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A great big tease.

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Vogue 1955 pattern book

Peggy very nicely sent me the link to this eBay auction, which is for the June-July 1955 issue of Vogue Pattern Book.

I used to collect these old pattern magazines until I realized that all they did was make me covet the patterns, which were then impossible to find. It's not like I could hie myself down to JoAnn's at the $3 Vogue Pattern sale and pick up a couple copies.

Sadly, the one on this page that I really like (4544, lower right hand corner) did not reveal itself to the Questing Robots of Google, nor was it available in the Hanging Gardens of eBay. And the couple others I looked at from the listing images were AWOL from those places, too.

However, if YOU like to torment yourself by drooling over pictures of patterns you probably won't ever be able to find, go ahead and bid. Be my guest. Or if you have a line on Vogue 4544, leave a comment …

0 thoughts on “A great big tease.”

  1. Is it the skirt or the bodice you covet? The skirt is a six gore with godets; the hard part of drafting it would be to decide how wide to make the godets, since you have no measurements to go by. The bodice is obscured by those gloved hands, so I can’t tell if it is a princess seamed bodice or waist darts, but from the decade I’d guess waist darts. V neck, those kimono sleeves you like. I bet you have a similar pattern in your stash. I’d add side seam pockets of course, but there is the difficulty doing so in a lined dress. Feeling very Rowena-ish today, except I’m much more verbose, Desiree

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  3. Wow, sharp eye, canine diamond! And it’s a repro of a ’57 pattern, not far off the mark for Erin’s catalog. Gee, I might have to go get one of those myself…Along the lines of Erin’s unfindable patterns, I’ve been vainly seeking Butterick 7982 for a while now. I actually saw it once on ebay, but it went for much more than I could afford. (Basically it’s the pattern for the blue silk dress with the pink chicks hatching out, scroll down at http://www.dressaday.com/archive/2006_11_01_archive.html )

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  4. Ooh, that’s adorable!I’m a dedicated troller for patterns; I had already seen the Vogue one and thought that the bodice in Dress A Day’s picture looked familiar.

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  6. This catalog page is taunting for another reason: Like, if you went on a trip to Florida, you would actually have a need for ALL of these outfits, instead of just shorts and T-shirts most of the time! Sigh!

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  9. Erin,I have that Vogue pattern. I had my wedding dress made from it. It turned out beautifully and I will happily mail it to you. I am the theresa that sends you email from the jackson.army.milLet me know’/,. ‘/,,”?’/,’/,’/,’/,

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  10. Am I the only one seeing the future in this: the Dress-a-Day Pattern Search Engine.We all create inventories of our collective patterns and submit it to the D:A:D:Database, and it becomes a huge repository of information and images of fabulous and rare patterns.Am I the only one with a lookbook of my pattern collection?

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  11. I was cleaning out my closet and found a fifties vintage silk like (but not silk) black trapunto circle skirt. Twenty years ago when I wore it, I got tons of compliments. I will never have that waste size again. If you are interested I will give it to you.It is in fair to good condition. The fabric seems sound. There are one or two very small holes that are not very noticeable. I had to but a gusset in to fit the waste to me, but put it in the placket so it should be easy to remove.Send me email at en01_at_stardel.com if you are interested. I can email a digital photo if you like.I am not interested in putting it on ebay and would rather it goes to someone who would appreciate it.

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  13. The bodices of Vogue 4544 and Vogue 2903 look the same to me. As far as I can tell the difference is that the skirt for 4544 is gored (looks like 6 gores) while the skirt for 2903 is pleated AND gored. Take out the pleats, and you pretty much have the same dress.

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  16. You know that dark-blue, iridescent taffeta stuff with the black velvety flowers flocked on it? I had a dream I sewed 2903 out of that, with a black velvet yoke.Sweet dreams, indeed.

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  17. I’ll add my agreement to the idea that it looks a lot like the reprinted vogue V2903.I made this and wore it to a wedding. Details are here:http://bycat.blogspot.com/2007/05/v2903-finally-completed.htmlIf you left off the sleeves I think the lines are very similar.Here is another variation:http://bycat.blogspot.com/2007/06/football-dress.htmlI have been wondering if I should torment myself with old pattern books as I seem to already have way more patterns than I will ever make. I seem to use a lot of them as inspiration so a pattern book may be a good idea.

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  18. Desiree, what are “godets”? It sounds like I might need some in my stash.Most of what I know about dressmaking I learned watching Erin sew one for about ten minutes when we were about fifteen. I did not much understand the relationship between the paper with the dotted lines on it and thing a woman would end up wearing. But she did, so it was all right.My mother owned a sewing machine, a very heavy thing, but did not seem to use it for enjoyment. She had it because she was supposed to have one, and used it only when something needed fixing. The lurching, humping motion of the needle seemed to me to have only one purpose: to make you imagine it going through your finger again and again.Once Erin sent me a letter in which she included a note she got from a friend of hers in high school. This friend had sketched a woman in a dress twice, demonstrating how an empire waist in one example changed the effect of the dress. Is this the person who started her on the dressmaking thing? I don’t remember this guy’s name. Whenever I recall the sketch all I can think of is that I must have been pretty young not to come so some vulgar conclusion about what this fella dreamed about at night. But now I’m older, and, as you can see, quite mature, and I’m sure plenty of straight men enjoy dressmaking.Well, I have several hundred more links to Erin-related entries left to finish catching up with her life — she needs her own Google tab — so I won’t get in the way with the dress loving any longer. I can honestly say I like the dresses shown in this entry. With that much flare, if they were longer, you could hide a couple of hobbits under there. I’m not being obscene. It’s just a place they could hang out.I’ll bet Erin and I have about the same reaction to that “Let’s go to FLORIDA” invitation (“Let’s not!”).

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  19. Hi,

    Just wanted to let you know that I have V2903 from JoAnn’s and it isn’t the same as this one you were looking for. However, I also just purchased V1172 from JoAnn’s and it DEFINITELY looks like the same pattern you mention in this post. If you look this one up, you’ll see that the bodice, belt, and type of pleating in the skirt all match the ad from your picture. I know it’s been a long time since you posted this, but I wanted to let you know in case you’re still interested, so that you know it IS available. 🙂

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