Day and evening versions of the same Butterick pattern, No. 3357. Delineator, August 1930, pages 26 & 27.
I wish this pattern was in the Archive at CoPA — but it’s not. (Yet.) Both versions mention its French designer inspiration, but (without more research) we can only conjecture whether this was a line for line copy.
Butterick 3357 for daytime has long sleeves, and a mid-calf skirt. Delineator, August 1930.
“Can’t you see Paris in every line? Each one means something. The crossed bands that start at the hips to form the bolero, these on the skirt to make the peplum and extend into sections of the flared skirt. The narrow tailored belt should be worn at the natural waistline…. Designed for [patterns aged] 14 to 18 and [bust] 32 to 44. [See “Size 16 Years. What Does That Mean?”]
Details of bodice, Butterick 3357. A false bolero dips below the waist in back.
Details of skirt and back view, Butterick 3357.
Notice that the lower band hangs free over the flared skirt, echoing the false bolero top. Complex construction!
Left, Butterick 3347; right, Butterick 3357 in its evening version. Delineator, August 1930. page 27.
Butterick 3357 for evening; text, page 27.
“One of the most popular French gowns….”
Detail of the skirt and back views, Butterick 3357.
Back views day and night, 3357.
Details, Butterick 3347 and 3357. Delineator, August 1930.
Description , Butterick 3347, 1930. Not your usual “princess line” dress, but the seams run shoulder to hem….
There were many French designers using bias cuts, diagonal bands, etc., by 1930, but there is one name that immediately springs to my mind.
Some Vionnet designs illustrated in Delineator, 1927 to 1930.
According to Betty Kirke, in Madeleine Vionnet, Vionnet sued Butterick for stealing her designs in 1922, but Butterick continued to show illustrations of her designs and sometimes to mention her influence.
By the way, Vionnet usually cut and seamed her diagonal panels on the straight grain, and rotated them to make the dress, so that the bias ran vertically.
Just an example of Vionnet’s thinking: This gown in the Metropolitan Museum Collection, dated 1932.
Back of a gown by Vionnet, 1932. Photos: Metropolitan Museum.
The Vintage Traveler recently photographed a 1924 Vionnet evening dress made from T-shaped pieces.
I have written about Vionnet several times; especially here and here. Betty Kirke’s excellent article in Threads magazine can be found here; Sandra Erikson reproduced Vionnet’s dress made from four large rectangles of silk and brought it to the lecture I attended. Every woman there loved it.
witness2fashion 
