Pattern Review – (Unknown brand) Vintage pattern 4902
August 30, 2011
Georgia picked up this vintage pattern in Vinnies recently. It has no date or brand on it, only that it was printed in the US. My guess is that it’s from the 30s or 40s. What do you think?
Georgia made the pattern up in Japanese 100% cotton Navy Hanataba. The dress was cut as per pattern, the only adjustments made were to shorten the sleeves to 3/4 length, eliminating the centre front fold and instead of a self belt to draw in the dress, Georgia added a self casing to just above the waist with self drawstring. Interestingly the original pattern came in half sizes?
One thing we do know about this pattern is that this 14 and a half is closer to today’s standard size 10 measurements!
That's a mail-order pattern – those were sold through newspapers and magazines, and mailed directly to the purchaser. There were some known brands in mail-order, like Anne Adams, but a lot of the patterns listed no brand at all. They were most popular from the 50s to the early 80s – I would guess that this dress is from the 70s from the printing on the envelope and the style. You could check for sure by comparing the measurements with the measurement standards; I believe the U.S. 'official' misses' sizes changed sometime in the 60s. If you search for 'dating vintage patterns' there's a lot of good info out there.
BTW, half sizes were a women's petite – designed for shorter women but also in larger sizes. Kinda like plus sizes today, but starting a lot smaller. The dress looks beautiful.
That makes a lot more sense! The dress style didn't fit in with the 40s, the older looking packaging threw us off! Georgia will be very interested to know. Thanks Laura!
Beautiful dress Georgia! Suzie
Interesting neckline!
I really like that dress and your modifications are spot on I reckon Georgia. I'm betting on 70s as well — I have a pattern right here in front of me with a centre seam just like that and the same close bodice and wide skirt. Nice work.