Draped Blouses, November 1937

“One glance at this page should leave no doubt in your mind about bodice drapery. It is headline news. You can’t ignore it — especially in the more formal type of blouse shown here. Lame, crepe, velvet, sheer wool — a short length of material plus one of these patterns is all you need to have a blouse. Make several to revive a suit or top a velvet skirt. They are a boon for special occasions and an easy way of expanding your wardrobe.” — Woman’s Home Companion, November 1937.There are four separate patterns here. They are all shown as overblouses — two look rather like jackets.

Budget Dressing During the Depression

These blouses, all meant to be worn over the skirt, look marvelous in color, but it’s easy to imagine them also made in white or pastels for office wear, or made of crêpe or wool with a matching skirt. 1937 was still Depression-era, and Companion-Butterick patterns were often described as an economical way to make your wardrobe look bigger than it was.

In this case, “a short length” of a luxury material like lamé or velvet would be more affordable than a whole evening-dress length, and you could pair one evening blouse with different skirts or wear it over a simple evening dress. This was a time when dinner dresses were worn to restaurants and theatres, as well as to private homes. Pattern 7625 would be very appropriate for a “dinner suit.”

Companion-Butterick Pattern 7625

Companion-Butterick pattern, Nov. 1937.

This jacket-like blouse could also be made in a short-sleeved version, which would be pretty under a suit jacket. The pattern description does not say anything about how it closes. This is the only blouse pattern with set-in sleeves.

Companion-Butterick Pattern 7629

Companion-Butterick Pattern 7629, Nov. 1937

This blouse looks very current to me, except for the little belt in back, which snugs it to the waist. It seems to be cut on the bias. Or I can imagine a modern version in knit, with an invisible side zipper. The pattern description doesn’t say how it closes; the shorter sleeves seem to be ruched to 3/4 length, but wrist length sleeves are also illustrated.

Companion-Butterick Pattern 7623

Companion-Butterick Pattern 7623, Nov. 1937.

A longer-sleeved version was included. Again, there is no information about how you got this tightly fitted blouse on and off. The gold novelty buttons – if that’s what they are – are a nice touch.

Companion-Butterick Pattern 7627

Companion-Butterick Pattern 7627, Nov. 1937

This blouse has interesting sleeve variations and a waist that looks almost like a vest or weskit. Since it has a center back seam, it may use a center back zipper. Lamé was not the only metallic fabric available in the 1930s, as you can see from this 1936 advertisement for Fleischmann’s yeast. All four of the Companion-Butterick patterns were available in sizes 30 to 44 inch bust measure.

Introducing the Winter Mode, by Madeleine Vionnet, 1927

Introducing the Winter Mode, an Article by Madeleine Vionnet

This brief article in The Delineator, published in November, 1927, page 27, is ostensibly written by the couturier Madeleine Vionnet. It may actually be the report of a translated interview; The Delineator also published an article “by Captain Molyneux” in the same series, but I have not yet photographed it. The curvature of the page of the bound volume makes the pattern descriptions at the sides hard to read, so I will transcribe them; they are not written by Vionnet, but are editorial comments on the winter modes and are illustrated by two Butterick patterns, not necessarily Vionnet designs. (The Delineator was published by the Butterick Publishing Company.)  You can read the article — the center column — exactly as printed:

Vionnet Headline and Introduction“Madeleine Vionnet, the famous Paris dressmaker was the first designer to make the unlined frock, discarding the hooks and bones of the tight lining. The famous Vionnet V’s of her modernistic cut made intricate line immensely more important than obvious trimming. Vionnet’s versions of flares and fagoting and bias cuts imbue the basic principles of the new mode with a supreme distinction, an ageless quality, the results of Mme. Vionnet’s own philosophy of dress.”

Vionnet’s Article from 1927

Elegant Evening Dress, Winter 1927

Butterick dress pattern # 1749 and Evening Coat pattern # 1653, November 1927, Delineator, page 27

Under the dress on the left, the text says,

” 1749 – Concerning the evening mode there is no supposition for all its ways are well established. It is a fashion of supreme elegance, of great formality and dignity. Is very feminine in appearance, brilliantly conceived and brilliantly executed. In general the smart evening frock is both long and short due to an erratic hemline which is high in some places and low in others, jagged with points of drapery or elliptical as in the bouffant dresses where the longer line rounds down in back. The decolletage of the season is the low cut oval. This is new and flattering but V and square lines are continued and the latter is particularly distinguished when held by jewelled shoulder straps. Jewels are, in fact, very much a part of all evening dress. White frocks and black frocks depend on them for relief, and not only are there necklaces, bracelets and belt and shoulder touches, but dresses area embroidered with jewels, notably in necklace lines. There is much drapery in the mode, mostly with a left-side tendency, and skirts flare, some of them in most original ways.

“The front flare of the frock above (Design 1749) rises diagonally in a scalloped outline and a wing of drapery breaks the hem. For size 36, 3 1/8 yards 35-inch all-over lace. Designed for sizes 32 to 35 (15 to 18 years) and 36 to 44.”

Evening Wraps: White, Black, and Pastel

Under the coat on the right, the text says,”1653 – As to the evening wrap, it is very smart to match it to the frock, but if the wrap matches one of the frocks of the wardrobe and harmonizes with the others, that is quite in good style and very much less extravagant as the means one wrap instead of a series of them. White is, and has been for two seasons, the first color for evening, its continued vogue explained by the fact that a white frock and sun-bronzed skin is an intriguing combination.  All black, relieved by rhinestones on the frock and by ermine on the wrap, follows white in the scale of evening colors, after which come pastel shades, used so much by Vionnet.  Gray and yellow are sometimes seen and are interesting because they are new.  The evening frock this season is made of transparent velvet, metallic fabrics, Georgette, chiffon, lace, flowered or gauze lamé or tulle – tulle with a gold dot is new. The evening wrap may be a coat or cape of fur, velvet, metallic fabric or brocade. The little evening jackets that are so useful in chilly rooms, or as a means of turning an evening gown into one for afternoon, are of the fabric of the frock.

“The coat illustrated (Design 1653) has a flare across the front with the ripples thrown to the left. For size 36, 4 yards of 39-inch velvet and 2/3 yard of 9-inch fur for binding are required. Designed for sizes 32 to 35 (15 to 18 years) and 36 to 44 [bust measurement.]”

TAGS