Catalog Sunday: Montgomery Wards, 1940

 

"Hey, what's the blog banner mean?"

These past couple of weeks have been really sluggish for me. I don't know what it is. I have a mild throat congestion that won't go away and it feels like I can't ever clear my throat. My energy has been in the tank no matter what I do or eat or think. Sheesh. 

Maybe it's the hot weather. Maybe it's the two really disappointing job prospects that ended (really hoping to get one of those). I'm not sure. All I know is I hate not having initiative, so I looked around my apartment and said I need to do something. Will power! Yesterday I spent the entire day sweeping the cat off the floor, cleaning, putting clothes away and even finished some half done Make and Mend projects. I even made tapioca, although it was a very lame first vegan attempt.

I feel better, kind of. I guess I'm getting to a physical place where I feel gross if I'm not active or doing something. I don't sleep much, 6 hours or so a night. So the rest of the time I fill with projects. I've been drawing a lot more, yay me. I always feel I never draw enough, so me consciously putting pencil to paper keeps me going. I've also realized if I don't eat I get tired. So I'll sauté some veggies and I'm good for another 5 hours. That made me realize I want to put a bit more focus on what's under the hood. Not just body wise, but clothing wise as well.

It's 1948!

Well, not really. Its just I found this farmer's calendar in a bunch of papers in some patterns I had a while ago and I've been waiting to use them for 2010. Only half the calendar is present, otherwise it would have been '48 all year.

In the continuing vein of the mid to late 40s, I just completed a day project.
Ever had a dream about fabric? Wait, who am I talking to!? I dreamt the use for this 'dotted swiss' cotton that I have. I was in my non dreaming state going to use it for a night gown, but in my dream I said, naw. I thought this set would be much more cute.

This boudoir set is a jacket thats from a mid 40s nightgown set, and the tap panties from my repro pattern. I didn't alter the shape of the jacket at all, but the flutter/cap sleeves are all me. I whipped them up. I can see the jacket being the best cover up for putting on your face after you are all dressed.

The tap panties have porcelain vintage buttons and loop button holes on the side. I love loop button holes. I lined the crotch with navy (was all I had) jersey. Its so dark, you won't be able to tell its not black.

More pictures can be seen on NVL.

Ladies Undies

Its a Tom Waits kind of morning.

I must be on an underwear kick. I made anther pair of panties from my repro pattern.


Because I rarely buy thread to color coordinate any project, I have a very limited color allotment. To compensate, I generally match by value, instead of general colors.


To overlock the coral fabric, I used three different colors that the eye will blend. I learned that trick in art school. I do it all the time and works great.


More pictures can be seen on NVL.
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My repro patterns Yay!

I love clothes, I love vintage clothes, but being NOT a size 4 made them fairly hard to find. That's one reason why I decided to begin sewing my own clothes. Because of that I now have a fairly kick ass stash of large size patterns.

Don't be fooled by the myth 'people were smaller back then'. Yes, more people were smaller, but you still had a fair amount of over 6", shoe size 14, bust size 46 folks walking around. I bring up the examples from my 1910ish patterns. We are talking 44", 46" 48" busts here! And these patterns survived!

But having all these patterns to myself didn't feel right. I wanted to share. So I picked my rarest, and also most versatile patterns and under my New Vintage Lady moniker, I started a line of repro patterns for my etsy shoppe.

Here are a couple that I'm really proud of.
I have been looking for a tappants and bra pattern for ages, and when I found a mid '40s one (well, two but thats a different story) knew I couldn't keep it to myself. Its a 46" bust 50" hips. Wow wee!

This is what I call the ideal '40s blouse. I know straight size gals who are still on the look out for a great '40s blouse. There is no better way to get the look right than with a few great iconic separates.

This mid '30s dress is one of my favorite patterns. Ive made it up several times and have it available in two sizes, 42" bust and a 50" bust.

I gotta say, sharing these patterns makes me smile, and I hope the gals who use them feel they are carrying on a little part of fashion history.