Sunday, January 17, 2010

Vintage yummies

Well, I admit that I am late to the vintage pattern party, but a friend at church today gave me this adorable item, so here I am!  My first honest to goodness vintage pattern!  Ironically I actually ordered this last week, but it hasn't arrived yet.

Isn't that the cutest ever!?!  It is in amazing condition, the pattern is uncut and still in factory folds.  How nice was that of Jerry to give it to me?!  It's even Myra's size, so it is totally getting sewn up soon!

So, all you vintage experts out there - how old do you think this baby is?  Based on my limited knowledge of the cover art and logos I'm guessing 40s.  What do y'all think?  The paper is quite fragile, so I'm going to need to take careful care of it.  Any tips?  I'm such a vintage n00b!  Help me out, sewing sistas!

ETA (1/17/09) - Thanks to Myra who sent me this link on Ebay to help date vintage Simplicity patterns.  There is an actual copyright date printed on the back of the instruction sheet.  This one is from 1949!

9 comments:

Beangirl said...

I'm not sure about the date any further than you've already guessed but that sure is cute!

wendy said...

very cute!

Printed patterns didn't come about until the mid 1950s, so that's the earliest yours could be, since it says "simplicity printed pattern". Before that patterns had perforations punched into them instead of lines & text printed on them.

Anyway, easiest way to work with fragile vintage patterns is to trace them off. They'll have stitching lines marked, so you could trace those as well and use tracing paper and a wheel to transfer them to the fabric- or ignore them and sew as you usually do with modern patterns. :-)

Tawny said...

With my limited knowledge of fashion (a few fashion history classes in university) I'd guess 50"s. That when those shoes were really popular, as was that classic curly hairstyle on girls. But really, that's only a guess. *shrug*

gwensews said...

I would not cut a vintage pattern, but instead, trace it, and keep the pattern intact. Have fun with that little dress. Your little Myra will be adorable in it.

Silknmore said...

This dress is absolutely adorable. Isn't it fun to think about which fabric you will use?
http://fabricateandmira.wordpress.com/

Unknown said...

What a gift! I agree with Gwen, trace, don't cut. So cute!!!

Sarahbelle said...

The dress style could have been anywhere in the '30's or '40's (think: Shirley Temple movies), but the hairstyles said late '40's early '50's; and the price is definitely very late '40's to early '50's. Of course that's easy for me to say, now that you have found the print date!!
A word on sizing: children's sizing hasn't changed much since they were standardized post-WW2, but Misses sizes have changed a lot, and several times since then. Take copious measurements of both wearer and pattern.

Kathi said...

How cute!! I can't wait to see it on her!!

julia said...

I'm guessing 50s because the style is a lot like I wore way back then. And, at $.25 it would have been before I started really sewing in about 1960ish. Patterns were closer to $.50 to $.75 then.