The Woman's Institute Fashion Service for Spring Summer 1921

 --This article is reposted from our new blog at MrsDepew.com.--

One of the many benefits one gained from being a student/ member of the Woman's Institute was a subscription to their charming Fashion Service Publication. It was penned mostly by Mary Brooks Picken, and some members of staff; namely Alwilda Fellows, with illustrations by Alice Seipp. Later editions would include millinery fashions and lessons from Mary Mahon.

 The Fashion Service books were provided first as a quarterly review and later as a monthly magazine that often gave enough information for an experienced home seamstress to create an entire seasonal wardrobe. Do not let the early simplicity of the cover fool you (they made them more colorful later on). The contents are pure illustrated and meticulously detailed genius.

Until about 1927, the Fashion Service Quarterly Magazines usually featured around 50 pages of beautiful pictures and tutorials. Each fashion pictured is usually described in great detail with instructions on how to make it either from scratch or by altering a basic pattern. This bridal party illustration is no exception and the descriptions given can help experienced dressmakers create their own version.

One of my many endeavors around preserving Woman's Institute history is creating a complete digital archive of the Fashion Service. I haven't quite finished them all, but I'm close!

You can find a complete E-book copy of this edition here.

Pattern Grading Resources

Depew #3168 being graded into multiple sizes.

As an admin of the Vintage Sewing Pattern Nerds on Facebook, I see a lot of posts asking about how to grade sewing patterns. So I have decided to put together a small blog post about my favorite sewing pattern grading resources.

First things first though:

If you wish to grade a vintage sewing pattern, PLEASE trace a copy and work with the tracing to grade. This will help protect the original pattern you are using, and provide a back-up should you make any mistakes in grading your copy.

I highly recommend buying a roll of tracing paper online (36 inches wide is awesome for patterns) to make this process easier.

There are some great free resources out there that cover pattern grading for beginners.

The best I've found so far is this article by Threads Magazine that artfully explains the basics.

Another great blog post is available on Melly Sews.

If you find that you grade patterns often enough, then a book on pattern grading might be just the thing.

Sadly most pattern grading books are prohibitively expensive. That is why I went to work and created a reproduction of my favorite vintage pattern grading book. I grade patterns at least once a week and this is still the book I reference most often in my work.

The E-book (also available in print) is 27 pages that are packed tightly with the information you’ll need to grade your pattern up or down to your desired measurements. It focuses primarily on adult women's patterns, but the information can be employed with any type of pattern for menswear and children's clothing as well.

Pattern Design for Fashion Design and Home Sewing

There are some great pattern grading books in print.

Here is a direct link to pattern grading books on Amazon. All of them are rather pricey, but many of them are worth the expense if you really want to learn grading as a skill.

If you can find an affordable used copy of any of the following they are great, if albeit less user-friendly than a beginner might like. Regularly hunting on eBay can really turn up some affordable pattern grading books if you're lucky and persistent.

Pattern Grading Simplified by Jack Kirschner

Professional Pattern Grading For Women's, Men's, and Children's Apparel By Jack Handford

Essentials of Pattern Grading : The Projection of Cartesian Coordinates... by Moira Doyle and Jason Rodgers

(A much scarier title than it sounds. If you like math though, this is a great book on grading.)

How about you? Do you have any favorite pattern grading resources, books, blog posts that have helped you?

Happy sewing!

The Mrs. Depew Vintage Holiday Sale

 Hello all,

I just thought I'd pop in to let you know that I'm having a big sale at Mrs. Depew Vintage this month.

From November 23 to December 2nd, nearly everything at Mrs. Depew Vintage will be 25% off!

The discount will be automatic on Etsy or you can use the coupon code below at MrsDepew.com.

Happy sewing!

Home Pattern Company History Lesson

The Home Pattern company was founded by Conde Nast in 1905. It formed a relationship with the popular Ladies' Home Journal Magazine which began advertising their patterns. 

Patterns were sold via the magazine, as well as in stores from counter catalogs.

In 1913, The Peerless Pattern Company Merged with Home Company as Conde Nast bought up and absorbed several smaller sewing pattern companies.

Following a trend of sewing pattern companies improving the quality of instructions included, Home Pattern Company released patterns with the "Minerva Guide and Complete Dressmaking Lesson" in 1924. 

Home Book of Fashions Winter 1917-1918.

Ladies' Home Journal patterns have made their appearance online into the late 1950s / early 1960s but I so far have been unable to find a date when they stopped printing patterns. The magazine stayed in print until well into the 2000s.

The New Perfection Tailor System of Cutting from 1901

Today I thought we could continue our study of antique tailor systems with The New Perfection Tailor System - by far the prettiest and most artistically appealing system I have yet had the privilege of studying.

This bodice & Skirt tailoring system is from 1901 and was manufactured by W.R. Williams of Lawrence, KS. Instructions are printed on the pieces for drafting and there is also an instruction booklet.

The system is complete when it contains a printed envelope, booklet, Bodice Front Rule, Side Form Rule, Bodice Back Rule, Dart Rule, Sleeve (designed to draft a two-piece sleeve), Skirt Guide, and Collar and Neck Rule.
This piece is more unusual in my collecting experience because it comes with a collar and neckband rule.

The text printed on the bodice piece says "Perfected March 10th, 1879" and then has several "Improved" dates (to allow for changing styles) after the fact until 1901.

As the shape of a bodice changed considerably between 1879 and 1901, the changes and improvements were quite necessary to stay with the current fashion.

The original is printed on fiberboard with perforations for the varying sizes, which include children's 20-26" bust, and women's 28-48" bust.

Using the skirt rule and drafting booklet, several skirt variations may be made to nearly any size.

This system fascinated me to no end, and of course, because of that, I was quite driven to make sure that it survives for the next generation to enjoy. It has taken long nights, weekends, and time that I definitely should have been weeding my overgrown garden, but I have finally created a complete reproduction of the system in both pdf and printed versions.

Furthermore, feeling that the original instruction book could benefit from some added context, I added more content from my collection of Delineator and Designer magazines from 1900-1901.

If even one of you, my dear readers, find some use for this set, it will have been completely worth the time spent making it possible.

Happy sewing!