Hey! It's MEN'S WEEK here at Pattern Junkie!
Why? Well, Peter over at Male Pattern Boldness had a fantastic post last week on the paucity of male sewers, and Gertie followed it up with a wonderful post of her own yesterday. Both got me thinking (er, "losing hours to the Vintage Pattern Wiki"), and there's just too much male pattern goodness not to share.
I want to kick things off with a little historical survey of Men of Patternland. Personally, I think men's patterns used to offer more interesting design variations than they do now. One thing I can say with confidence? Men in decades past could look at a pattern envelope and say to themselves, "Hey, that's a guy I'd like to be." Now? That's not so true.
Take the 1930s. What do you see when you look at Simplicity 1793? I see sophisticated. Literate. A man who knows how to mix a martini:
The 1940s. How much cooler can you get than film noir and Bogie?!
The 1950s: men smoked cigarettes and talked about space age things. (Check out the shirt, by the way -- I love the design!)
In the 1960s, men were people with Things! To! Do!
The 1970s. A touch of mod remains, and funk creeps in. Sure, Yellow there looks like he might corner you at a party and talk non-stop about his hi-fi system, but Blue and Brown were hunks in their time even with the double knit polyester!
Now let's jump over to McCall's and see what the men of today have to look forward to in the pages of the pattern catalog. What reflections of themselves do they see?
I rest my case.
P.S. I have a copy of the 70s pattern, Simplicity 9992, size 38-40, for anyone who wants it. The problem? No instruction sheet! Email me if you want it -- first come, first served. (My email is at the top left-hand corner of the page.) Just promise to send photos of the completed project!
UPDATE: the pattern has found its new home!