Summer Promenade Costumes from McCall's Magazine - 1902

I just got some lovely fashion plates that we get to enjoy. Some have no information but these are from McCall's Magazine, August 1902. The outfits are each two pieces, waists or jackets with their skirts. I hope you click twice to see the details. Try to imagine sewing these...wow!


(A repost from August 23, 2011)

You Need Not Wear Another Single Thing!

 "Bon Ton Lingerie Plastique and your frock - that's all!" 
"...does away with overlapping thickness of vest, girdle, brassiere, pantie or bloomer."
 No boning this must have been pretty daring. And not too popular since I can't find any other references for the name 'Plastique'. But maybe some of that was the cost. $12.50 in 1929 is about $168.00 today, a bit pricey.  
Found in McCall's Magazine, October, 1929. 

"P.S. Mommy says you already know the one she wants."

So many Mail Order Catalogs! 1929 - 1930

There are a few of the many fabulous catalogs you could choose from in 1929-1930. These advertised for urban shoppers, but also brought fashion to that rural small town gal who wanted to wear the latest thing.

The Charles William Stores started in 1913 in New York.
Did you know Lane Bryant started in 1904 selling maternity clothes?
I have posted about a 1940's Bella Hess catalog here.
The Hamilton Garment Company still sells fine shirts.
I only found more ads from Elmer Richards Company. Do you know more history of this Chicago business?
The Minneapolis Knitting Works had a long history before closing in 1952.
Frederick Herrschner Inc. is still in business today selling crafts.
And here is another ad from the Dolly Gray Company.

So there was no excuse for you or your family not to be well dressed!

Post Thanksgiving Blues

I know, I know...where are they now?!

New Frocks for Youth and the Youngest - 1929

From McCall's Magazine September, 1929 we have new frocks with "hand-worked motifs...always a charming finish that gives an exclusive air to youthful frocks".

My Mending Shelf - advice from 1930

This article caught my eye because while we might not have as much darning of stockings or deal with runners in your nylons, but you may still face a huge basket of mending. Mary Waterstone Stuart has a solution for you. Make a shelf with all your supplies at hand and before you realize it your task is done."Definite places for things are such a comfort."

"I used to look at our huge basket of family mending, I always dreaded the task ahead of me. Then one day a happy thought struck me. I had- attractive shelves for books, for dishes, for knives, and for kettles. Why didn't I have a little sewing shelf, which would measure up to the rest of the house, a shelf so attractive that it would lend a glamour to the whole task of mending? The reason I disliked mending, I suddenly realized, was because it meant such a terrible waste of time. My tools were never at hand. And so I had kept putting off the job from day to day and the mending collected and grew more and more discouraging.
My plan was quickly carried out. I made a shelf of three-quarter-inch board, three and a half inches wide and twenty-five inches long, with a back to serve as an additional rack. These dimensions make an adequate abiding place for all the articles I need in ordinary sewing and mending work, but offer no refuge for excess baggage. I painted my shelf a gay lacquer red, treating it as an ornament of the room, but I could have matched the color of the wall had I wanted to make it unobtrusive.
When I had completed the outfit I felt very proud of it and hung it in the room where I usually mend, while the children play around or bring me their clothes which need a button or an odd stitch or two. Of course, it was in a good light for both day and night work, and within easy reach of my low sewing chair.
On the back of the rack I drove in six brads at an angle, and on them placed a few necessary spools of thread. Black and white cotton in two weights—one for buttons and the other of lighter weight for hand and machine sewing—were all that I really needed. As I happen to use beige and black silk frequently I gave these a place also. These spools are merely slipped over the brads and can be changed at any time. There is no need to keep a large stock of thread and sewing silk on hand if you are within easy contact with the shops.
Darning stockings is an all important process, if there are children in the home. Also, runners in grown-up stockings are usually discovered just at the sound of the automobile which is to carry you to some special function. To meet both these needs, I have equipped my shelf with four balls of mercerized cotton in the colors most often used. Moreover, since I frequently have to take a stitch in a hurry, each colored cotton has its own needle and this needle I leave in its particular ball, threaded, and ready to use. Then I can arrive at the shelf, pause for a thread, and almost before I realize it, the task is done, and the needle replaced in its particular ball.
Of course, with this darning equipment must go a darning ball. Mine has a handle which will slip into the fingers of gloves, and I accommodated it to my shelf by neatly drilling a hole through the wood. To the thimble I assigned a special place and it is such a comfort to have it always bowing to me as I approach hastily instead of having to hunt for it.
Next on my shelf, I put two small duplex boxes, which are as gay as the heart could wish. These little things hold a few snaps and hooks and all the buttons which the family will need for a few weeks. Buttons are a product with which we are apt to over-supply ourselves. Actually we use very few.
Below the shelf I put a series of small cup-hooks. The first one holds a pincushion and the second a cushion for needles and needles only. I always have a safety pin or two present. I use them to draw various tapes and runners in bloomers and pajamas.
The next hook I definitely assigned to the tape measure. The next holds a woven band of colored darning threads. They are attractive, useful and inexpensive, and no mending shelf is really equipped without one. On the remaining two hooks I hung the scissors. I find two pairs sufficient; one for cutting and the other, a small pointed pair, for fine work. Definite places for things are such a comfort.
With this equipment on hand, even a large order of mending from a ten year-old son loses its deadly effect, and the running time, of all weekly mending is infinitely reduced."

Paris Makes New Style Points with Seamings - 1929

From McCall's Magazine in September 1929 these evening gowns are the latest thing from Paris, but of course you bought the pattern to make these at home.
But it's all about points, hemline points, waistline points, neckline points, they are L'Echo De Paris!

"There are always details that date a new Paris frock as belonging to the season just beginning instead of the one coming to an end, and pointed treatments are just such a detail in the new French showings. Almost every designer uses them in some form or other, yet there is no uniformity because the points are used in ways as original as the lines of the dresses themselves. In one frock on this page, the points are a minor detail, used to suggest a higher waistline in an evening gown of stiff silk. In the other frock, pointed effects are the theme of the dress, with pointed seamings, a pointed cape collar and dipping hemline."

L'Echo De Paris - Fabulous Styles from 1929

More wonderful Parisian inspired frocks from McCall's Magazine, September 1929. You could choose wool but consider if it is appropriate in your "steam-heated American house". After all, Suitability is the important thing to keep in mind.
As always don't miss the details; these are 'cleverly seamed and pleated' with 'curved seaming' and 'slightly draped' necklines. Plenty to challenge the seamstress.

"PARIS is creating more and more frocks for daytime of light weigh woolen fabrics, some of them frocks that accompany a coat of the same material to form an ensemble and others that are intended to be worn alone or with a scarf or fur. They are of such light woolen that they overcome the usual objection to woolen frocks in steam-heated American houses, and being so light, they are made in models that are equally attractive made up in silks."

"SUITABILITY to the person who is to wear it and to the occasion when it will be worn is the rule that governs French daytime frocks, so the tailored fashions that form the smartest costumes for daytime include all types. One may have a soft feminine type of tailored, frock with a circular skirt and a bow at the neck and waist, or a frock with crisp pleats, tailored in every detail. Or frocks that compromise by having tailored lines, and soft feminine details."

Stout Women May Wear Draped Skirts

From McCall's Magazine, July 1913.
"The graceful model, illustrated on a woman of full figure, will convince the most skeptical that women of avoirdupois need not shun drapery."

Three Degrees of Softness - 1943 Dresses

Three Degrees of Softness, another grouping from McCall's Magazine, April 1943. Each of these use pleats to create a less severe look. And they are each pretty interesting too. It's all about those details. And the hats, again with the hats!

"TAILORED BUT SOFT"--This describes at least half of the new shirtfrocks. Everybody can find a becoming one, now. The yellow dress falls into this softly tailored class, with its curved yokes and the gathers below them. No. 5229

COLLARLESS SHIRTFROCK--Many women like everything about a shirtwaister except its notch collar. The flame-colored dress is for them. The skirt is interesting. It has eight slim gores, the front ones saddle-stitched, No. 5217.

ONE FOR VERY BEST--The green dress is illustrated in a good rayon crape, tested rayon. This is one of the best of the draped style, and simpler to make, really, than a tailored frock. Very nice, too, made of a semi-sheer. No. 5225.

Which Woman's On Her Way To Being Hated?

Which Woman's On Her Way To Being Hated? Well, it's clearly Helen. She spreads rumors, she schemes, she tries to 'outsmart' the food rationing rules, and she's "completely baffled, my dear!" by the arithmetic of point rationing. While our heroine Paula spreads help, she studies, she makes the greatest possible use of unrationed foods, she is more concerned about how much she can contribute to the success of the program. She even goes to the government sponsored demonstrations at the High School on ways to serve well balanced meals under rationing. (Now most of the women on the block are going with her!)

Yep, that Helen is headed for trouble. After all "people who are busy winning a war don't find dimwits amusing!"

Stout Women May Wear Draped Skirts - 1913 McCall's Magazine

Stout Women May Wear Draped Skirts. Well, I'm sure we're all glad to hear that.

But once again please do take a moment and look at the details. That buttoned tab on the front of skirt, the narrow pleats down from the waist and the bit of a train on our seated lady, that amazing little back drape on our third lady and the contrast collar, cuffs and hem on the 'Tunic Shirt'. How grand. And all on Stout Women!

Betsy McCall's Christmas Surprise - Free Paperdolls! - 1955 McCall's Magazine

This set of Betsy McCall includes her cousins Linda and Sandy. If you click twice you can enlarge them and keep an kid busy while you try to get something done.
(Personally I think Betsy's surprise might have been Sandy wearing leopard print undies!)

Christmas Lingerie In Pink, Blue and Newest Beige - 1955 McCall's Magazine

Wow. Here's what you really want from Santa!

McCall's Magazine - 1964- Hail the Pale Look

"The fashion picture this spring is painted in the prettiest and palest of watercolor shades, serenely soft-spoken pastels appropriately interpreted in lovely ladylike costumes. Look for deep-textured fabrics, effortless lines, and many delightful details derived from Chanel."

"Pale aqua, a subtle admixture of blue-and-green checked wool in a beautifully slender reefer-and-skirt costume. The coat has a casual elegance, with lion-head brass buttons reminiscent of Chanel, a notched collar faced in sage-green silk. About $110. Victor Joris for Cuddlecoat."

"Faint lilac, a shade delicate as perfumed spring air, in a superbly detailed wool-tweed coat. Note the pocket flaps slightly curved, a half belt joined with a Chanel-like chain. About $60. Faye Wagner for Dani Jrs. We show it accessorized with a lilac silk snood."

"Seafoam green, a frothy mixture of green, blue, and white, in a chenille like blend of wool and cotton. The suit jacket, in the Chanel tradition, is braid-trimmed and brass-buttoned; and the blouse is in this season's important new soft crepe. About $90. Stephan for Briarbrook."

"Powder blue, in a deceptively fragile-looking white-flecked tweed with the delicacy and porousness of lace. The suit jacket has a mere suggestion of a stand-up collar and giant ball buttons; the eased skirt has two slash pockets at the hip line. About $100. Junior Sophisticates."

"Clear-sky blue, in a bold plaid on white, is fashioned into a dashing and dramatic cape costume. The cape, cut to full street length, has a big stand-up collar and fastens in front with outsize tabs of the same fabric. The matching skirt beneath is slim but easy. About $85. Modelia. The tasseled hat, by Adolfo."

"Not quite white, but a rich creamy color, in an elegantly fluid afternoon dress, with a gently lowered waistline accented with heavy welt seaming, a high, cuffed neckline, and raglan sleeves. In lightweight textured wool. About $40. Stephan Ltd. Headline news: The big brim is back; ours is by Halston."

"Faint blush of pink, a marvelously muted shade in a delicate-looking three-piece costume. The jacket of lightweight tweed has accents of quilted pink silk inset in the collar, revers, and pocket flaps. The matching pink silk blouse is collarless. About $60. Frank Adams for Junior Accent."

McCall's Magazine - 1964- Beachwear

This is what I'll be wearing this weekend...what did you have planned?

McCall's Magazine- 1964 - Betsy McCall Writes from the Bahamas

"Betsy took these clothes to Nassau..." You can click twice, print this out and go on vacation too!

McCall's Magazine -1964 - Patterns for Miss America

"chosen to catch a gentleman's eye..."

NORTH
Lovely Donna Axum, of Arkansas, Miss America of 1964, is currently touring the country, modeling an Everfast wardrobe made from McCall's patterns. Here we show you four chosen to catch a gentleman's eye in every corner of the nation. Above: Donna wears a shirt dress in a brown-and-white,print, with crisp collar and cuffs. McCall's pattern 7183. Sewing tip: When interfacing collar and cuffs, trim edges of interfacing close to stitching line, to avoid bulk.

SOUTH
Miss America's knowledgeable choice for Magnolialand is a bold print interpreted in a lovely, long evening gown with, a low V neckline front and back. The raised waist is defined with black grosgrain ribbon garnished with a huge yellow flower. McCall's pattern 7195. Sewing tip: To add sweep to a long skirt, underline it with a lightweight shaping material. Use skirt pattern to cut dress fabric and underlining; then seam, treating the two fabrics as though they were one.

EAST
For the Ivy League or Madison Avenue circuit, Miss America's eye-catching orange-and-white print, in a blend of Kodel and cotton, has a becoming low, rounded neckline, big sleeves banded just below the elbow, wide waist-cinching self belt, and a full, full skirt. McCall's Easy-To-Sew pattern 7186. Sewing tip: To guarantee sure-to-hold, even gathers for a full skirt, wind bobbin with buttonhole twist or heavy-duty thread, and machine-baste in a double row at the waistline.

WEST
A marvelous murky stripe-and-print design in a dress with a low-waisted silhouette, very fashionable this season; a neckline high and square in front, dipping to a low V in back. McCall's pattern 7192. Sewing tip: To make the most effective and dramatic use of striped fabric, match stripes at seams, and plan fabric cutting so that the lower edge of the stripe falls at bottom of bodice and skirt. All fabrics in Miss America's wardrobe are by Everfast with Everglaze easy care.