Vintage Inspiration: 1936-1937 Winter Blouses & Skirts

I case you’re not on my Facebook page, you may not have heard that I’m in process of developing a new 1930s pattern.  Well, it’s not actually “new”, it’s one I had previously released in my beginning days as a single size reproduction.  Well, no photos of it yet (bwahaha! I like to keep you in suspense!) but I’m cutting out samples today to test it, and I was desiring a little inspiration.

Here we have some darling little blouses and skirts from Fall and Winter 1936-1937 from the National Bellas Hess catalog.  Don’t you just LOVE the details?  I want to make about a million separates for myself right now.  I hope you find these inspiring, too!

It seems like 1936 and 1937 were the years of the tunic.  They’re all over the place!  Tunic blouses, tunic dresses, two piece dresses.  And now they’re back… just over leggings or skinny jeans.

Do you have a favorite blouse of the ones above?

10 Comments on Vintage Inspiration: 1936-1937 Winter Blouses & Skirts

  1. Jill
    October 30, 2013 at 11:53 am (10 years ago)

    Just heavenly! I was lucky enough to find a 30s blouse in my size. Too bad they are so delicate usually…which is so great that you are releasing patterns that allow people to make similar!

    • Lauren
      November 1, 2013 at 9:40 am (10 years ago)

      Thanks, Jill!
      I also love 30s blouses, but the few I’ve had have been so delicate that I don’t want to wear them frequently. I wear the ones I’ve made over and over.

  2. Siri Andersen
    October 30, 2013 at 2:20 pm (10 years ago)

    Oh so gorgeous! I instantly fell in love with the pleated bottom skirt and the red blouse :) Funny how a couple of the blouses had “mono-ruffle”! The corduroy “doublet” also caught my eye, and the polkadot tunic… ah, decisions! Thanks for sharing, absolutely swoon-worthy!

  3. Quinn Burgess
    October 30, 2013 at 4:49 pm (10 years ago)

    Super cute styles. I love the skirts more than the blouses… but the asymmetrical ruffle blouses do make me happy. Thanks for sharing!

    Best,
    Quinn

    • Lauren
      November 1, 2013 at 9:39 am (10 years ago)

      They are quite fun! :)

  4. zenni
    October 30, 2013 at 7:31 pm (10 years ago)

    Love the three skirts on the left….very lovely!

    • Lauren
      November 1, 2013 at 9:39 am (10 years ago)

      Aren’t the details fun? Would be easy to alter a skirt pattern to add those cute details!

  5. Sufiya
    October 31, 2013 at 6:52 am (10 years ago)

    How is it that genuine vintage fashion is so clever and innovative, and modern-day fashion is so damn’d UGLY…it makes me SICK to page through Vogue and other magazines and constantly be brought up against badly-designed, ill-fitting, completely UNFLATTERING clothes selling at prices to make you gasp! Are people INSANE? Talk about “peeing on people’s heads and convincing them it’s ‘rain’ ” ! I wouldn’t buy any of this stuff if they offered it to me at thrift-shop rag-bin prices! (which, IMOHO, is where the bulk of it belongs!) I have a September 2012 Vogue from PARIS, and it’s nothing but page after page of horrifyingly ugly “fashion” garbage…there are hardly 3 outfits in the whole 1-inch-thick rag that I don’t consider a total waste of fabric! Yet I look at these beautiful blouses here and all of them are FABULOUS!

    • Lauren
      November 1, 2013 at 9:39 am (10 years ago)

      Ha! Yeah, a lot of modern fashion isn’t my thing. But I do admit, I do like some modern fashion. I find the modern fashion I *do* like is either more traditional (like J Crew, Brooks Brothers, etc), or vintage inspired.
      I can’t really afford the modern clothing I do like, so I thrift most of it. And even then, I’ve found that the quality that I prefer is often from the 1990s and before! Especially in the form of tailoring. It’s easy to spot a jacket made now- they’re really bad quality- even comparing the same maker. Ralph Lauren jackets from the 80s compared to today.. there’s no comparison in fabric or construction! And most of them were made in the USA in the 1980s.

      Our clothing today is SO disposable. They had cheap fashion back then, too- there’s a reason we seldom find clothing existing from these old mail order catalogs, and the ones I have seen were slapped together quickly, but the STYLES are so good. It shows it’s ok to be classy AND fashionable.

      Thanks for your comment!

  6. Patience
    November 2, 2013 at 12:31 pm (10 years ago)

    I am in love with the bias cut plaid skirt. The polka-dot tunic is pretty cool too.

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