Vintage Sewing Patterns From My Past

In junior high, I had a required class in home sewing. We made an apron the Bishop Method and then an A-line skirt with darts and a back zipper. I chose to make a deep purple skirt. By the next year, I had outgrown it.

I really liked sewing and imagined making all my own clothing, just as I had dreamed of making Barbie doll clothes a few years before. Mom bought a used machine but she had trouble with it and nothing was made.

My mother-in-law was an addicted sewer. She was making all her own clothes, even pjamas and underwear! I taught myself to sew after my husband bought me a sewing machine for our first Christmas in 1972. While he studied in the evening, I kept busy with my Singer. 

One of my early projects was a snap front robe made with prequilted material.
Christmas 1973, me with our litter box trained pet rabbit.

Before he graduated I was making dresses, t-shirts, blouses, jeans, and skirts. I made leisure-suit coats and even a cassock for Gary! I learned by doing. My first sewing class was a gift when I graduated from university in 1978; I received a Stretch-and-Sew class voucher. I made a swimsuit.

I recently found a great resource for vintage patterns. It was fun identifying patterns I remember making.

This jumper pattern was one of my earlest projects. I made the short version in a yellow and purple acrylic big plaid. I loved the big pockets. I'm shocked there are no photos of me wearing it. I wore it every week to work with a full sleeve white blouse with a deep pointed collar.

Simplicity 5862; ©1973; Misses' Jumper in Two Lengths (Approximate Length of Short Jumper is 36"): The short jumper V. 1 and ankle length jumper V. 2 with bodice and skirt stitched to midriff has back zipper, shoulder straps and bias patch pockets.

I made several long sleeved smock tops with the pattern below. Actually, I wish I still had it. Those pockets are great!

McCall's 3522; ©1973; Misses Dress or Smock. Pullover dress or smock has puffed sleeves. Long sleeves gather into snapped cuffs. A, B, with drawstring in waistline casing has rick rack and eyelet or lace ruffling. B with Button trimmed front band or C with trimming has patch pockets.

These were the days of the 'leisure suit' and I made some coats for Gary, as well as ties, a bathrobe, and a cassock.

My husband in a leisure suit coat I made. 1973.

In 1978 I made a jacket similar to the green one in the middle on the above pattern. I bought a black and white tweed fabric at a designer fabric warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia. Gary wore the jacket when we picked up a vacuum cleaner we won at a local appliance store. I am wearing a woven plaid jacket I made. It had a belt, but it looks unbelted in this photo.

I remember owning this pattern.

I made this dress for my husband's graduation.

McCall's 3871; ©1973; Misses' and Junior Dress. High waisted, back zippered dress has puffed sleeves with elastic in casings, tie belt included in side seams. A, C has lower sleeves. A with lace trim, or B with lace ruffling has standing collar.

Not a good photo, but I made lots of T-shirts like I have on in the photo below,  taken on a trip to the Finger Lakes.

This top could be worn over a turtleneck. Once again...big pockets! I don't recall if I made this pattern or not, but I know I owned it.

Simplicity 6529; ©1974; Misses' Unlined Jiffy Jacket and Pants: The pants, without side seams, have elastic waistline casing and a back zipper. The top-stitched, unlined jacket, with front yoke and sleeves, has a front button closing, flapped patch pockets and elbow length kimono type sleeves wtih turn back cuffs.

Featured in Simplicity Fashion News, September, 1974

I made a short sleeved jacket with a matching skirt, here worn over a sleeveless shell. The print fabric had a bright green background!

The top on the far right on the pattern below is like one I made and embellished with the built-in stitches on my Bernina 830. I often wore it with bell bottom jeams when I was first attending Temple University.

I made this jumper and blouse around 1979. The blouse had a short stand-up collar and narrow cuffs. The dress was a wrap-around with a front and back panel that tied at the waist.

I wore this dress to class during my last semester at university. It had narrow pleats in the yoke.

Around 1980 I got this awful perm, so that dates this dress that I made. The photos were taken at Longwood Gardens in Chester Co, PA.

It had a buttoned bodice. I needed a class in how to adjust patterns to fit better since I was no longer a straight size.

I adored the Folkwear patterns and collected a few but the only one I made was this prairie dress. I wore it for Thanksgiving dinner.

I made this prairie skirt in a small blue and white check.

I loved, loved, loved this coat! The hood and deep pockets were so useful. I made it a herringbone woven fabric in brown and burgundy. 

When I found a patternless dress in a magazine I made it quite a few times. It made a good pregnancy dress. It used the width of the fabric for the skirt and top, cutting out a hole for the head. 

1987 at my baby shower

I made this maternity dress with a large color and huge bow. 

I wore this knit dress for our son's christening. It had dolman sleeves and a gathered waist.

Below, on the right, I am in a patternless outfit holding Chris in a shirt and overall I made that had bunnies on the bib. I enjoyed making lots of clothes for my baby and toddler.

I made this jacket for our son several times. It closed with velcro.

I made this paisley dress in the early 1990s, one of the last items I sewed for myself.

 A short set I made our son. He would chose fabrics.

By this time I was making quilts instead of clothing.

Singer Make-Over Guide

Another recent find at the Royal Oak Flea Market was this Singer Make-Over Guide, Ideas and Instructions for Renewing, Altering, and Restyling Clothing and Fabric Furnishings. The booklet was published in 1942 and 1943.

During World War II rationing meant ladies were unable to purchase new clothes to keep up with style changes or children's growing bodies. Instead of passing worn clothing to younger children this booklet showed women how to alter and refit clothes.

It first showed instructions for darning, patching, and mending using the Singer sewing machine.

Restoring sweaters showed how to restore a garment's shape, alter it, and repair holes. Cutting off arms and altering the neck for a V-neck opening could turn a small sweater into a stylish vest. Appliqueing floral motifs over holes and bands of fabric to make stripes also could cover mars.

Blouses could be altered into dickeys. Torn sleeves could be replaced with new.
Below you can see how a dress was altered for bitter fit and to offer higher style.

A dress that had shrunk could be remade into a jumper or coat dress with inserts, reversing the dress, altering the neckline and sleeves, or adding back center panels.

Little girls who insist on growing taller were problem children. The suggestion was inserting bands of fabric in the skirt and even in the midriff of the dress.

Combining two dresses to make two new ones sounded too complicated for me! But converting a coat sounded easier. Here they show an old coat with a new lining, padded shoulders, reversed inserted panels in the front, color, and cuffs.

Quilted inner coats could be layered with an outer coat or worn as a robe or stylish evening wear coat. Fur coats could be remade with new sleeves or with cloth gore sides to make the new swing coat shape.

A man's shirt could make TWO shirts for the kids.

I have read that used clothing is a real trash problem. We toss away more clothing than can be used for charity, and recycling it is a problem since most fabrics in clothing manufacturing today consist of man-made fiber. Microfiber is especially a concern, with particles appearing throughout the environment.

It is suggested that we use clothes longer, buy natural fibers of wool or silk or linen, and 100% cotton where we can find it.

Or, we can learn from our foremothers and make-over clothes for longer use!

How To Make Children's Clothes the Modern Singer Way --in 1931

"Modern sewing methods and a modern Singer sewing machine are essentials that combine to make sewing at home recreational and economically valuable."

I found this booklet, How to Make Children's Clothes the Modern Singer Way, at the Royal Oak Flea Market. It was first printed in 1927 by the Singer Sewing Machine Company as Singer Sewing Library booklet No. 3; my copy was printed in 1931.

The 64-page booklet does not include patterns; it offers advice and illustrations of details of sewing garments for children of all ages, from baby layettes to 'dress frocks' for older girls.

"This book is designed to make sewing for children easy, to make the work interesting, and to encourage those who sew for children to appreciate the importance of correct and becoming attire, thus helping in a silent way to build a foundation of good taste and a sense of fitness to the child that will later prove an asset, economically and socially." from the forward by Mary Brooks Picken

The Modern Singer Sewing Machine in 1927-1931

"Authorities disagree on the quantity of garments necessary for a baby's layette, but all agree that beautiful cleanness is absolutely necessary.

"It is best to buy a 10-yard piece of fine nainsook and use this for dresses and slips, and buy a bold or bolts of diaper cloth, if diapers are to be cut and hemmed at home."

Rompers for boys and girls differed little.

The play overalls are suitable for boys or girls. Note that figure 45 has an apron.

Bloomer frocks, short dresses with matching bloomer panties, and Pantie Frocks for girls 8 to 12 years of age, are very familiar to us from movies and print ads of this time.

Combination Suits were meant to be worn under dresses. The seamstress is warned to allow enough fullness and length in the crotch and that the neck be low enough to not show above the slip or dress, and that the arm hole is large enough to not crowd the dress arm. 

The Middie and Bloomer outfit was perfect for gym suits.

Examples of dress frocks for older girls:

Pajamas, lounge wear and beach wear costumes had full pants.

Junior girls should not feel awkward; she can be "just as attractive at fourteen as she was at six or will be at twenty. She can be attractive for the age of fourteen."

Girls should be "encouraged" to "reason and observe and know what is best for herself." She should choose outfits appropriate to her age, temperament and type. "Under no circumstances should the clothes of an older person be shortened for a younger one;" instead the material can be dyed, recut, and remade.

Fabrics should be neutral, never delicate, and becoming, with an even weave and smooth surface. Flannel, serge, gingham, flat crepe, are better than cheviot, dotted Swiss, or satin.