Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Does Anyone Speak German? I'm working on a lovely vintage pattern from a 1930's German pattern magazine and the instructions are always such a hurdle. 
I'm using  Google translate but my biggest stumbling block is the beautiful old script that German used to be written in. I have a hard time figuring out exactly what to type into Google translate so I only have bits and pieces of the instructions figured out.
You can click on the photo to enlarge the text.


If you can help, 
I'll be eternally grateful! I'd even love to have short little tips like which characters to type up in place of the older German ones.

This is a fun, new kind of challenge for me. It's like a puzzle, and I get pretty, pretty lingerie out of it!



Update: For the first image, the instructions, I have managed to (very poorly) type it up and here's what I've got:
büstenhalter und bassen beinkleid
Die bustenhalterteile, figur 120, perfieht man mit ben vorgezeichneten Ubnähern und legt ben rechten Borderrand, Mittellinie auf Mittellinie treffend, über den linten. Die Blenden zum Büftenhalter, fig 121, schneidet man mitt Stoffbruch am oberen Rand zu, wofür man ban auf der Innenleite von den Spiken ausgehend abnäherartige Nusfchnitte  auszuführen hat. Man verbindet die blenden burch die vordere Mitel naht miteinander und fabt den Büstenhalter zwifchen die Stofflagen der Blende. Diefer ist bei * am oberen rand je ein 1 cm breiter, 44cm langer, Uchfelträger anzuseben. Der hinten zwischenzufnöpfende Summi - teil ist 2cm breit, 8 cm lang.

Die Beinfleidteile, figur 122, versieht man mitt dem vom oberen Rand bis angegebenen Einschnitt, deffen Ränder unterlegt werden. Man steppt die blenden zum Beinfleid, figur 123, nach Borzeichnung auf, schliekt die inneren Beinfleidhälften  miteinander verbunden. Die vordere und hintere Baffe zum Beinfleid, Figur 124 und 125, find dem beintleid am oberen Rand aufzusteppen. Man fan die Bassen in ganzer Länger oder nur an den Seitenrändern für den Knopfschluk doppeln.



But when I put it into the translator, of course, only 1/4 of it makes any sense. Jeez, I need to take German classes next.

Update 2.0! Thanks to the lovely Andrea, the very helpful Moni, and honorable mentions to Julia, Kim, and Kimberly (all of whom are awesome!) We're narrowing down the translation quite a bit!
Here is what we have in modern German now:

Die Büstenhalterteile, Figur 120, versieht man mit den vorgezeichneten Abnähern und legt den rechten Vorderrand, Mittellinie auf Mittellinie treffend, über den linken. Die Blenden zum Büstenhalter, Figur 121, schneidet man mit Stoffbruch am oberen Rand zu, wofür man dann auf der Innenseite von den Spitzen ausgehend abnäherartige Ausschnitte auszuführen hat. Man verbindet die Blenden durch die vordere Mittelnaht miteinander und faßt den Büstenhalter zwischen die Stofflagen der Blende. Dieser ist bei * am oberen Rand je ein 1 cm breiter, 44 cm langer Achselträger anzusetzen. Der hinten zwischenzuknöpfende Gummiteil ist 2 cm breit, 8 cm lang. Die Beinkleidteile, Figur 122, versieht man mit dem vom oberen Rand bis * angegebenen Einschnitt, dessen Ränder unterlegt werden. Man steppt die Blenden zum Beinkleid, Figur 123, nach Vorzeichnung auf, schließt die inneren Beinlingnähte und besetzt den unteren Rand nach Angabe mit einer Blende. Durch Mittelnaht werden die Beinkleidhälften miteinander verbunden. Die vordere und hintere Passe zum Beinkleid, Figur 124 und 125, sind dem Beinkleid am oberen Rand aufzusteppen. Man kann die Passen in ganzer Länger oder nur an den Seitenrändern für den Knopfschluß doppeln.

Which roughly translates to English: 
The bra part, figure 120, you know with the pre-drawn darts and sets the right front edge, center line to center line aptly, on the left. The aperture for bras, figure 121, is cut with the fold at the top of what you have then run on the inside of the tips starting abnäherartige clippings. It combines the glare from the front center seam and grasps the bra between the fabric layers of the iris. * This is on the top of each a 1 cm wide, 44 cm long to put shoulder support. The rear zwischenzuknöpfende rubber part is 2 cm wide, 8 inches long. The breeches parts, FIG 122, it provides are backed up by top notch * specified, the edges with the. They stitched the aperture to the leg dress, figure 123, after a sketch, including the inner leg seams Ling and occupies the bottom stated by a panel. By the middle seam trousers halves are joined together. The front and back yoke for trousers, figure 124 and 125, are the trousers at the top aufzusteppen. You can double up the fit full-length or only at the edges of the knob end.

So some of the lovely German savvy ladies who are helping me will be contributing a sewing vocab friendly English translation that I'm sure will make much more sense than the above. Again, thank you very much to everyone for the outpouring of encouragement, translations, old German print translation tips, and general awesomeness that I have come to rely on from an amazing international community of sewers and vintage lovers.
You're all the greatest!

Update 3.0. I love people. People are wonderful! Thanks to everyone who has sent me a translation! Special thanks to Andrea and Barbara for their wonderful translations of the German texts into fabulous English. Now I can start sewing this little baby!
If you're curious, there's a  great translation in the comments below!

12 comments:

  1. Hi Anna,

    I could help, I haven't a lot of time in the moment, but I could give you a small bit written out as an example or read through your german text... How about that?

    mail me at die-moni AT ateliersim.de

    Greetings from north germany,
    Moni

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  2. Hello Anna, I could help you as well, no problem! I have a lot of time at the moment, as there is not much work in my office... Anyway, just let me know, if you need help!
    Julia, also from the far north of germany...
    mail to: julischkam@web.de

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  3. If the pattern is from before WW2, the german language has changed a bit so that might be throwing google translate off. For most letters that our american keyboards don't have, you can put an "e" after the character and it will translate or type "ss" for what looks like an uppercase B.

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  4. Hi there!
    I speak some German - I could definitely 'transcribe'this for you, if you like. I'm a translator by trade, although German isn't my main language, but I'm not sure I'll have time to translate this. Sounds like you're having fun with it anyway!

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  5. If you look closely, you'll notice that there are two different looking "f" characters. A long tailed "f" and a regular "f". You might try changing the long tailed "f" into an "s". I know this works with old english texts.

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  6. This is not a different kind of German ;-) It is just the old way of printing. The common name for those letters is "Sütterlin". If you want to scan the text and I will give a translation into normal German (for cross reference if my English is too bad) and English.

    Email is michou at michou-loves-vintage dot de

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  7. Ah, I didn't notice the complete scan above. I don't have enough time right now for the translation but I can give you the German text:


    Die Büstenhalterteile, Figur 120, versieht man mit den vorgezeichneten Abnähern und legt den rechten Vorderrand, Mittellinie auf Mittellinie treffend, über den linken. Die Blenden zum Büstenhalter, Figur 121, schneidet man mit Stoffbruch am oberen Rand zu, wofür man dann auf der Innenseite von den Spitzen ausgehend abnäherartige Ausschnitte auszuführen hat. Man verbindet die Blenden durch die vordere Mittelnaht miteinander und faßt den Büstenhalter zwischen die Stofflagen der Blende. Dieser ist bei * am oberen Rand je ein 1 cm breiter, 44 cm langer Achselträger anzusetzen. Der hinten zwischenzuknöpfende Gummiteil ist 2 cm breit, 8 cm lang. Die Beinkleidteile, Figur 122, versieht man mit dem vom oberen Rand bis * angegebenen Einschnitt, dessen Ränder unterlegt werden. Man steppt die Blenden zum Beinkleid, Figur 123, nach Vorzeichnung auf, schließt die inneren Beinlingnähte und besetzt den unteren Rand nach Angabe mit einer Blende. Durch Mittelnaht werden die Beinkleidhälften miteinander verbunden. Die vordere und hintere Passe zum Beinkleid, Figur 124 und 125, sind dem Beinkleid am oberen Rand aufzusteppen. Man kann die Passen in ganzer Länger oder nur an den Seitenrändern für den Knopfschluß doppeln.

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  8. Wow, so amazing to see all of the help that you have gotten on this! I will have to keep it in mind when I decide to tackle my German pattern magazine. (Do keep us updated on your progress). Also - does your magazine come with a crazy insert that unfolds with lines going everywhere? I'm not even able to discern the individual pattern pieces on mine.

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  9. Hey Annabelle,
    Yes, mine has the crazy pattern insert too. They do take a bit of getting used to to figure out the patterns and what not.
    I wrote a post last year to sort of guide you through how to use them. http://afewthreadsloose.blogspot.com/2010/11/german-pattern-paper-porn.html

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  10. Hey Anna,
    here comes the translation for you. But please don't be disappointed as the instructions of old german sewing patterns are usually very sparse. There are often many steps omitted. You had to figure out the most steps on your own.
    Additionally the language is very old-fashioned so it is very difficult to achieve good results with an automatic translator.
    I think you will have to play around with the pattern pieces in order to be able join them correctly.
    Perhaps you could use a similar pattern for comparison in order to explore how to put them together.
    I hope this helps a little bit. Feel free to ask me again, if there is some information missing. I will be happy to help you again.

    Morgenrock – Schürze – Büstenhalter und Passenbeinkleid für Damen
    robe – apron – bra and panties with yoke („Passenbeinkleid“ is an old-fashioned word for panties with yoke) for ladies

    ________________________________________________
    Image 2:

    14. Bra and Panty size III

    piece 120.6 bra piece
    piece 120.11 outer bands of bra
    piece 122.6 piece of panty
    Image1:

    piece 123.11 facing of panty
    piece 124.6 front yoke of panty
    piece 125.5 back yoke of panty

    Bra:
    Draw the darts onto the pieces of the bra (120)
    Put the right front edge over the left front edge and place the center front lines over each other
    Cut the outer bands of the bra that way, that the upper edge is cut on fold
    To achieve this do dart-like cut-outs at the inside beginning at the points.
    Join the bands at the center front seam and sew the bra pieces between the two layers of the bands
    Add shoulder straps of 1cm width and 44cm length (without seam allowances) at the * sign
    At the back there has to be a piece of elastic which can be buttoned between the bra pieces
    (I assume at center back)
    It has to be 2cm wide and 8cm long (without seam allowances)

    Panties:
    cut in the panties pieces (122) from the upper edge to the * sign and face the cut-in with a strip of fabric
    Stitch the facings(123) to the panty pieces like it is shown in the drawing
    Close the inner leg seams of the pants pieces and finish the lower edge of the legs with a facing/fabric strip
    (instead of hemming)
    Join the two halves of the panty at the center seam (crotch seam)
    Stitch front and back yoke to upper edge of the panty (124, 125)
    You can face the yokes clompetely (i.e. doubling the yokes) or only at side openings.
    Make a button closure.


    ________________________________________________
    Image 3:

    Fabric: artificial silk
    The panty has a button closure at the side seam and the bra has a piece of elastic and a button closure in the back
    Pattern 14 (piece 120 to 125) size III on pattern sheet no. 9
    Fabric requirements: about 1,75m fabric of 96cm width
    Notions: 0,10m elastic of 2cm width

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  11. Barbara, this is incredible! Thank you so very, very much for this great translation! And thank you to everyone else too, who contributed so much help! You're all AMAZING!

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  12. Hi Anna,
    I'm glad I could help. I guess you'll have much fun with this project.
    I just saw, that my headlines "image 1" and "image 2 " are in the wrong positions, but I think you can easily find out where they belong to.
    Let us know how you are coming along on with your 30ies underwear project.

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