German Pattern Paper Peril.

Making a look from a vintage German pattern magazine can seem like a very daunting task, especially if you don't speak German (Don't blame me for my ignorance, blame Colorado public schools.) My Mad French skills are useless so instead I used my mad google skills to find a few useful articles written by those who have been in my shoes and lived to tell the tale.

Don't be scared, I managed to do it and it didn't hurt one bit!

December 1936, Hilter is newly to power and German fashion is light-hearted and optimistic looking.

First you'll need to choose the look that you wish to recreate from your pattern magazine. The size is what comes in important here. Usually, the bust size will be printed either underneath the pattern number featured with the drawing, or it will be above the instructions on your pattern sheet. The patterns are only printed in one size so you may need to size up or down after you've traced your pieces.

 I chose a very simple bra with only 4 pattern pieces to work with. It was a good start and didn't require any special skill or technique.


Once you've chosen your look, you go to the pattern sheet and find the instructions for the pattern you chose.

 

For more ease in translating, I took a really good picture of the instructions, loaded it full size on my computer, and then had it close at hand for typing it into Google Translate.

The instructions tell you which pattern pieces to trace out, and what kind of line the pieces will be drawn with. In this case, it's pattern pieces 3, 4, 5 and 6 printed in a line with a diamond in it:

Note: "Teil 3". is pattern piece # 3.

 Next you will turn to the massive eye confusion inducing pattern sheet of no return:

Look scary? Don't let it intimidate you. Just think of how many vintage patterns there are in there, right at your fingertips!

Yes, Virginia, it is double sided.

If you're looking for pattern piece number 3, you just look at this row of numbers at the top for 3, then trace your finger in a straight line down from there until you see pattern piece # 3.

  There's number 3. Don't forget to trace off the tiny numbers in the corners of your pattern piece (if you can find them) because those are the numbers of your seams, and may be the only part of your directions that make sense!

 Can you see pattern piece # 5 hiding in there? I took photos of most of the pieces that I traced out, just in case I missed something. That way my super fragile paper remained safely tucked away and not opened every time I got lost  and realized that I missed something in tracing.
From here you just have the task of translating your directions and then it's just like sewing any other pattern that assumes you know how to do all of the techniques it refers to.

This is probably not for the novice seamstress, I would recommend having a bit of familiarity with Burda Fashion magazines before attempting these, and keep a good sewing how-to book on hand for some of those trickier techniques.
Good luck, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions! If anyone has any tips about translating older German text (which can be hard to decipher at times) your comments are welcome and I'll post updates as I learn about them!


Some useful vocabulary when working with these patterns:
vordere mitte - front center
teil - part
faden - thread
naht - seam
saum - hem
stoffbruch - fold
ober - upper
vordere - front
durchschnittlinie - average line
biese - piping
schnitz - carving
bruchlinie -fracture line
fadenlauf - yarn
stepplinie - quilt line
taschenschlitz - slot pocket
abnäher - dart