pattern junkie

Two Men in Robes = Panic!

Day Two of Men's Week brings us to...The Pajama Problem.

Look through vintage pajama and robe patterns for men and one thing becomes clear: pattern illustrators of the past got very nervous when they had to illustrate more than one view of a male nightwear pattern.  Because that meant...that meant...

...that meant they'd be showing two or more men in nightclothes TOGETHER.  And that raised the question...WHY were these men in pajamas together?  Hmmm?  Hmmm?!

The most common solution to The Pajama Problem?  Give the men objects to show they were DOING something.  Because if they were doing something, they couldn't, you know, be doing something else...

In Simplicity 5039, it's quite simple.  Shorts is golfing (golfing?!) while Nightshirt and Blue discuss Important Business:

 

The "sheaf of papers in hand" in Blue's hand is a favorite solution.  Men, you see, just can't stop Meeting About Memos, even if it's time for beddy bye.

Advance 5878:

 

McCall's 4186:

 
Even in the 70s, that sheaf of papers came in handy.  In Simplicity 7080, Yellow may be getting a little friendly with Plaid, who just stepped out of the shower, but Red has a TPS Report that needs discussing, stat!

Another favorite remedy (as shown in McCall's 4816 above), was to show the robe worn over a tie, pants and dress shoes.  Here's another example, Simplicity 4349:

 
And yet another, Vogue 8753.  Little Mr. No Pants in the back there may be going to bed, but Red and Gray are wheeling, dealing and trading stocks even though the market is closed:

Truth be told, I found so many examples of robes over ties that I have to ask my readers who've studied fashion and costume history: was there a time when men came home and doffed their suit jackets for robes?

Tomorrow: When the Pajama Problem is just too much...

Men of Patternland

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!

Web Junkie: February 6, 2010

Happy Saturday to all!  Here are some fun links for your weekend reading:

• As if you needed another pattern source: check out German pattern makers schnittquelle.  (See photo above.)  TIps on navigating the Germanness of it all can be found on this PatternReview discussion thread.  (Go to the bottom of the page.)
• The Los Angeles Times picks Fifty First Dresses from various designers.  (Well, they picked them a while ago, but I just stumbled across them.)
• Over on Vintage Red, Carisa is teaching herself to grade vintage patterns.  I'm the kind of person who can't do anything without reading three books and taking twice as many classes, while Carisa jumps right in to the deep end of the pool.  I read her posts with a combination of awe and terror.
• Here's an interesting blog by designer George Moskal.  He shares a lot about his patternmaking process for his upcoming line.
• On BurdaStyle: Win a copy of The September Issue, a documentary on Anna Wintour and Vogue Magazine.  Entries must be in by Wednesday, February 10.

Stop the Presses! Two Geekeries Collide!

LIBERTY OF LONDON IS OFFERING RAY HARRYHAUSEN FABRIC!!

I know!  It's amazing, isn't it?!  What are you going to make?  I'm thinking a prim '60s shirtdress.  Maybe just a skirt, though, since Liberty's on the pricey side.  It'll have to have pleats, however, just so I can have the fun of pretending that dueling skeletons are hiding in them.  In fact, maybe I could do a hidden bit of embroidery!  Look at this fabulous fabric!  So dark and mysterious...you know some fantastic creature is hiding in the depths of that jungle:

You haven't said anything.  It's because you spit up your coffee in excitement, right?  Or because you clicked away to order fabric of your own?

Or...is it that I'm one of only about six people in the world who would be excited about this?  I don't know how often the fandoms of sewing and horror/sci fi movies collide.

I see a hand in the back.  "Who's Ray Harryhausen?" you ask.

ONLY ONE OF THE BEST MOVIE SPECIAL EFFECTS CREATORS EVER!!  He did JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS!  He did CLASH OF THE TITANS and THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD!  He studied at the knee of Willis H. O'Brien, who did the original KING KONG!

Deep breath.  I've calmed my movie geek side down.  Harryhausen is an amazing artist who created special effects in the 1950s with stop motion photography.  That meant that he created models (generally out of clay) and then shot them frame by frame, moving them just a tiny bit each time, to make an action sequence that flowed.  Keep in mind that 24 frames go into just one second of film and you'll get a sense of the kind of painstaking attention to detail he had to employ.  

Here's an example of his work, if you're interested.  It's his famous "Skeleton Fight" from JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS.  (Warning: turn down the volume if you don't want 50s movie music blasting from your computer, though I'm sure none of you are reading this at work.)  Laugh at the 1950s acting and the short gladiator costumes if you want, but remember -- this is the work of one man and his two hands.  No computers.  He did it all at 24 frames per second.  Every limb of every skeleton -- and often there are several onscreen at once -- had to be moved just a millimeter for each frame.  He'd often work all day to get half a second of footage.

Suddenly I don't feel like I should whine so much when I have to re-do a seam.  Enjoy!  (If you're in a hurry, the skeleton stuff begins around 1:45).

Eye Candy & Barrel Skirts

Sometimes a pattern simply elicits an "ooh, pretty!"  Check out Vogue 1488:

How gorgeous is that?  Kudos to the pattern illustrator -- I could get lost in that drawing.  The fabulous pink, the green skirt with purple bow and patterned bodice (where can I get that fabric?!)  And the black cocktail dress set off with a pale blue bow and darker blue shoes?  Be still my freakin' heart.  It's all so darn pretty that the whole mini-me aspect of Pink Gown doesn't bother me one bit.

(And as much as I'd adore to have this pattern...if you run across it, give a shout out to Cindy, who posted that she was looking for it over at Sew Retro.)

According to the pattern description, the skirt on Vogue 1488 is a "barrel skirt" -- a term I hadn't heard before.  A quick Google search didn't turn up much, surprisingly, but from what I've gathered a barrel skirt lives up to its name.  It's narrow at the waist, gets full at the hips and then narrows again at the hem.  Here's another example from the vintage wiki, Vogue S-4853:

I love the bow detail and think the design is cool, but I have to admit -- there's something about it that makes me want to pick these women up and ring them like bells.

If any of you have more information on barrel skirts, I'd love to hear it!  I did find some fashion articles from the New York Times circa 1917 that talk about them with great passion, and I'll be posting more about that tomorrow.

Before They Had Pipes

Reader Harriet sent in this fantastic pattern she found on etsy, which she's aptly titled "Before They Had Pipes":

 

Wow.  Look at all those little businessmen!  Harriet thinks that Mr. Blue Plaid in front looks suspiciously like Sal from Mad Men.  I don't follow the show (a sin for a vintage lover, I know -- I didn't get into it at first and now fear it will take over my life if I try to catch up), but I suspect that Sal is a toupee-wearing ladies' man.  The rest of the "boys" don't look so innocent either.  Mr. Red Vest behind him looks ready to sell us a shady bill of goods, while Mr. Gray Blazer/Bow Tie is clearly another snake oil salesman.  I'm not quite sure what Red Plaid Vest has done at such a young age to deserve framing, but Brown Suit?  I pity Brown Suit.  If there's a Willy Loman in this diorama of 1950s white collar masculinity, it's Brown Suit.

There are a couple of other 1950s boys' patterns in the seller's shop, and together they offer an amazing glimpse into the strict gender roles men were forced into during this time.  I know I focus so much on the societal restrictions placed on women that I forget that men and boys -- even if they didn't have to deal with everything from job discrimination to girdles -- had their own cultural baggage.  If you look at these patterns, it seems that boys were being molded into "little men" from a very young age.

This one, Simplicity 4964, at least makes a passing acknowledgment to boyhood and puberty.  Charming Red and Cute Stripe pose for the viewer while White Shirt gives grooming advice to Tennis.  ("The ladies, they like it when you shave, see?  And they think it's real special when you slick back your hair.")

But Simplicity 4740 really portrays its boys as little men -- they truly are only a pipe away from manhood:

These kids are having a business conference before bed!  Check out Red Robe!  He's not just holding a sheaf of papers, briefing Blue Plaid and White Robe with some last minute details on tomorrow's presentation...he's wearing SLACKS ad DRESS SHOES underneath the robe!

Mockable Vintage Patterns of the Future: New McCall's/Simplicity Patterns, Part 2

It was the exposed zipper purse that got me thinking.

Here it is.  McCall's 6046:

I saw it and had a momentary "WTF is up with that zipper?" -- but before the thought was even completed, I went "Ah, exposed zipper trend -- got it!" and moved on.  

Later, it came back to haunt me.  What would I think if this were 2060 and I stumbled upon this pattern?  What would happen if I shared it with a group of fellow pattern lovers?  The fashion trends that are so clear to us now -- like those that were so clear to our predecessors -- would be much murkier.  We'd puzzle over whether or not the thing actually opened down its center.  If so, why?  A possible quote from Pattern Junkie 2060: 

"Was this considered a smart design?  A handy way to get to the detritus at the bottom of your purse?  Examining the pattern further, I realized that the zipper was purely decorative.  'Why?' I wondered.  What fashion trend gripped the women of 2010 to basically announce to the world 'I do not understand the concept of gravity?'"

My alter ego of the future would also regard this Simplicity crafts pattern, 2450, with wonder:

Sure, the vintage pattern lovers of 2060 might start out by admiring the thriftiness of 2010 sewers: in the midst of worldwide economic crisis, look how they adorned their coffee cups to use them as organizers!  But...well, it really doesn't hide the fact that they're coffee cups, does it?  The handle still sticks out.  And wouldn't the cup work just as well by itself?  The final nail in the coffin that ensures this pattern will be mocked without mercy in the future?  It's licensed from a company called Buckets Gone Wild.  Buckets!  Gone Wild!  See them partying in the streets!  Why, I swear that pattern photo was taken on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras!

Finally, here's Simplicity 2438, a Wii Fit accessories pattern.  Now, let me say right up front that I don't have a Wii but I'd love one -- they seem like a lot of fun, and a great way to exercise.  Still, I suspect this pattern might be mystifying to pattern lovers of the future:

First of all, she's SO HAPPY, which always opens up a pattern for mockery.  Second -- and, truth be told, this baffles me now -- the Wii is designed to be used at home.  Why is a tote bag part of the pattern?  (Maybe I don't understand Wii culture, and taking your Wii to your friend's house is a frequent activity.)  Why does this mysterious little machine get all these specialized patterns?  Ultimately I wonder if this product -- which, as I said, I covet -- will be looked on in years to come as we look at these:

It's interesting food for thought.  What fashions and patterns of today will become treasured collector's items -- and which ones will become odd artifacts of the past?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

We Are From France

I'm just saying.