August 7, 2014

Dating these

Can any of you vintage pattern lovers out there help me?
These unprinted patterns were in the same box as the Gracieuses. They come with limited instructions and nice drawings of the designs but without dates or even sizes. 
The logo says "Elite Pereboom's patronen". A Google search for this brought up a modern-day lay with the last name Pereboom who designs embroidery and crochet patterns and, probably more relevant, the pattern making book "American Coupe" by T. Pereboom. The book was first printed in 1907 and I think I've seen it before on an auction site but it's fairly rare and, as a result, expensive. In one of the entries (unfortunately the one that is no longer active), T. Pereboom is mentioned as the tailor-in-chief at the city's tailoring workshops of... (that's where the Google blurp cuts off). It's not unlikely that after publishing his book, mr. Pereboom went on to start a pattern company. Or maybe a son, who had followed in his footsteps did (along that line, the needlecraft lady may be a descendant for all I know).

Anyway, I'd like to ask your help in dating these patterns. They look to me like they might be from the 1930's.

I have five and I'm sure three of them are from a different year as the other two. 

 I suspect these two might be the oldest (the shoulders on the dress are smaller). The designs kind of look like what was in Gracieuse in the spring of 1935. 
Considering the fact that the original owner of the magazines stopped her subscription to Gracieuse when they stopped including pattern sheets in January 1935, I suspect any separately bought publications will be from after that.

On these, the logo looks like this.

On the other patterns, it looks like this.



And these are the other patterns, which, by my logic should be from later in the decade. What do you think?

There are serial numbers on all the patterns and those on the group of three are lower. However, those are four digit numbers, those on the other patterns are five digit ones. I know pattern companies can be pretty productive, but I don't think they'd churn out tens of thousands of designs in just a few years. Which makes it likely there's a system to the numbering and it changed between the two groups of patterns. 

Oh, and I know I said there are no sizes and that's true but the first two patterns are stamped with "88 60" and "88 65" respectively. Those could be bust and waist sizes. In which case they must have been ordered for quite a slender lady. I'm not too worried about the 60 cm waist on the dress because the pattern pieces don't look like the garment is that closely tailored in the mid section. 
Of course, before trying anything, I should measure the pattern pieces to try and get some idea of the size and then make a muslin.
I'm kind of eyeing up that first dress with the tucked yoke as my 1930's pattern for the Vintage Pattern Pledge. That is, if there's an agreement that it is a 1930's design...

5 comments:

  1. These patterns are absolutely gorgeous, and I agree they are 30s designs, but I have no idea for narrowing down to exact years. I love the first dress & that coat is fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful patterns especially the coats! Those are very difficult to find. I think you're look at early to mid 30s on all of them. Thanks for sharing. :)
    -Emily

    vintagevisions27.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm no expert but I too think 1930's. Number 62261 with the fold over scarf like collar is magnificent! Those sleeves...!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My guess would be 1932-1935. The silhouette has progressed just enough beyond the 1920s styles, but not quite moved into the mid-late '30s shape yet. Beautiful patterns.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a fascinating puzzle! My first thought was between the wars because of the amount of fabric used. However, I am intrigued by the length. I remember my Grandmother saying as soon as hemlines went up in the twenties, no one under 50 ever wanted to wear long skirts for daywear again. Even when Dior's New Look came in Vogue, she and her friends wore the skirts shorter. My grandmother was very proper, but I wonder if the shorter hemlines were just here in the U S?

    ReplyDelete