pattern junkie

363 Days Until Next Halloween!

Another Halloween.  We've almost finished off the candy 'round these parts, though I'm still trying to figure out how to get the fake bloodstains off of my arms and legs.  Don't mind me while I scrub...just take a look at these truly beautiful and cool costume patterns I found while gathering examples for Costume Countdown week.  After all, it's never too early to start thinking about next Halloween:

Remember when I claimed all clown costumes were scary?  DuBarry 1040B proves me wrong.  If I could look this smashing, I'd dress in a clown costume every day.

There's a Spanish dancer/Carmen Miranda hidden in me somewhere, because I love this pattern in Hey Chica's etsy shop.  It's sized for girls, sadly -- but oh, those ruffles!  I love how the tiny bolero balances out the full skirt.  The triple bow action -- one for the waist, one for the bust, one for the head -- is fun, too.

See?  My Spanish dancer fantasy continues with Hollywood 1426.  I adore the red skirt with the asymmetrical hem.  Of course, the hat with veil, fan and rose in mouth just drive it home.

I think the illustration for Butterick 4695 from Selvedge Shop is absolutely amazing!  It's child's play to make a man in a devil's costume look suave, but to pull if off for a guy in a footed penguin suit complete with bill visor and literal "wingtips" that restrict all hand movement?  Genius!  In fact, I suspect that this is an early pattern for an international superspy -- after all, one never knows when espionage might be interrupted by a Halloween night out with the kids!

Last but not least, SImplicity 8330, from runningalarm:

A spider on the head with attached web?  Simply brilliant!  It's a sad commentary on me that if it came down to choosing between being a Spanish dancer or Spider Webhead here, I'd probably go with the latter...

Costume Countdown: Cats, Canes & Clockwork Orange

Peruse vintage costume patterns for just a few moments, and you'll realize that the footed pajama has long been the bedrock of kids' costume patterns.  It beckons from within the illustrations like a shady man on a streetcorner, opening its coat full of watches and whispering to tired moms, "Pssst.  Lady.  I know the sewin's gonna take some time.  You're just makin' pajamas, some mittens and a hood with bunny ears or a spaceman's antenna, see?  Let the kid run around in it for Halloween and ya got jammies for the rest of the year." 

Take McCall's 1485 from 1949.  The panda, in particular, is quite adorable.  (Click on the photo to go to the listing, which is at Midvale Cotttage.)

(As an aside: is the brown bunny moonwalking?  I'm not sure.)

So it's no surprise that McCall's 3355 from 1972 is based on the good ol' footed pajama.  (Thanks to historically patterns at etsy for the photo.)  It's a good pattern:

 

See?  Cute!  Bunny is helping Tiger with makeup and Mouse is hanging out with Cat, who's carrying a cane for some reason.  I feel bad for the little girl who's staying in, but she does have good slippers.  S

Adorable and practical: that's the footed PJ costume.  Timeless, really.  So it's no surprise that McCall's re-issued the same pattern in 1980, this time calling it McCall's 7132 (click on the drawing to go to the listing in tiddleywink's shop.)  Taking recycling to heart, though, the pattern illustrators re-used the same concept -- although I find the update disturbing:

Cat still has a cane, and that gives me pause.  Do cats usually carry canes?  I've always been a dog person, so maybe there's a cat/cane connection I don't know about.  Maybe canes were the height of fashion for cats between 1972 and 1980, and any child dressed for Halloween in footed pajamas, ears and a bow tie but sans cane was mistaken for a marmot.

Then there's Bunny.  Bunny isn't helping with makeup any more, electing instead to tauntingly wave a cottontail at Pajama Girl which, frankly, isn't so nice.  Whatever illness is still keeping Pajama Girl inside this Hallow's Eve has presumable gotten worse.  She's practically quarantined off, though the fever has made her blissfully unaware of it.

Mouse has taken over makeup duty, but I don't like the look on Tiger's face.  Not one bit.  That kid is going to cause some trouble.  Combined with the what must be cruel laughter of Cat, the taunting of Bunny and that inexplicable cane, the whole thing is feeling a little too Clockwork Orange to me.  The "Powers" scrawled next to Trio Taunt doesn't help much either.  (Truth be told, neither does the fact that the hubby and I decided to re-watch some Kubrick films last week, so I've got the Korova Milk Bar on my mind.)  At any rate, I fear for Pajama Girl.  She's not going to be smiling for long.

Costume Countdown: Tears of a Clown

I made a promise to myself when I embarked upon costume countdown week to limit my use of clowns -- believe me, I could feature vintage clown patterns all week.  Each one has a little something special to make it just not right in that way clowns are.  Take, for example, Butterick 3169, a 1964 pattern I found in Midvale Cottage's etsy shop:

Oh, you may think this is just a tableau of frolicking kids -- but take a closer look at the one in the upper right hand corner.  WHY IS THE APPLE FLOATING?!

My personal fave, though, is Advance 701, which appears to be either from the 1940s or early 1950s.  Interestingly, it seems to have been issued with two different illustrations -- perhaps one version one year and one the next?  The illustration style and price suggest too close a date for this to be a case of pattern re-numbering.

Here's illustration one, from the pattern's page on the Vintage Sewing Wiki.  Our happy Halloween couple traises down the block for a Halloween party:

Next, look at the pattern listing over at Spessarite Sole.  I think someone spiked the Pink Zombie Punch with truth serum, because a scene of Who's Afraid of VIrginia Woolf? proportions took place between this illustration and the last one:

Advance consistently had such gorgeous illustrations, and these are both worth framing -- although I think you'd have to give it a title like "From Revelry to the Death of Love." 

Costume Countdown: Strange Bedfellows

I was poking around the Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki today and ran across some truly puzzling costume bedfellows -- or, more accurately, pattern envelope-fellows.  Take, for Exhibit A, McCall's 1890 from 1954:

I can sort of get my head around it: Dad dresses Chinese for Halloween, then gets gussied up as Santa for Christmas.  Or maybe he's Santa for Christmas, and this is an exotic and adventurous family that thrills the block with sweet-and-sour pork for Chinese New Year's.

But then there's Butterick 6343, which, as far as I can tell, contains costumes with no logical connections to one another:

A geisha, a sheik and their little witch offspring?  This, I think, was for the 1950s family that just wanted to be confusing.

Kwik Sew Crime Scene

What were the pattern illustrators at Kwik Sew smoking in the 70s?  I'm sorry, but I don't associate women's undergarments in a field with concepts like "fun hobby" and "happy sewing."  I associate them with concepts like "crime scene" and "ritual murder."

And no, the pretty flowers don't make it any better.

P.S.  It's available over at MOMSPatterns.  They're having a sale through October 31 -- just use the code "dressup" to get 15% off.

Creepy Children, Volume 3: It Puts the Lotion in the Basket, or It Gets the Hose Again

OK.  I know that Kwik Sew 345 is supposed to be all childlike and innocent, but it just creeps me out.  And yes, since it's from the 60s or 70s the resemblance to the poster for The Silence of the Lambs is completely coincidental, but it's there.  Behold:

Kwik Sew:

Silence of the Lambs:

The more I look at the Kwik Sew pattern illustration, the more it creeps me out.  What's the boy hiding behind his back, and why is he smiling like that?  What's wrong with the girl's fingers?  They're just weird.  And why does she have that big jelly arm?  Does she even have arm bones?  Where are the boy's feet?!

Ick.

Overwhelming Enthusiasm

I've been pondering over what to write about this pattern envelope for a while: Simplicity 9487 required, I felt, something involving 70s Corman movies, Charlie's Angels, pep squads and bad acid trips.  Finally I've realized this is one of those "a picture is worth a thousand words" situations: there's really no witty caption or clever story that can match the giddy excitement and studied cool of these pattern models.

For some weekend vintage pattern excitemenet of your own, be sure to hop on over to etsy and check out the Yart Sale happening now through Sunday the 14th.  To do a little shameless self-promotion, I'm offering 10% off all patterns in my shop featuring funky collars, a particular obsession of mine.  Many other pattern sellers are offering discounts, so take a look around!

Creepy Children, Volume Two: The Endtimes Are Near

Simplicity 7683
Originally uploaded by TheRealAstrogirl

Forget the four horsemen of the apocalypse. It's going to be three gleeful tykes in footie pajamas who usher in the end of the world.

"Creepy Children" is already well on its way to being a regular feature here at Pattern Junkie -- there are just too many to choose from. For another truly jaw-dropping kids' pattern illustration, check out Kwik Sew 1653 over at the fabulous blog Clothed Minds. It's honestly sort of disturbing.

Creepy Children, Volume One: We Are Satan's Playthings

One out of oh, every three pattern illustrations featuring kids creeps me out.  I don't know why.  I'm not freaked out by kids in general, but somehow pattern illustrators find a way to bring out the worst in them.

Take for example Simplicity 8377, which is for sale right now in the lovely Sandritocat's etsy shop:

 

First there's the disturbing image of an eight-year-old boy dressed like he's about to hit the disco.  A medallion?!  Turtleneck?  Those shoes?  Is he Superfly's sidekick?

The ones who really scare me, though, are the Yellow Girls.  Let's face it, these aren't innocent tykes -- they're incarnations of Satan himself.  Yellow Skirt's already laughing, because she knows just what horror will befall you when you take that apple.  Yellow Jumper's pigtails are barely disguised HORNS, for crying out loud, and she looks like she can't wait to see the world burn.

Oh, and don't expect any help from Flowered Jumper, Plaid Jumper and Plaid Pants.  When the world turns to ash they'll be watching with the same bemused expressions they're sporting here.

YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE NIPON WOMEN

The first rule of Fight Club is...YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE NIPON WOMEN.

The second rule of Fight Club is...YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE NIPON WOMEN.

Behold Vogue 2640 by Albert Nipon:

 

These two are late 80s "XRay Women" straight out of Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities, don't you think?  But don't let the refined setting (a tony luncheon club on the Upper West Side, perhaps?) fool you.  Arms akimbo, they stand ready to drive a bony elbow into your side...or, if things get really serious, to do some damage with those pointy stiletto heels.

Waif-thin or not, don't underestimate these women.  They're tough.  Sure, their Master of the Universe husbands may trade millions daily on the stock market, but these Nipon women know that's nothing.  After all, this is a pattern that calls for seven rows of topstitching!  SEVEN ROWS.  If that doesn't take nerves of steel, I don't know what does.