Dresses for Teens and Young Women, October 1924

In 1924, dresses were still longer than our usual image of the nineteen twenties — even dresses for young women, who were usually illustrated in the shortest styles.

A page of dresses for teens and young or small women, Delineator, October, 1924, p. 29.

For their back views, see the end of this post.

This group reminds us that there are fashions in color combinations, as well as in cut. In 1924, orange and navy, coral and black, or green with orange and black did not evoke Halloween. Delineator, Oct. 1924.

These three dresses look very long, but any of them might have been skillfully shortened and worn later in the decade. Delineator, Oct. 1924.

The evening dresses would have needed a clever remodel around 1926 — cutting them at the 1926 hip or waist line, and raising the lower part of the skirt. The new seam could have been hidden with a sash or belt, too. The tunic dress at right might have simply discarded the underskirt.

Butterick also offered many cloche hat patterns — and tam-o’-shanters — during the twenties — including two that were shown with these dresses.

A Closer Look at These 1924 Dresses and Hats

Butterick 5487, dress pattern from Delineator, Oct. 1924, p. 29. “Plaited” means pleated, not “braided.” Its scarf collar seems to end in a long fringe. This pattern was also available in Ladies’ sizes, usually 34″ to 44″ bust. The bird-trimmed hat is not a Butterick pattern, but it does have comic possibilities! [A hat trimmed with stylized bird silhouettes would be a little less old-fashioned than this flock circling her head.]

Butterick pattern 5528, for an evening dress trimmed with feathers. Delineator, Oct. 1924. A light, floating effect was recommended for dancing.

If you’re wondering what size “16 to 20 years” means, click here.

Butterick pattern 5550, from Delineator, Oct. 1924. “Silver, beige, or colored lace is new…” There is an interesting free-swinging back detail trimmed with a large tassel; but only the bottom layer of ruffles continued around the back. Available up to bust size 38 inches.

“It is worn over a slip of flesh-pink satin veiled with flesh-pink chiffon trimmed with lace.” This suggests that the impression of a nude body glimpsed through the lace was the goal. Other lining colors were, of course, possible — tan, coffee, pale blue, yellow-green, etc. In the image below, it appears that the chiffon-over-satin layer was visible at the sides.

Back trim on evening dress 5550. The trim begins with the straps in front, and extends into a long tassel, with a surprise lining of strong pink, and plenty of beads or pearls.

Butterick dress pattern 5511; Oct. 1924, Delineator. Velvet, trimmed with fur, and with long fringe extending the collar. The length of the gloves works surprisingly well with the short sleeves.

There are “fine plaits at each side,”  [tucks?] making the dress fit more closely at the hip. This dress from 1926 has the same “plaits” at the hip.

Butterick dress pattern 5536 with Tam-o’-Shanter pattern 5458. October 1924. Tam 5458 was featured in several issues of the Delineator.

“It is the new narrow type [as] close fitting at the hips as one can sit down [in.]” It closes at the side front, like a Russian shirt. The pattern description suggests making it in dark brown with a contrasting scarf. In an era when ladies still did not go shopping or to work without wearing a hat, the soft, crushable Tam-o’-Shanter was especially popular with girls and young women.

Description of Butterick Tam-o’-Shanter pattern No. 5458, Delineator, September 1924. Another use for a very long tassel.

For more about 1924 Tam-o’-Shanters, click here. For Part 2 of Tams for 1924-25, click here.  For a brief history of the Tam, click here.

Butterick dress pattern 5489, October 1924. The orange braid on the sleeves is applied in the pattern available as Butterick embroidery transfer #10175. This dress has a gathered skirt attached to a long bodice, called a basque. See back view below.

No. 5489 could easily have been shortened at the hem and worn in 1926, when hemlines approached the knee. Its proportions could have been improved by raising the waist line as well, but it wouldn’t have been necessary.

Butterick dress pattern 5546, Oct. 1924. “It is new to use the shiny side of crepe satin and bind the edges of the bias bands with the dull side, or reverse this order….” However, the illustration seems to show black trim; a pale border this narrow would have been lost in the small printed image.

Butterick dress pattern 5485 and hat pattern 5561. Delineator, Oct. 1924. “For the wrap-around hat use velvet, etc.” Is that a miser’s purse in her hand?

Butterick hat pattern 5561, from 1924. “The hat which ties around the head to form a trimming at the side is typically French.”

I  don’t see any knot, or other sign that it literally ties, in this illustration. This hat appeared in several issues. The side views make it look as though the velvet whatever-that-is-on-the-side is wired and possibly twisted, but not “tied.” It does look, in the side view, as if the front brim extends into a long point which is twisted up, and the back brim has a shorter extension which twists down.  I am glad I don’t have to make it, because I’m not at all certain I understand it!

Butterick hat pattern 5561 was illustrated several times in 1924. I’m not sure the illustrators were really clear on how that side piece worked, either.

Butterick’s cloche hats were usually either four or six gored. I wrote about another cloche hat pattern from 1924 here.  (The variety of easy trims on that one attracted me.)

Here are the back or alternate views for seven of these dresses.  The back of No. 5550 was illustrated in color and shown earlier.

Back and alternate views of Butterick patterns 5487, 5526, 5511, 5536, 5589, 5546, and 5485 from October 1924.

Dresses cut like No. 5489 are often seen in silent movies, but they are usually tightly fitted, with an opening in the left side seam; or the actresses may have been stitched into their evening dresses by hand.

 

 

Tam-O’-Shanters for the 1920s, Part 1

Butterick Tam-o’-Shanter pattern # 3157. Pictured in Delineator magazine, March, 1924.

1920s Alternatives to the Cloche Hat

Although the cloche is the definitive “Nineteen Twenties” hat style, there were alternatives – including wide brims, turbans, “very small hats” (almost brimless), and the Tam-o’-Shanter. (For more about the history of Tams, click here.)

Other Paris hat styles — besides the cloche — for May 1925. Delineator magazine.

Above, from left to right:  1) “a wide hat of lacquer-red straw,”  2) “a turban-hat of twisted ribbon,”  3) “the very small hat turned up at the front or back.”

Two more “very small hats” from the article on Paris styles, May 1925. Delineator magazine.

 Tam-o’-Shanters for Women and Girls, Mid-Nineteen Twenties

Butterick Tam-o’-Shanter pattern #5458. Delineator, September 1924.

A very good article about twenties hats, “1920s Hat Styles Beyond the Cloche,” by Vintage Dancer, mentions that the tam was usually worn by young women and girls, but it also appears occasionally with rather dressy outfits on adult women:

Dressy Tams on Women, from Delineator magazine, 1924 & 1925.

Butterick’s tam-o’-shanter patterns were usually sized for “Ladies, Misses (i.e., ages 14 to 20), Children and Girls.”  Tams could be made from wool flannel, silk velvet, satin, cotton velours, taffeta, and other elegant fabrics. Although a pom-pom was the traditional trim, tassels, ribbons, feathers, embroidery, jewels, and other ornaments decorated 1920s tams for women.

1920s Tams decorated with jewels, embroidery, and ribbons. Delineator magazine.

Magazines usually featured tam o’shanters in fall and winter, but this summer tam appears to be made of lace or, possibly, popcorn-knitted or crocheted silk ribbon:

A large summer tam worn with a sheer dress trimmed with drawn threadwork. June 1926. Delineator magazine.

The Tam:  Simple to Sew

A basic tam-o’-shanter shape; Vogue pattern 7980, dated 2004. The pattern calls it a beret.

Butterick offered many Tam-o’-Shanter patterns during the 1920s, perhaps because the tam was easier for a home stitcher to sew than a cloche (although four- and six- gored cloche patterns were also sold.) In fact, I have come across so many 1920s Tam-o’-Shanter patterns that I can only describe a few in this post.

In an era when women and men rarely left the house without wearing a hat or cap, the tam-o-shanter was a quick, un-fussy hat to put on for the trip to and from school, or to the local shops. A schoolgirl or telephone operator could take it off and hang it with her coat, and there was no danger of a tam-o’-shanter being crushed; they looked crushed to begin with!

A Tam-o’-Shanter pattern from Butterick, March 1924.

Butterick Tam-0′-Shanter Patterns, 1921 to 1925

These three tam patterns were featured in Butterick’s Delineator magazine in 1924 and 1925. Their numbers, in the three- and four- thousand range, indicate that they were first issued before 1924, but they were still being included in pattern illustrations for 1924 and 1925. Although some Butterick hat patterns are for children or girls only, these tams were intended for ‘Misses’ (ages 15 to 20) and adult women (“Ladies”) as well.

Butterick Tam-o’-Shanter Pattern # 3157

Butterick Tam-o’-Shanter pattern # 3157. Pictured in Delineator magazine, March, 1924.

Three views of Butterick Tam pattern # 3157. April to June, 1924. It can be worn with the band tucked in (left) or showing (right.)

These full-length pictures show them with appropriate daytime clothing:

Butterick Tam pattern #3147 as illustrated in April to June of 1924. Delineator magazine.

Butterick Tam Hat Pattern #4886

Butterick Tam Pattern # 4886, issued late 1923; illustrated in Delineator in March 1924 (L) and January 1925 (R).

The two-headed pin which goes through so many 1920s hats is called a “cliquet” or scarf / jabot pin. The Cartier and America Exhibition in San Francisco included several superb art deco examples. You can see some of them  here, at a Yahoo image search.

Butterick Tam pattern #4886. All were illustrated in April 1924. Delineator magazine.

Here are the full-length illustrations of the outfits tam #4886 was shown with:

Butterick tam pattern #4886 as worn in April, 1924. Delineator magazine.

Butterick Tam-o’- Shanter Pattern # 4898

Butterick Tam pattern # 4898, issued in late 1923, but illustrated in 1924 and 1925. Delineator magazine.

Although all four of these illustrations show girls or teens, pattern #4898 was sized for Girls, Misses, and Ladies.

Sidelight: The girls on the left have a hair-do associated with Mary Pickford, (“Little Mary”) the silent star who played child-women well into adulthood. She played Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm the year this picture was taken (1917), and Pollyanna in 1920, when she was 28 years old. She finally bobbed her hair in 1928. Mothers who were fans of Mary Pickford movies were probably responsible for their daughters’ long, long curls in 1925.

Mary Pickford in an Ad for Pompeian Hair and Face Massage Creams. 1917.