Sew Expensive... A 1935 Evening Gown McCall 8476

Hello my dears. This is going to surprise you. Yet another beautiful 1930s evening gown pattern has sold on eBay for more than $12. I'll bet you never saw that coming...

I'm a bit behind on getting this pattern posted but a little while back, McCall 8476 sold at auction for a delightfully shocking $810.99.

The listing photos don't show the copyright date but I estimate this one to be circa 1935.
And after a quick internet search, maybe the highest bidders knew something about this one that the rest of us didn't?

Image from Pinterest.

...that's right, kids, this one was designed after a Patou gown.

Now let's talk about that seam gathering at the front hips. I remember shopping for pants with my mom when I was a teenager. Something that really stuck in my head was her advice that one never wanted to draw attention to one's crotch area if it can be helped. She explained how some pants would crinkle oddly in the front area and as she'd point it out, her face would form a grimace, a crinkling around her lips as she pinched them in disapproval at a pair of pants. The expression was rather similar to the unwanted fabric puckering, now that I think of it...

And on my dear Mama's advice, I could never walk out of my house in a dress with such unfortunately positioned gathers. I have to say, Patou, darling, I'll have to pass on this one...

Now, if you'd like to see a dress that Patou absolutely nailed just a few years earlier by drawing attention to the dècolletage rather than the hips, look no further than McCall 5840, circa 1929.

How about you? Which of these gowns is more your style?

Happy sewing,

Sew Expensive... Vogue Couturier 535

To continue the train of thought a bit from our last post, we have another expensive luxury pattern selling for a good deal of money.
Not long ago, Vogue 535 sold at auction for $168.49.

Though high, this is really the going average for late 40's early 50's Couturier patterns with any character. By character, I'm referring to patterns with interesting or unusual details. Note the high collar, asymmetrical button closures and dramatic sweeping lines of the tunic in the illustration above. The more details like these, the more complicated it is to sew, the higher the interest and value to collectors.

In our last post, we saw a 1930's Vogue Couturier pattern sell for $360.
Over the last few years of tracking the selling prices of these, it seems that they follow a price trend by decade.

Vogue 862 available here.

On average, 1930's Vogue Couturier patterns sell for between $200-$380.
1940's-1950's Vogue Couturier patterns sell for between $100-$200.
1960's/ 1970's Vogue Couturier patterns sell for between $40-$200. This is also interestingly the decade that Vogue chose to start advertising the couture designer responsible for the patterns, with patterns by Dior, Chanel, and Givenchy fetching the highest prices.
These averages are dependent on a few things. These are auction selling prices. Buy it now prices found from pattern sellers on Etsy and other websites might vary on the mood/ experience/ clientele of the pattern seller.
Also keep in mind the evening gown patterns will be quite a bit higher than these averages.

Vogue 2971 available here.

If you've got one of these in your collection, be sure to check and see if it has all of its instructions. These patterns often had two separate instruction sheets with the cutting layout often on another sheet entirely. If you only have one sheet, make sure that it has both cutting and sewing instructions on it.

Another thing to keep in mind is that while some of these patterns can be found with "Vogue Couturier" cloth labels inside - a pattern is considered complete without it. The cloth label was not automatically included in each pattern - one had to request them at the pattern counter when purchasing and many buyers simply didn't bother with them.

How about you? Do you have any Couturier patterns in your collection? Did you get a great deal on them? Find them at a thrift shop? Pay dearly for them from another collector?

Happy sewing,

My 1938 Simplicity Catalog - Equal Parts Sad and Beautiful...

Hello all,
Today for your enjoyment I have more photos from my 1938 Simplicity store counter catalog.
This is the first vintage catalog I ever purchased, and I was delighted to find that it helped me accurately date my Simplicity S-Series sewing patterns.

More importantly though, it has also become a fascinating and sometimes personal glimpse into the mind of one of its previous owners. The lady who had it starting in 1939 used this big, heavy ungainly tome as a recipe book and war-time journal!
Beautiful page after beautiful page is peppered with recipes, articles, and jokes pasted over stunning illustrations and written over with notes like the following...

"1944 December 21. Thursday A.M. 11-20 o'clock. (So and so) has just stopped by on her way to the auction farm. She had been to the hospital to get a shot in the arm - I have just finished making the children some fruit divinity candy. It's so good. Must get the box packed and in the mail. How I wish they were home with me. ... God Bless them, and every soldier and sailor..."

As she is writing this blessing on her troops, the U.S. 101st Airborne and others are surrounded at Bastogne, fighting for their lives and cut off from supplies and reinforcements. This was part of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, the Battle of the Bulge, where the U.S. alone lost 19,000 brave men, the allies nearly as many, and the Germans so many more.

It makes my heart break a little for her and every other woman who has ever waited for a troop to come home safely, no matter what side they were on, and reminds me how blessed I am that mine hasn't been called to an active war-zone yet.

Note, you can find an interesting looking recipe for old fashioned divinity candy here. I'm going to make some myself, sit in some warm sunshine, and hope that the box of candy made its way into the warm, safe hands of whoever she sent it to.

I'll just leave these here for you to read and enjoy without my commentary on the rest of them. Her notes are perfect enough all on their own.

Yes, yes it is!

We have previously talked about Simplicity 2229, featured above, in one of our Sew Expensive posts.

Sew Expensive - Butterick 6527 1930's Evening Gown

Hello my dears,
Today for your viewing pleasure, I have another edition of Sew Expensive. We've has some truly lovely evening gown patterns showcased in the past but today we have a rare Butterick pattern, of all things.

Usually we don't see too many Butterick patterns going for nearly as high as say Vogue or McCall's and that's usually because Butterick didn't spend as much time on their artwork and often didn't bother with color envelope illustrations until the late 1930's - early 1940's. A lot of a pattern's value will hinge on both truly beautiful artwork, and the more unusual design aspects of the pattern itself. Butterick managed to meet both of those criteria without coloring the envelop illustration with this pattern.
Very recently, Butterick 6527 sold on Ebay for a shocking $362.

Butterick 6527

This pattern is a very unique design from around 1936 and features some amazing and sought after design details including a rounded low-cut back neckline with halter or strap options, an interesting panel of shirring at the skirt resting just over the pelvis (not sure I would want to draw attention there myself but it looks nice in the illustration), and an eye-catching gathered center-front bodice. And then of course there is the lovely and diminutive capelet that looks like it attaches at the shoulders and gives a bit more modest options for shoulder coverage. Having the pattern in a very friendly size 38" bust is also a big factor.

It's fun to take a look at the envelope back when you can to see how the pattern was drafted and assembled... you know, if you're a pattern geek like I am...

If you wanted to draft up your own pattern like this and didn't have a lot of time, you could always use Depew #4235 as a starting point and make a few adaptations from there.

1940’s Evening Gown #4235A (1947)

How about you? Do you think that the pattern was worth over $350 or would you rather pay that for a finished gown?

Happy sewing,

Sew Expensive... Wedding Gown Pattern Pictorial 9072

Hello lovely readers! Today for you I have another lovely pattern that sold for a big, beautiful pile of cash!
I was watching Pictorial Review 9072 obsessively, hoping against hope that no one else would have noticed this beautiful little gem pop up on Ebay last week. My hopes were in vain... the high bid was around $55 and holding steady, and at the last minute (the excitement, and oh, the disappointment!) the price jumped all the way up to $205.48!

I lost. Sad face ensues...

But on the bright side, I didn't spend over $200 on a pattern I didn't actually need! I'm already married so I don't need version 1, and as for version 2... well, at the last Air Force Ball I attended, my poor husband asked very sweetly, "Please, can we never go to one of these ever again?"
Poor man, hates crowds... and dressing up. So I really have no need of an evening gown either.
But oh, isn't it pretty?

If you're in the market for a 1930's gown pattern, then I suggest that you check out Advance 967 by FancyWork on Etsy... an original at a great price, and in a great size!

Image courtesy of FancyWork.

Happy sewing,

Simplicity S-Series - I have dated them at last!

Hello my dear readers! It is a bright, sunny Saturday here in California and I am a happy girl today. Many of you are quite familiar with my obsession with the Simplicity S-Series Patterns. I have been collecting and researching them for a few years now and while I was relatively confident that they were from the late(ish) 1930's, I had no proof. None of them have ever had any copyright dating on them.  I have scoured the internet and antique shops for old Simplicity pattern flyers - buying every one I could find, and finding no trace inside them of S-Series patterns! (You can see a fraction of my collection of Simplicity pattern flyers here.)
I was at a dead end.
Until recently, that is...

I found this Simplicity counter catalog from March, 1938 on Ebay last week, and while I was browsing the auction pictures, I saw it - a small glimpse of what I knew to be Simplicity S-602! I didn't care that the booklet was in sad condition, and that it had been used as both a recipe book and diary (strange, and fascinating) for 40 some years... I had to have it! Boy, was it worth it! I found EVERY SINGLE S-Series pattern they ever released, both in the index, and in illustrations.

Without further ado, for your viewing pleasure...

Simplicity S601 and S602, both in my collection.

Simplicity S607 and S603, both of which I NEED!

I was delighted to find illustrations of Simplicity S603 and S608, both of which I knew existed, but had never seen before!

Simplicity S604 (in my collection) and S602, which I need!

Simplicity S612 and S605, both in my collection. Reproductions of S612 and S605 are now available! Just click on the links.

Simplicity S606 and S609, both in my collection.

Simplicity S611 and S610, both in my collection.

Simplicity S614 in my collection.

As you can see, the lady who owned the catalog pasted recipes from newspaper all over the 300+ page book!

Simplicity S615, in my collection.

Simplicity S616, in my collection.

Simplicity S618, and S617, both in my collection. A reproductions of S617 is now available! Just click on the link.

Simplicity S619, in my collection.

Simplicity S620, in my collection.

Simplicity S621, and S613, both in my collection.

Simplicity S622, in my collection. (Also, check out the hooker eye shadow on the lower right corner. Lovin' it, girl!)

Simplicity S623 and S624, both in my collection.

I now have gratuitous amounts of boxer patterns for no reason.
So what's next? I need to find only three: S603, S607 and S608, and then I will have them all... Then I will sew them all. I'll be swimming in silk nightgowns and my poor husband will have more vintage boxers (which he wouldn't wear) than he'll know what to do with.

How about you? Do you have something vintage and charming that you obsessively collect?