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!

The Flight Cap

Recently I was lucky enough to add a really great World War II-era flight cap sewing pattern to my collection. I had so much fun sewing it up for myself that I decided to turn it into a PDF and offer it in my pattern shop.

I got such great feedback from everyone who has bought the Beach Bra Pattern that I thought, why not a hat, too?

I love the great advertising pictures of G.I.s endorsing products during the war. The debonaire way that their flight caps are always cocked to the side makes me think of the jaunty, "we can win this" attitude that we used to have as a nation.

 I didn't have any 'olive drab' colored fabric in my stash so I went instead with a thick, black cotton and a yard of vintage gray double-fold bias tape.

The hat was a breeze. It came together perfectly within an hour, and had really great finishing instructions for the seams.

First, you sew the 5/8" seam. Then you seam another 1/4" from the original seam on the allowance, and then trim, and finish off the raw edge with an overcasting stitch. (You may need a special foot for your machine to do that).

This made the inside look super professional and removed any need for lining.

I think I'm pretty happy with the final product. Next, I think I'll be printing this out again at about 60% to make a fascinator sized version.

Pattern Find

I have been lucky enough to stumble across an etsy seller who, from time to time, lists the most amazing patterns for the most reasonable prices. I check her shop daily in hopes that she has listed something new, and that someone else hasn't snapped it up first. I've gotten some amazing patterns from her but this one takes the cake.

It's a lovely Anne Adams 4536 from the 1940s and I'm just swooning. I opened the envelope only to find the pieces in their original factory fold, no less. It doesn't get much better than that.
Except it does. The playsuit looks like the perfect vintage swimsuit pattern I've been dying to make but couldn't find a pattern for in my price range. And I think I've almost decided to make up the overalls and jacket, to be Rosie the Riveter for Halloween.

I love the concept of a 1940's overall pattern. During WWII women took over many men's jobs while the boys were at war. Someone had to work the farms, make bullets, assemble bombs, and build car engines and that fell to women. This created a new bread of women like "Rosie the Riveter." They wore their husbands' or boys' clothes for these jobs, and soon, the pattern companies caught on and released a hand full of patterns to accommodate the new, more gritty roles that women were adopting.

I have seen a few overall patterns from this era but this is the first that I've seen with clearly feminine lines. The pattern seems to say,  "Look lovely whilst working with pistons, and then pop into the playsuit and forget the cares of war for a few hours."

There's a great article about it at Unsung Sewing Patterns featuring an Advance overalls pattern. If you haven't checked out that blog yet, I highly recommend it. It's a veritable cache of amazing sewing history combined with patterns that make me weak in the knees.

Mail Call

Since I've tried to reign myself in a bit on the obsessive and somewhat compulsive pattern buying, mail calls will be fewer and less epic than the last few, but here is today's loot anyways.

This find is what I like to think of as the only gambling I may ever do. The ebay listing was for an old shoebox full of patterns. The seller was not a seamstress and simply wanted to move them on to someone else. The listing had just one picture, of the front of the shoebox with a cute little 1950's children's underwear pattern peaking out the top.

Pattern of the Day

Recently added to my collection, I give you W.T. Grant 202 from what I believe to be the 1930's.

 The pattern is for a jumper, dress, and blouse. I haven't inventoried it yet, I'm hoping it's complete!

 Wouldn't this be just the perfect outfit for a young woman's first day at college? So academic chic.

There is very little out there about the W.T. Grant department store or their pattern line. If you know anything, please feel free to comment.

The Couture Technique Skirt

Long, Long ago in a galaxy far, far away I pre- ordered a book on Amazon. And then I forgot about it. Months later, much to my confusion (when the hell did I buy this?!) The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Technique arrived in the mail. After flipping through the beautifully photographed pages, I immediately started riffling through my stash to sew my first lined skirt. Lined skirt, yawn, I know, but this doesn't make me yawn at all. Not the way the author, Lynda Maynard showed her readers how to do it.

From The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Technique By Lynda Maynard

I chose some lovely wine colored stretch cotton sateen (purchased on fabric.com in bulk just to have lots on hand) and some light gray lining fabric acquired at my local thrift shop.
And here is what the inside looked like when I was done with it.
The wrapped seam edges and the color contrast look amazing. There's not a raw edge in this entire skirt.

An it doesn't look too bad, either! For the pattern, I used Simplicity 1690 from the 1950's.

This was an easy to sew skirt, I recommend the pattern to anyone who wants an easy sew.

Simplicity 1690

How to add a pattern to the Vintage Pattern Wiki

Hello my dear readers. Today I have an updated tutorial for you on how to add a sewing pattern to the Vintage Pattern Wiki.
When I first started collecting vintage sewing patterns I found the Wiki page a useful resource for researching, buying and selling sewing patterns. While it has its limitations (it's not the most user-friendly template) once you get the hang of it, it can be rather handy.
Not to mention, when you add a pattern that wasn't there before, it feels a bit like a public service to other future pattern collectors.

So let's get started. Once you've created an account and logged in, you're ready to add your patterns!
First, search for the pattern you want to add and make sure it's not already there. This can happen sometimes. The search might not pull up your pattern, you might have typed the name/ number wrong, etc. With McCall's patterns, it's important that you pay close attention to whether your pattern says McCall or McCall's on the envelope, as this will make a difference.
For example, McCall 3581 is the 1940's Women's windbreaker pattern I'll be adding in our tutorial, and McCall's 3581 is a 1970's menswear pattern.