Jacket sleeves

If you follow this blog on Facebook, you may have seen this picture already: 

There has been quite a bit of progress on my new jacket! 
Since then, I've made a lining and now I just have to attach that, make buttonholes and do all those little bits of finishing which always take way more time than you'd expect. And I think it is looking good! The skirt should be quite simple: A half circle should do the trick. I'll just have to give it some serious time to hang out before hemming. This fabric is shifty on its own (which is why I block-fused the entire jacket using a very thin knit interfacing)...

This time, I thought I'd be clever and have a bit of a chat about the pattern before showing off the finished garment (because that often leads to questions about the pattern). 

As mentioned before, my inspiration was this picture. 
The darted lower bodice is pretty standard. You will find a shape like that in many patterns and, when drafting your own, you take it straight from the sloper. The notched collar is hardly unique either. I did a full-on jacket collar draft because I like that but you could probably get a result like in the drawing with a simple convertible collar as well. 
The stand-out feature of this design is the yoke. With the sleeves and pocket flaps grown on. I love unusual takes on fairly standard shapes, which is exactly what this is. 

At first, I thought it would be easy to draft this using my kimono sleeved block (I've made that based on the normal sloper, to speed up the drafting process for dresses with kimono sleeves. It's for a fairly fitted kimono sleeve with an underarm gusset). As soon as I got started, though, I found a problem. Proportions.
In the drawing, the lower bodice is long and lean and it is 'crowned' with that nice yoke and pocket flap arrangement. The pocket flaps look like they are right at the apex of the bust and the yoke seam is a straight line. On the kimono sleeved block, that isn't possible. A straight line at or just above bust level would end up in the sleeve. And I thought a curve would be rather noticeable.

Instead, I went for a different option, constructing the yoke-and-sleeve more or less like a raglan sleeve. So, I took the upper bodice pieces from the standard sloper and grafted those only the normal sleeve. To keep that rather soft, flat shoulder line, I put them on a bit under the sleeve head (never recommended in  pattern making instructions but I know my slopers and the result I want). 
With this drafting choice, several practical considerations came together: To make a sleeve like this properly, you need to preserve the lower part of the armscye. To achieve that and get the bust seam at the right height, I lowered the armscye by 2 or 3 centimeters. That should also help to get the looser look around the upper arms and improve the room for movement when combined with a small alteration on the sleeve. That particular sleeve treatment is something I explained in this post.
With the yoke-and-sleeve done, I studied the picture carefully for the placement of the pocket flap. To keep it from making the sewing more difficult, I just used a 1 cm seam allowance for the flap (the flap curled up when I took the picture).

I've tried the jacket on and the sleeves actually still look pretty slim but I can move properly. The proportions on the body look fine so I guess I should put the difference in the sleeve shape down to the inevitable issues you get when converting a drawing into an actual garment. 

Putting the ease for movement in the sleeves was not uncommon in 1950's suits though. These images come from the French Elle magazine, the collection special for autumn/winter 1953. 

These suits are quite different in style from the one I'm making but both have very fitted bodices and fairly full sleeves. It's a very clever feature really. Not only does it set off that super-slim bodice, it also means the wearer can still use her arms. I won't look quite so wasp waisted in my suit (not without a corset... although these model might be wearing some rather hard-core underpinnings themselves) but that is kind of the effect I am going for myself.

Chanel 1958

Today, I'd like to share a find from one of my vintage magazines. These pictures belong to a short article (it's really more about the pictures) in the French magazine Elle from 27 February 1958.
As you may know, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel returned to the world of French high fashion during the 1950's. After returning from her self-imposed exile in Switzerland in 1953, she returned to rebuilt the fashion house she had closed down at the beginning of the occupation. 
By her own testimony (which is never really to be trusted because Mademoiselle was a notoriously skilled self-promotor) she had to come back because the fashion of the time was so horrible....

In this article, Elle visits Chanel for the presentation of pieces from the new collection for the spring of 1958, presented by Mademoiselle's new "It"-girl Marie-Helene.

This was Chanel's 50th collection and, according to Elle, it looks young and 'now' on the pretty film actress. I find the boots both ladies are wearing really peculiar. I wouldn't really consider those flattering, although they must have been easier to wear than the pointy, spike-heeled pumps fashionable at the time.

These looks are rather nice. They look loose and easy to wear and yet chic. They don't really look 1950's, more 60's (although there was a trend for loose fitting, more straight lined dresses and suits in French high fashion in 1958). I guess that's what makes them 'fashion-forward'. 

And on this last page, we get some quintessential Chanel looks: Tweed at upper left, jersey and pockets in the main picture and in both the contrasting edges and costume jewelry. 

Sewing with a plan

Do you plan what to sew for the coming season? Make a plan of your wardrobe wants and needs and stick to it?
I don't. For me , the moment I try to impose a rigid plan is the moment I loose all enthusiasm for all the planned items. Although, obviously I don't disapprove of making things you need and giving that some thought.

It may not surprise you that magazine editors from the 1950's were big fans of wardrobe planning. And of sewing with a plan.

I found this beautifully illustrated plan in a French Elle magazine from June 1955. It's a nine piece summer capsule wardrobe. I guess it was meant for casual holidays in the country, based on the absence of evening wear and tailored pieces.

You could order the patterns for all nine pieces from the magazine. They reflect the fashion trends at the time: pleated skirts, dropped waistlines and loose jackets. And of course, choosing matching and contrasting separates rather than dresses allows for greater versatility.

The great thing about this bit of planning is that they chose to illustrate various option with photographs, rather than just show to pieces and write suggestions:

And just in case you might think it all looks a bit tame, the article closes with a this super-bright colour picture (which doesn't come across very well in the picture):

Now I'm just left wondering why a third of one's French summer wardrobe would be cardigans and jackets...

Elle choisit l'été

I hope that's right... My French is rather poor.
Anyway, I think it means "she chooses summer". With the weather in the Netherlands more like autumn than (approaching) summer, the "summer state of mind" is much discussed. Can you believe we may get some frost tonight... 

Enough complaining about the weather. The French was supposed to be a little bridge to the topic of this post: French Elle magazine! The issue of 2 June 1955, to be precise. 

Back then, Elle was published weekly and from the ones I have, this is the issue closest to today's day and month.

It's immediately clear that this is not just another housewife's magazine. It's quite unlike my Dutch ladies' magazines and, come to think of it, rather different from its modern-day descendant as well...

Almost all adds are beauty or fashion related. The are no articles about childcare and most household ones are about care for one's clothes. There is a cooking page though and several stories.

There are some more serious general interest articles, like this one on a meeting of teenagers from around the world, organized by Unesco.

And there's showbizz. Like this report of filming a movie with Juliette Gréco in Saint-Germain-des-Pres (there she is, in the bottom left picture).

Or this snapshot of Brigitte Bardot being entertained at the Cannes Film Festival. 

And of course, there's fashion...

Model Bettina shares her foreign fashion finds...

And you could order the pattern for the suit she wears.

Then there's a choice of brightly coloured summer dresses...

I just love seeing period colour pictures. Although they are often less sharp and printed overly bright, they really add another dimension.

What about 6 pretty summer dresses with dots?

Or 6 with stripes? 

I just love this one.
Incidentally, this is that time in the mid-1950's when waist-lenght bodices and figure hugging longer ones are in fashion at the same time. You can see the evidence on all the dress pages.

On to practical fashion advice: how to use small bits of fabric and ribbons to give a fashionable accent to one's outfit. I think this is something the French are just naturally better at.

And there's a hat tutorial. Unfortunately, it's for a bog-standard beret but isn't that full page photograph for it glamorous?

There's even a garment pattern on scale. It's for a lovely blouse with a fold-over front. The picture is printed over two pages so I couldn't scan it but believe me: It's a simple fitted kimono sleeve blouse at the back but the front bodice is gathered onto a sleeve/yoke. Really nice. Maybe I should try and make it...

Oh, and of course there's a knitting pattern. With another glamorous full page picture. I have never seen a swimsuit knitting pattern like this before. It looks charming but this is not something I would care to try.

Hmm, summer dresses... Maybe I should just start on one...

Vintage elle

Didn't I tell you I went to Amsterdam last week to pick up a couple of vintage magazines which I had bought at a Dutch auction site?

Well, these were the magazines I went there for:

The collection specials for winter 1952/1953 and winter 1957.

I also came home with these: the winter collection specials for 1962 and 1963,

And the spring collection special for 1971. Two of these, the seller gave to me purely because she liked my enthousiasm.

And I'm not just showing you the covers, at the risk of making anyone jealous. I'll show you what's inside the first and oldest one now (warning, this makes for a very picture-heavy post).

Obviously, there are several pages of normal magazine stuff: a letter from the editor, a small article and a segment with letters from readers on these pages (there's even a short story at the back), oh and adds, of course.

Then, it's on to serious fashion news: ever since the introduction of the New Look in 1947, hemlines were a major issue in women's fashion and Dior especially announced the new fashionable length each season. A length measured from ground to hem. In this spread, it is shown, with three models wearing Dior dresses, how women of different height should deviate slightly from this dictat to achieve the desired fashionable effect. And if I understand the text correctly, Elle didn't make this up, Dior wanted it so.

Then, there's an overview of interesting new things for the coming season. Collar shapes and fabrics and colour combinations.

The big feature is all about coats.

Neat suits and overcoats in various styles.

Many showing new collar shapes...

Aren't they lovely?

Of course, there's fashion advice. Elle explains how to match the season's key looks from the big designers to one's size and personality (I'm not sure whether 'small' and 'large' in this case is about height or about dress size. Judging from the drawings, I'd say it's height because the 'large' ladies on the right page don't look the slightest bit less skinny than the ones on the left)

And there are winter dresses.

Lovely things in flannel and tweed. I'd wear most of these in winter 2012/2013 (so, 60 years later), given the chance...

Then, there's this spread on dresses for dancing.

And the fashion oracle of Elle leaves it's readers with a line-up of the 28 new fashion details in approves of. Collars and ornaments in specific, sometimes unexpected places mostly.

There are many things to love about this magazine. First of all, it's great to see looks, I admire in fashion history books or museum guides, 'in situ' like this. Photographed and edited by contemporaries and embedded with the information and knowledge of the time. Also, a lot of 1950's fashion pictures I know look extremely poised and serious. Although Elle's are by no means frivolous, there is more fun and movement to them. And then there's the fashion itself. Original dresses by Dior, Christian Dior himself and by Fath and Patou and Gres and Heim...