gals were wearing full or fitted skirts:
I trust the Sears catalog ladies, so I'll be "drafting" a full skirt (i.e. taking a big rectangle and gathering it around my pregnant "waist" with shirring elastic.)
As a bonus, how much fun is the 1952 children's circle skirt spread the top image came from? If I ever do make any circle skirts, I will be sure to take every opportunity to pose sitting on the floor with my perfect circle spread out around me!
I'd love to be proven wrong here, by the way--have you ever made or seen a workable vertically-striped circle skirt? Am I just not thinking creatively here?
Cross-posted to my blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)