"Look West Fine Sailor, It's On To 1947 We Go."

I'm not exactly sure why but fate seems to point me to the year 1947 as well as 1938.  I'm also keen on the early 50's too but I don't think I have a set year for the 50's.    Do any of you have a favorite year?

I have a few things to tie up before I begin my next sewing project.  There is this lovely rayon beach skirt I bought that needs a new hem so this will give me a great opportunity to work with rayon.  This I hope to do this week.  I also think it could benefit from a zipper instead of snaps.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you 1947 sewing styles.

My next sewing project fate has dropped in my lap so I'm going with it.  I originally thought I should do another reproduction pattern but what the heck...let's try a vintage one.  If I become completely confused, I'll just come back to it.  I am going easy on myself and tackling a skirt.  I really want to work with rayon but I'm not sure if I'll get there with this skirt.  I have to think on it some more.

I liked the look of this skirt on this particular pattern as the lines seem simple and can still introduce me to new concepts.  I had no idea this pattern was 1947 until I got the pattern and saw this year noted on the back of the envelope.  I'm not quite sure about the seam line going right in the middle, maybe I might be able to move this to the side.

So, the year 1947 it is and my-o-my what a grand year it was!  This is the year that Dior introduced the New Look.  When I page through fashion magazines of this year, many flashes of "ohh's and ahhh's zip and zap through my mind.

The pattern envelope has simple solid colors but I was thinking I might try a print.  The pattern is in really good shape and was not expensive so I'm happy to start out my first vintage pattern with a skirt.  I really wanted a blouse but I'm still hunting down the right puffy sleeved model for this.  I think I would like a late 30's version of a blouse...maybe even 1938, if I am particularly lucky.

I love the idea of a cummerbund.  I'm wondering how a print would look though.  I haven't seen this pattern replicated yet by other vintage seamstresses.

I thought I'd share some other patterns from 1947.

McCalls  4927

McCall 6781

Simplicity 2075

What I love about these vintage patterns is the stripes and the play on form.  Not sure if I could be as accurate as this pattern below with just two perfect stripes runing down.  Love the horizontal and vertical play on lines though!  I do have a future pattern I hope to conquer that does have red and white stripes but I don't see it being as difficult as this one.

Simplicity 2071  (I recently bought this pattern too before I knew it was 1947.)  I can't wait to see how the bows are formed.  I would think you'd need some stabalizer to keep the structure of the bows.  Too cute! How could you not want to wear this dress?

Simplicity 2144

McCall 6824

If a vintage pattern is too intimating, here is a reproduction pattern that looks to have great possibilities.

Guess what, I just recently won my very first Vogue Pattern book.  It is from, you guessed it, 1947!  So, I'll post some of these images coming up in a future post.  I was hoping my skirt would be in this book, but wouldn't you know it, I just missed the cutoff and I'm thinking it is in the next issue.  No worries, this issue has some interesting things to share too!

These are not related to 1947 but I really wanted to share these.  Aren't these two patterns awesome?  They show you how to do sleeves.  They are quite pricey.  These are certainly patterns to keep in mind for the future.  How cool!

This one is currently at $50 and still going.

This auction just ended at $64