The things they wore

 

Alice and Edna, it seems, were not terribly fond of putting away their patterns. Instead of folding the pieces and putting them back in the envelopes, they just put the pieces and envelopes in a box, sometimes two or three patterns to a box. Since I brought home about six or eight of these boxes, my project Friday afternoon was to see if I could find all of the pieces and match them to the right envelope. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle, and kind of a fun challenge, even if my dining room did look as if there'd been some kind of explosion at the pattern factory. Except for a handful of patterns, I managed to get all of the parts reunited, and that was pretty satisfying. Here are a few of them:

  

This pattern had never been used - a bathing suit, skirt and shorts from 1949.

 
 

Pretty from the front, but check out the back ...

 

a bolero effect. Very chic.

 

I'm not sure you could do much in this dress but lunch (and lunch would have to be a few nibbles on a carrot stick, and maybe a glass of wine), but nothing wrong with that.

    

The piece de resistance - a Vogue couture pattern. One of the sisters had cut the dress out but didn't get it sewn. All of the pieces (delicate aqua tissue paper with perforations, the forerunner of the printed pattern) were pinned on taupe corduroy. I think that was kind of a daring choice - to take a dress this elegant and make it from a fabric associated with everyday wear. These sisters had style.

Comments

[Jen]

LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM ALL!

[Alli]

Oh, a back-only-fauxlero? You've gotta send that one to A Dress A Day!

I love the idea of the last dress in corduroy - gorgeous.

[Allie in MI]

Oh my I love the bathing suit. Sure wish you'd found pics of the sisters in their creations, lol!

[SusieQ]

Hi I just found you by accident....Lucky me! I love these patterns and I noticed in your previous posts that you sell on e-bay. Can you tell me if you have a link or store so that I can view any patterns you may have for sell? thank you
SusieQ

[susan]

awesome patterns. those colors are so vibrant. nice find!! i would love to wear any of the dresses or swimsuits.
perhaps alice realized what a goof she made trying to use corduroy????

[Tina in Duluth]

Thanks for sharing - this is so much fun!

I love the suits in the first shots.

[Lisa]

Oh yes! Thanks so much for sharing! I love looking at these lovely patterns. Are you going to show us more from Alice and Edna? I hope so!

[Julie]

I think the "stylish" pictures are just wonderful - and dont' we all wish for that waist size! Beautiful - thanks for sharing. Jewels

[Susan]

You and those patterns! You seem to find them everywhere! I love estate sales of women who sew well, so much fun stuff. Last year I went to an estate sale of a retired dressmaker. Boxes of Vogue Paris Original & Couturier patterns for 2 dollars a box, a dream come true. And to think the "dealers" had been there the night before & left them all behind.

[Carol]

That's my kind of bathing suit! And the red and blue dresses (second from last picture)? You would definitely have seen me in one of those, back in the day, doing my grocery shopping, or picking up The Beaver from baseball practice!

[Laurie Buck]

Hi there...

First off...love your blog!

Came here from MonkeyBox's blog, because you commented on how much you liked the 'lady' Christmas ornaments. I have the same set, new in the vintage sealed package up for auction on ebay. Search for Buckarooandco. Not quite as cheap as she found them for, though! They really ARE adorable!

[mary]

I just found your blog, I love it.
So fun! One of these days I'm going to go back to the beginning because I don't want to miss anything!
Hope to see more on Alice and Edna!
mary