Vogue 5364 – 1940’s French Blouse

Ok, so the blouse I’m posting about today isn’t actually from France.  The title refers to the design of the fabric which, you’ve guessed it, has a French theme, Paris, none the less!

Trying to get on top of my, um, fabric hoard, I’m trying to adopt a kind of one in one out philosophy.  I keep amassing beautiful pieces of fabric, but don’t use it as quickly as I’m buying it, because knitting and felt work seem to take priority.  With the extended summer break, which is now almost at an end, I've been keeping my sewing machine busy, and am ever so slightly making a dent in the stash!

Whenever we go to events, one of the things we always hear people say is that they wish it the clothing was bigger.  There is no denying that your average wartime woman was smaller than the average woman of today.  So, with this in mind, I went about picking out one of my larger blouse patterns, and ended up going for this Vogue pattern from 1948.

The blouse is quite a simple design, just three buttons, no fancy gathering or puff sleeves, quite a sleek, somewhat sophisticated, design, which I felt called for a similarly themed fabric.

Cue this little piece of loveliness.

The fabric is a vintage, probably from the 1950's, and the photographs don't do it justice, because it is actually a really pale pink shade. 

From a distance, it just looks like a plain old piece of fabric, but when you take a closer look, the fabric is actually covered in a French themed design of poodles, the Eiffel Tower, jive dancers, the moon, and some other buildings that I can’t identify!

Because the fabric design ran in an up down direction, the main pattern pieces all had to be cut in the same way, i.e. top to bottom, all pointing the same way.  It was a tight squeeze, and there were only fragments of fabric to spare.

Matching buttons to the fabric was more of a challenge than I thought it would be.  Because the fabric has a sheen to it, plastic buttons would be too dull in comparison, and therefore glass was the only way to go.  Clear glass looked totally wrong, so in the end, 3 rather scrumptious vintage pink champagne coloured flower buttons were the best option. 

Regrettably, 2 out of the 3 buttons have a tiny nibble on the back, as is often the case with 50+ year old buttons.  Personally, I don’t think it matters.  They are vintage buttons, and it does happen, but I’m hoping the new owner won’t mind either.

The blouse has been photographed on a dummy which is far too small for it, hence the overly baggy look, and the fact that one sleeve looks longer than the other!  It is pictured with the skirt from an original 1940's pin stripe suit.

The pattern was a dream to work from.  I didn’t have to make any changes to it at all.  All the pieces fitted easily together, and the entire thing took less than a day to construct, although it took me weeks to actually do the final finishing!! 

Summer Roundup

The end of August already?  Hmm, it seems that our extended summer holiday has kept me away from Blogger!  At the beginning of the holiday, with the weeks stretching before me, I had grand plans for numerous posts, plenty of makes and hoped to catch up on lots of cataloguing of my patterns.  In reality, I’ve actually achieved very little of what I’d hoped to, but I have a good excuse; I’ve been out and about with the family having fun!!

So what have we filled our time with?  Well, looking back, we’ve actually done an awful lot. 

We did a vintage fair in Heydon, Norfolk, which was lovely, but I sent Mr Y off to Sheringham with the camera, so no pictures of the fair, but plenty of the trains!  The weather was glorious and there were oh so many beautiful things to buy, but I was good, and all I brought home with me were some more knitting patterns and two 1950's blouses for the girls.

We also touted our wares at the 1940’s event at Ramsey, but again I have no photographs because I didn’t venture far from the tent.  Well, that’s not entirely true, I did venture down to see just one lovely trader who had, yes, you guessed it, more patterns!   She also had some 1940’s black suede ankle boots with Astrakhan trim in a rare larger size, but my mum, being the vintage hunting pro that she is, snaffled them first!! :o)

I may have also acquired some more patterns.  More patterns than I probably should have done. 

I bought, and fell in love with, some incredible pieces of new stock.  Some amazing ox blood red suede CC41 shoes, an incredible lavender coloured crepe dress and coat set and a whole collection of lovelyness including a 1940's Harrod's evening dress, 1930's day dress, 1940's pink moygashel dress with pink piping and a silk vestee from the 1940's :o)

We’ve travelled the highways and byways of East Anglia and visited Colchester Zoo, Minsmere, Sutton Hoo, Dunwich Heath, Land Guard Fort, Holt, Sheringham and Parham, to name but a few.  We’ve been swimming and walking, and paddling and riding.  Wandered through the leafy forests and ambled along the pebbly Suffolk shore.  The girls have dug for treasure and built sandcastles, grubbed in the dirt and come home filthy.  We’ve picked flowers, picked blackberries and picked (and munched!) delicious strawberries.  Eaten picnics in the shade of a tree and eaten over indulgent meals out.  Had cuddly, snugly film nights in and child orientated trips to the flicks!  Phew, no wonder we have welcomed our beds at the end of the day!! 

Racey, C's much beloved, and once white polar bear.  He goes everywhere with her.

We had family staying with us for 2 ½ weeks, which curtailed the adventuring a little, but the increased time at home did mean I was able to finish off 2 jumpers, a blouse and a dress.

  

We did some decorating, well, I picked the colours and my Mr did the decorating!  I also put him to task on a bookcase, so my once dark oak bookcase is now shiny and blue, the perfect home for some of the girls’ book collection.

All in all, it has been a pretty jam packed 3 months.  Having my Mr home has been absolutely incredible. I think we squeezed in as much as we could and I will never forget this gift of time that we have had together.  It’s been a blast, but as a lady who likes routine and order, I am eagerly awaiting things to get back to normal here on Wednesday, when we will start the countdown to the autumn!!