What to Wear: STYLES for a VINTAGE New Year

from a 1930's fashion scrapbook

1930's Vintage Fashion: Turn Around to See the Back View

Fashion during the 1930's was cut with diagonal bias seams to be smooth and slinky. The back view of a dress was often its best feature. These illustrations are from an old scrap book of mine, so I can't give you the exact dates, however most are from the early half of this decade. These fashion illustrations are just a peek into the wide range of back views seen during that time.

If you are dating a vintage dress that seems to be from this era, check out the back, that may help determine what decade it is from even more than the front view. And if you are going to sew for summer, why not consider adding some back interest to your project, that could make it something special.

Great VINTAGE FASHION blogs

Here's a few Vintage Fashion blogs that I think are great fun.
See one you haven't visited before?
Cruise by and say "hi".

Couture Allure Vintage Fashion
Such eye candy! I just love to see what beauties she's found. They are always gorgeous.

Wearing History
Neat articles about fashion history, along with sewing projects.
It's a fun read.

Vestedbee Vintage
I love the way she styles and wears her vintage finds.
This is a great jumping off point into fashion trends with vintage pieces.


Image photo: Fall/Winter 1960
Both outfits are in plaid wool by Jacques Tiffeau, who won his first Coty Award that year as an American designer.

1960's MOD Fashions to Wear or Sew

Sewing dresses can be fun and easier than you think. 1960's fashions have such cute styles that seem very wearable right now. Yes, that center style has a divided skirt! I could see sewing up a few for spring, or even some in heavier fabrics for winter. How cute would these be with leggings and boots?

These dresses are all from vintage BUTTERICK patterns of that era. With so many cool vintage patterns selling on Etsy and other sites online, I think it wouldn't be too hard to look them up for yourself. I find these older patterns have excellent pattern instructions that are easy to work from.

Here are the back views with pattern numbers, so you can get a good idea about the styles.
Would you use a 60's pattern to sew a dress like the ones here?


If you collect or wear vintage, this group of styles dates from Spring, 1967. Using patterns can be a great way to help with dating vintage garments too.


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