I have a finished project for this week (a blouse from this pattern, to go with pencil skirts), but it was too dark last night to get a good picture with my toy camera. So instead, let’s talk about pants:
That blouse pattern is very 40s, which is an era I love only for Raymond Chandler, but it and some sewing blogs I’ve found have had me considering a pair of high-waisted 1940’s button trousers.
I have avoided making pants because of difficulty fitting two curved tubes (vs. one mostly straight tube for a skirt), but I’m also fairly confident that Simplicity patterns fit me well. With that in mind, there’s this re-print:
Except it uses a zipper closure instead of buttons, which as I understand it is a modern tweak (it was considered unfeminine to have pants that zipped–and a fly was definitely out!).
I could also go full-on vintage, with something like this…
…but I think the potential for fit issues goes up exponentially.
I’m probably only considering pants because of the STUPID WEATHER, which should be warmer again by the weekend. So maybe I’ll stew on the pants idea for a fall project.
May 12, 2010 @ 10:51 am
I just read last night that zippers were prohibited during the war rationing years, since they were metal (no plastic zippers yet). So maybe it was all buttons, all the time until the end of the decade.
May 12, 2010 @ 10:34 am
For what it’s worth, I find ’40s-style women’s trousers very sexy. 🙂
My understanding is that zippers weren’t much used by men, either, until after the war… seems like I’ve read somewhere they were introduced by the military as a time-saving/low-maintenance feature. I could be up in the night on that one, though.