The most wonderful sewing projects can start with a vintage sewing pattern. You can follow the pattern exactly or get creative and interpret yesterday's styles so it coordinates with today's fashions. As an experienced seamstress, I would like to share some of my tips with you so that your first adventure in vintage sewing is a successful one.

Understanding the sizing and fit of vintage sewing patterns is very important for anyone new to sewing with vintage patterns. The way these old patterns fit and the differences between their sizing and today's ready-to-wear sizing can make delving into sewing up a vintage frock a real sewing nightmare for the uninitiated.

Never purchase a vintage pattern by the size number - especially the size you buy off the rack (retail). Over the years, modern clothing manufacturers have, well, how to put this delicately...they have made the clothes bigger and size numbers smaller in order to keep us happy and buying their product.

Pattern companies have not catered to our retail fantasies.  Not even current patterns can be purchased by size number. Always purchase the size that will fit you in the most difficult to fit area - your best bet is usually the size that corresponds with your bust measurement.  Also, note what the pattern company says about fit in the pattern description.

A lot of what we talk about when we discuss fit is EASE.  Ease is the amount of excess room a garment has beyond your body measurements.  Almost all garments have some ease (the exception here being garments made from very stretchy fabrics). There are two types of ease: Garment Ease and Style Ease.

Garment ease is the minimum amount of excess room needed to breathe and move comfortably while wearing that garment. Style ease is all about silhouette - you can have minimal ease in a sheath dress, moderate ease in a shirt, and maximum ease in a tent dress and even beyond that to the point of ridiculous amounts of ease in an artfully designed garment from Issey Miyake.

Fit and ease become problematic for the first time vintage pattern user because of the differences in how we wear clothes from how our mothers and grandmothers wore their clothes.

The biggest part of that difference is that we want to be comfortable in our clothes.  When we want comfort we want roomy armholes and sleeves that can accomodate the movement of our upper arms without binding.  We want to be able to breathe without difficulty.  Most of us don't wear girdles on a daily basis, and our bras don't strive for that perfect conical shape that was the height of perfection in the 1950's. But, patterns from the 1950's are fitted for a woman wearing those foundation garments - and wearing them every day - even just to run to the store for a few things for dinner.

Even through the 1960's and 1970's, armholes remained largely high and tight, sleeves narrow through the biceps and shoulders were narrow. 

Our options when we sew a vintage pattern are to alter it so that it will be more comfortable (by our standards) or to leave it as is - just making any alterations as necessary for fit accuracy. The problem with making alterations which make the garment comfortable by today's standards is that these alterations will also affect the way the garment looks - you'll likely loose some if not all of that 'vintage' look which attracted you to the pattern in the first place.

The second option - adjust only as you need for your measurements. This means that you'll likely sacrifice some comfort for that vintage look and you may even need to invest in some of those 'industrial strength' foundation garments. You can also try a couple little tricks which may not sacrifice your vintage look, but can give you some additional ease of movement (especially helpful through the armscye/sleeve area are underarm gussets).

In regards to pattern sizing. It has changed over the years. The pattern companies made changes in the late 1960's and again in the early 1970's.

The photo above shows the body measurments/sizing from an early 1960's Butterick pattern.

In 1968 (this from a Vogue pattern), the pattern companies increased the measurements. Note that a 14 went from a bust measurement of 34" to 36" after the change. Hip circumference also increased the same increment. Waists were only increased 1" with this change. That bright pink square "NEW Sizing" logo - that identifies patterns with the changed sizing from 1968 - a helpful hint when dating Vogue and Butterick patterns from the era.

This photo show a current sizing measurement chart from a Vogue Pattern. Note that the waist measurements are 1" larger than the previous chart - bringing waists up to the same increments as busts and hips were increased back in 1968.  This change was made in 1972/73 -- the last time that these sizing measurements were changed. I apologize that the figures in these photos are not legible - eBay's picture services for this page has resized them. I have these photos in larger, more legible format on the Sizing & Fit information page in my eBay store here: Pins-n-Needles Sewing Emporium

These changes, along with the fact that they don't relate to today's retail sizing are why I highly recommend purchasing patterns by body measurements and not size.  It's why I also recommend knowing what your body measurements are - with and without those foundation garments. Your bust circumference can change with your bra so it really does make a difference to know what you'll wear underneath that vintage dress!

I recommend investing in a good book on pattern fitting and alterations for the beginning vintage fashion sewer. I also recommend always cutting and sewing a 'muslin' (a trial garment cut from inexpensive muslin fabric). Check the muslin for fit and make any changes before you cut your expensive fashion fabric - especially if you are sewing vintage (and therefore likely irreplaceable) fabric.