“A hospital volunteer is sometimes nicknamed a candy striper“.

There is no date on this pattern but I am going to say late ’40’s. Patterns after the 1940’s had printing on each piece to make them easier to follow and this one did not.

I really enjoyed working on this pattern, making sure my stripes lined up and all the gathering was even. But I do have to say they did not make it easy for women to follow patterns back then. You really would need to understand how patterns go together to be successful. One example was the sleeve cuff (pattern piece shown above right bottom corner overlapping pocket). There were not enough circles to indicate where the gathering stopped so I just had to wing it. As well the entire skirt was pleated but in order to fit it on the waistband (and I made my waistband bigger then the pattern) it also required a bit of gathering. No where in the instructions did it say this needed to be done.

The yoke was a nice design detail but the pattern only had a cut one so I cut two to hide all the gathered seam allowances inside.

Nice shots of the sleeve and it’s details. Notice how far the button is away from the edge?

The buttons were a nice touch (and check out how I made sure the pockets matched with the stripe of the blouse), thankfully I remembered I had them because I wasn’t finding any decent buttons in the stores. What’s up with that?

The last picture I want to share is the back view. The fullness reminds me of the shirtwaists of the early 1900’s.

WHAT IS A SHIRTWAIST? “The popular shirtwaist was a blouse modelled after a menswear shirt. It was touted as the attire for the independent working woman.  It was offered in an array of colours and by the beginning of the 20th century designers had embellished it with lace and frills. A fashionable woman would have many shirtwaists and no two were ever the same” .

Well this may be my last post of this year. I am making a denim shirt from a 1974 Simplicity pattern as a Christmas gift. Here’s the picture.

 

I’m not sure I’ll have time to post until after the holidays but I’ll do my best.

Cheers & Merry Christmas,

Angela