McCall 3603: "The Malaysian Sun Dress"

Photo credit: Peter from Flytographer

I'm so excited to share my latest 1940 McCall make with you all!  I barely sewed this one up before heading off to a business trip in Malaysia.  And I'm so happy I did because the setting is just perfect for this adorable 1940 wrap dress.

Photo credit: Peter from Flytographer

Introducing McCall 3603, a wrap-dress that is simply tied on with a small button closure at the upper back.  The waist tie fits through a small slot on the bodice right which allows you to completely wrap the dress without any closures.

Photo credit: Peter from Flytographer

The Summer 1940 McCall Fashion Book says this about the two patterns featured on the main front pages:

Two dresses with plenty of space for the sun to work on.  The first has a lovely evening-gown top and jacket to hide it when necessary.  The striped on is the new wrapped sun-dress. Put it on pinafore style, wrap it over and tie to fit.

I made the dress out of a cotton polka dot fabric, which suited the lightweight and breezy feel of the dress.  I also made a matching head scarf:

Photo credits: Peter from Flytographer

The McCall Fashion Book goes onto to talk more about the pattern:

McCall 3603. The wrapped sun-dress is the most talked about one, and this is it. Open all the way down the back, wrapped over and tied.  There are pockets right and left.

Prior to my trip, I did some online research about photographers in the Kuala Lumpur area.  I really wanted to do more than just stay in the meeting rooms on this trip and of course, get some photos of my new me-made dress!  I also don't usually travel with my tripod and would feel very awkward taking photos of myself and David wasn't coming along on this trip.

Flytographer to the rescue.  Oh my gosh, I LOVE this start-up concept.  Basically, Flytographer teams up with photographers across all major cities globally and provides photography packages to capture your holiday moments.  BRILLIANT!  It's great because they pick the best photographers and do all the leg work of coordinating.  I got to pick the locations for the photos and I picked the old buildings that I highlighted in yesterday's post around Merdeka Square.  My photographer, Peter (who splits his time between Kuala Lumpur and Budapest), was simply amazing. He made me feel very comfortable and took the most amazing photos.

I'm a huge fan now and plan to book some photographs whenever possible on my trips!  I'd much rather have amazing photos that capture the spirit of the place and my me-made adventures rather than spend the money on souvenirs!  Yippee...

Photo credit: Peter from Flytographer

This adorable ad for pinking shears also shows McCall 3603 in the popular stripes pattern from 1940:

Overall, I am quite pleased with the dress. It's a perfect summer staple and nice for traveling.

Photo credit: Peter from Flytographer

And one can never have enough polka dots in their wardrobe!  I love the navy blue with the tiny dots as it's subtle but still colourful:

Photo credit: Peter from Flytographer

The buildings around Merdeka Square were absolutely stunning.  I love the Mughal architectural influences.  It was the shapes of the windows that originally drew me to capturing the photos near these buildings:

Photo credit: Peter from Flytographer

I just love this photo with the National Textile Museum (the striped building) in the back:

Photo credit: Peter from Flytographer

I think this photo captures it well--I LOVE KL!  So much fun!  Thanks to Peter and Liss from Flytographer for showing me some of the sights and capturing it so beautifully!

Photo credit: Peter from Flytographer

I hope to use this pattern again in the not-so-distant future! It's so versatile and fun!

1940 Around the World: Malaysia

Malaysia

Continuing on with the series exploring the year 1940 across the globe, we stop in Malaysia...where I was very lucky to visit last week on a business trip....

The year 1940 was really the calm before the storm in Malaysia.  The following year, 1941, would see the invasion of the Japanese--literally an hour before the Pearl Harbour bombings.  This occupation would last for over a year, until 1942.

The Beautiful Sultan Abdul Samad Building in the heart of Kuala Lumpur

Photo credit: skyscrapercity.com

The buildings in the photo above, designed in a Mughal architecture style, sit on one side of the Merdeka Square (Independence Square) and were designed in the late 1800's to house government administration buildings.  During 1940, they housed the Federal Secretariat of the government.  Now, they house the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture of Malaysia.  But the neat thing is that across the street from this impressive building, is an equally beautiful site that now houses the National Textiles Museum!

A view of the amazing textiles in the museum: 

Photo credit: mybatik.org.my

Here's a great group of postcards from the early 1940s:

I think, but I'm not positive, that the impressive building in the second and third photos down on the left side are of the railroad station--which still look equally impressive today.

There are very few photographs of women from 1940 that I could find.  But I came across this amazing blog, which detailed the life history of a woman that turned 100 in 2012 (she is seated below with her family).  I just love the slightly colour tinted photo of her family:

Photo credit and blog story: http://ppunlimited.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/real-champion.html

Here's a photo from the early 1940's of the railway station which was completed in 1910:

It is still this beautiful white colour and looks almost exactly the same (just with a bit more traffic)!

Such a beautiful city.  Have you been to Kuala Lumpur or anywhere else in Malaysia?

Spring Accessories: Daffodil Yellow

We've been experiencing some chilly spring weather here in Edinburgh.  As per typical Scottish design, it wavers from being brilliantly sunny to very cold!  Without a doubt spring is one of my favourite seasons– both for the lovely flowers that start to pop up in gardens all over the city and the daylight that now lasts until almost 10pm!

You may recall my challenge to come up with seasonal accessories to go with my Tabula Rasa or 'Blank Slate' 1940 McCall dress.  The daffodils reminded me that yellow is such a cheery colour for accessories and I have this lovely yellow tilt hat from the era.

I paired the dress with a yellow belt that I made for my 1930s "Firefly Gown" and a pair of new Aris Allen shoes (I love these shoes so much I have them in brown, red and black...teehee)

The array of daffodils are beautiful – little ones, big ones, all yellow or all white ones and the ones above which are white with yellow centres.

Overall, I am quite pleased with this spring accessories ensemble and glad we caught the daffodils in bloom this year!

What are some of your favourite spring colours and flowers?

March Accessories: Snowdrops

Several weeks ago we had the appearance of the first snowdrops of spring.  I forgot to post these photos then but our recent cold spell reminded me of these wonderful little flowers that hint at a promise of warmer weather to come!

The snowdrops were also the perfect backdrop for my accessories challenge.  Back in January, I made a black crepe dress using one of my 1940 McCall patterns.  Aptly named "Tabula Rasa" or blank slate, my plan is to see how many different ways I can accessorise this dress over the course of the year.

The dress is a perfect companion to my latest obsession – Miriam Haskell jewellery.  Miriam Haskell was a costume jewellery designer from the late 1920s to the late 60s.  I absolutely adore her early 1940s pieces and am saving up to buy a special piece from that period.  My dear David gave me a 1950s/60s Haskell set for my birthday consisting of a fantastic white beaded necklace, matching bracelet and earrings.

As we were heading out the door to go to the park, it started raining.  So I reached for my umbrella, a cute black and white polka dot frilly thing that David picked up at a charity shop for me, and it turned out to match perfectly!

And the shoes! Let me tell you about the shoes!  As some of you might know, I'm allergic to the chemicals they use to tan leather, so I have to be extra careful about my shoes and I'm always on the lookout for cute vintage looking, non leather pairs.  On my recent trip to the States, I stocked up on some Aris Allen swing dancing shoes--and I love them all!  Seriously, cutest shoes ever and very well cushioned.  I know I am not supposed to wear these outside (because they are meant for the dance floor) but I do anyways! I have these exact shoes in black too.

Here's a close-up of the necklace and earrings:

As we were having a stroll around the park, the perfect sunset appeared.  I just love the look of the trees with the sun in the background:

Overall, I'm delighted with my new accessories and love the white on black look.

I'm already plotting and planning for future mix and match ensembles.  What colours do you like best with black??

1940 Fashion Trend: Hoods

Hoods, hoods, hoods...one of my favourite features of 1940 fashion!

 The April magazine has this to say about McCall 3678:

"One Important Thing about spring dresses is--hoods.  Look at the princess dress on this page, No. 3678.  We show this dress in summery white to make sure that everyone understands that hoods have nothing to do with winter.  Hoods are not to keep the ears warm, not even to shade the eyes, not to preserve the finger-wave, but just for style. They are now a big spring and summer fashion!"]

My version of McCall 3678:

According to the April 1940 McCall Advance Paris Style booklet:

"There are three things here of utmost fashion importance--the hood, shown on a dress for the first time, the big pockets, which you see everywhere, and (view B) the return of the fly closing.  Not only is this princess dress smart in light-weight wool with its hood lined with printed crepe, but it's being made all of print, too.  The hooded printed dress is something as new and as fresh as tomorrow morning.  No. 3678  Sizes 12-20. 50 cents" 

Hoods were all the rage in 1940.  Here's a few hooded patterns from other pattern companies.  DuBarry has some really cute ones.  I just love the double-breasted hood jacket from DuBarry 5097 (especially with the cute Scottish cap!)

Simplicity has some classic hooded patterns.  I just got Pattern 3322 from one of my favourite reproduction pattern sellers Lady Marlowe Studios.  I can't wait to make both the trousers and the hooded blouse.  I also love the cross-over dress (Simplicity 3352):

I love how unique the Hollywood 1940 patterns are!  Especially the low-cut hooded jacket that lets the bow of the dress peak through:

Now to my favourite pattern company!  I have McCall 3715--which is a beach robe.  The polka dot version on the May Style News is so cute! The lining of the hood even has the reverse polka dots:

Some of my favourite hooded patterns from the 1940 catalogue are the loungewear and nightgowns:

Not to be outdone, Simplicity has a pretty awesome hooded robe pattern:

Hoods also made it onto evening gowns.  I love the sheer hooded blouse of McCall 3771:

Look how chic the lady in the white hooded blouse of the DuBarry pattern looks:

Of course, hoods are found extensively on jackets, capes and coats from 1940.  Here's a few McCall pattern examples:

Which of the hooded patterns are your favourite?

McCall 3581: The 'Scottish Windbreaker'

I'm super happy to showcase my latest 1940 McCall make – a hooded windbreaker jacket.

McCall 3581 is an ADORABLE pattern.  How can you go wrong with a windbreaker that has a nipped in waist, slightly puffy back, pleated sleeves, detachable hood and double-breasted closing?

Gah, I love the hood and back of the jacket:

This fabric is a reversible fabric that has tartan on one side and a great blue fabric on the other.  It's a medium-weight which is perfect for a windbreaker.  I had to grade up the pattern by 2 inches and normally this wouldn't be a problem but for some reason, I totally messed up the waistband!  I think I must have forgotten to grade it because it was about 4 inches too small.  The worse part was that I did not have any remaining tartan fabric!  Which made this cute little jacket go into the UFO pile for about a year.  I pulled it out again to try and think what I could do to save it.  I decided that it might be cute to do a waistband and hood lining in a navy blue fabric that I had in my stash.  It was a very close blue colour to my already existing 1941 trousers and 1940 skirt – which meant I could wear the windbreaker jacket with both.  I excitedly set to work and I think it worked out great with the different colour waistband!

The funny thing is that it's been SUPER WINDY in Scotland – a perfect place for a tartan windbreaker :-)

I really love the silhouette of the jacket.  Pleated sleeves are my FAVOURITE and the extra puffiness in the waist back of the jacket looks great with the more form fitting waistband.  And the bottom front of the jacket almost lines up.  I might need to move one of the bottoms on the waist front to avoid the overlap difference at the bottom.

And how awesome is it that the hood is detachable?  There are four buttons on neck of the jacket (the two functional buttons at the neck front and then one on either shoulder seam) that hold the hood in place.  With the tartan fabric, you hardly even notice the buttons on the shoulder seams!

Overall, I am VERY happy with my first 'sporty' 1940 make.  It goes with so many pieces in my wardrobe and will definitely come in handy with the Scottish weather!

What about you? Yea or nay for double-breasted jackets? for hoods?

New in the Pattern Stash: January

I found (with some help from a fellow blogger --thank you Sarah!) my DREAM 1940 McCall pattern:

I can't believe I found this pattern on eBay.  I've seen it up for sale three times before in the past eight years– but it's always gone for exorbitant sums!  I feel super lucky that I got it for a steal--and I can't wait to sew it up! 

I got McCall 3613 from the same seller, I just love the swing coat look from the early 40s: 

Yay! After a dry patch where I wasn't seeing any 1940 McCall patterns for sale – I got two gems!  Yippee....

What about you? Do you collect any particular patterns or have you found any good sewing deals that got you excited?