Today a post with inspiration for my 40's blouse, style, pattern and fabric! Prepare for a picture-heavy post. Let's take a look at how my 40's blouse is going to look. Here we go!
To start I have some early 40's inspiration (my fav. years of the 40's!)
The blouse on the left has a simple polka-dot pattern gathered sleeve-caps and a really interesting button placement. Might try to recreate that in the future. The blouses on the right incorporate the typical wartime suggestions to use scraps of fabric in different colors (center) or to remodel last year's striped taffeta evening dress into a 'dramatic' blouse (right).
I like the collar of the 3-color blouse and the yoke treatment of the third one:
source: AWW through Trove
features:
So, how does my 1940's dream-blouse look like?
- 4-5 buttons up the front to make a nice V-shaped neck
- has either short or long sleeves with a slightly puffed sleeve-cap
- has a front and back yoke (or just one, forward leaning yoke)
- there are gathers or pleats above the bust to ease fullness into yoke
- self facing and a convertible collar
- the bodice is full above the waistline but fitted in the waist and hips with either tucks or darts (mostly 2x2 tucks in the front and 2 tucks or darts in the back)
You've already seen my line drawing that I made including the features I like:
some vintage pattern inspiration:
did you know...
...that a forward leaning yoke has only one yoke piece at the shoulders or it is cut in one piece with the back? It is a feature of men's shirts.
did you know......that there are two basic shapes of collars: convertible and non-convertible? The convertible collar (like a shirtwaist collar) is contrary to the neckline curve of the garment and will spring open when unbuttoned. The non-convertible collar (like a peter-pan collar) follows the neckline curve closely and will stay in place when unbuttoned.
Vintage Hollywood, duBarry, Simplicity and Butterick, patterns, pics: Etsy
my pattern-plan:
As you know, I'm planning to make my own pattern. Well, not from scratch, but still... Below the patterns I'm going to work with. I'm planning to use the bodices of the Colette Ceylon dress and Marfy 2440 dress patterns. I like the sleeve of the Ceylon dress, on the left modified it to fit the Marfy dress which originally has full, puffy sleeves. The Marfy has the back and front yoke I want, but I like the slightly less wide shoulders of the Ceylon better. Last but not least, the Marfy dress has the convertible collar! I need to figure out the correct length of my blouse and the placing of the tuck-darts.
I really want to get a bold, fun, novelty-style fabric for this project! I haven't decided yet, which one. I have a nice rose print cotton fabric too as backup, but lately I really like prints with quirky, furry animals... and there are a lot of options out there:
...and how cute is this one with kittens?!
'Whiskers and tails' from Robert Kaufman
Of course, the WW2 years were about make en mend, recycling and not spending a lot of money on fabrics. The two above cost 16 euros per meter (110cm wide, about 43 in) and I need at least 2 meters for my blouse (sigh....) Probably, I could pair a more expensive patterned fabric with plain cotton? The collar could be partly of fully patterned or just plain:
First I have to make my pattern pieces and test the layout. I might be able to squeeze a blouse out of less fabric.
other fabric inspiration
cats & dogs:
flowers & birds:
sewing machines & buttons:
irons & owls:
Next up: the muslin!
Read the other Sew for Victory posts here:
1. project plan
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