Make a Garment a Month–My November Dress, Simplicity 2476 (late 1930s) in the planning

 

I’m very partial to #1. I can’t really see the puffs, cuffs and collar of #2 working for me, but if anyone out there has made this- I’d love to see it!

The mid- to late 1930s is my favourite period. The 1930s and this pattern in particular have their pluses and minuses for me.

Pluses:

Nifty pockets!

Relatively minimal redrafting needed for those of us whose hip measurement is a size or two  up from their bust measurement. For example this pattern is a size 16: bust 34 ins, waist 28, hip 37. By contrast the lower half of size 16 patterns from the same company shrank to 26 and 36 ins for waist and hip respectively.

Like many 1930s patterns, this is made up of a number of small pieces with good potential for using fabrics found in op shops, and recycled bits and pieces.

This particular pattern looks pretty straight forward:

Minuses:

1930s styles, as depicted in pattern cover art, derive much  their aesthetically pleasing shape from exaggerated shoulder width and impossibly narrow hips. I always worry that the imagined style will not survive translation into an actual wearable garment.

This pattern is unprinted on fragile brown tissue. The pattern markings are made with holes. As you can see above, there are a lot of holes. Because the pattern is over 70 years old, there are a few more holes than there should be. I used my common sense as I traced it, but I’m not 100% sure I got them all in the right place.

As is usual for the 1930s, the instructions and accompanying diagrams are compressed and a little challenging. It turns out #1 has no seam or fastenings in the centre back of the skirt. Was it intended to be a housedress or an apron,or something in between?  #2 has a seam, but also an odd pleat that I can’t make sense of. This may be a clue that some of my guesses about the holes are wrong.

Here are my fabric swatches:

The bodice: soft Japanese printed cotton (picked up on sale at Spotlight).

The skirt: green polyester chiffon with a kind of scrunch dye effect to it  (op shop)

Skirt lining: blue poly-cotton (op shop)

Sadly, this fabric choice means I can’t do the pockets. I don’t think I can do those with chiffon. The points at the top of the skirt will give me enough pain as it is.

Wish me luck!