Mrs. McW's Patterns

I accompanied my husband to several estate sales yesterday. This is a bit unusual. I find estate sales depressing. They are usually held when someone has passed on, or is moving into an assisted living facility and the family needs to liquidate the estate. I find myself studying the house, furnishings, clothing, and books, and thinking about the person they belonged to. This was their home, their cherished personal possessions, and I feel uncomfortable being part of a crowd of people examining and evaluating them for purchase. I went to the sales yesterday because I was up early, with makeup on, having dropped DS #2 off at football practice (yes, on a Saturday) and completed my grocery shopping.


The first two sales didn’t have much of interest. The third sale was at a home in Westover Hills, a neighborhood of unique, but small, brick and stone homes built in the 1920-40’s. The occupants had obviously loved antiques as evidenced by the furniture, clothes, pictures, and the accumulation of antique and doll magazines. And there in the corner of the musty basement, were several boxes of sewing patterns from the late 50’s through early 70’s. My heart started pounding as I started to sort through them. I purchased 50 of the about 70 patterns, paying $.30 per pattern. At home, looking through them at a more leisurely pace, I started to form an image of the person who collected and sewed these patterns. The first patterns were from the mid 1950’s. Spadea patterns that were marketed through a syndicated newspaper column entitled "You’re Sew Right". More info. about Spadea

All the envelopes are addressed to a Mrs. C.(husband’s name) McW at the address of the sale.The earliest postmark date was 1955. Gosh, she had lived in that hours over 5o years. In 1955, I imagined she might have been in her twenties, newly married, perhaps on a budget given that the patterns she purchased were modestly priced. She had probably learned to sew in school or from a relative. The patterns were for simple shirtwaist dresses, blouses, and jackets. From the same time period the patterns were mostly inexpensive non-designers Vogue patterns, and a few Simplicity and Butterick’s. These included both casual sportswear styles and dresses. My favorites include these dress patterns.

and a 1960’swimsuit designed to be made from denim or gingham with small darts in the bottom back to mold the fabric under the curve of the butt.

Starting in 1960 and through the early 70’s, all the patterns were Vogue Paris Original's or Vogue Couturier, some still had the woven labels in the pattern envelope. Many of them were purchased at Thalhimers or Miller & Rhodes, the elegant, rival, family run department stores that existed in Richmond from the 1800’s until the early 1990’s. Some of the patterns were stamped with the store name, and date of purchase, making dating the pattern easy. Either her finances had improved or her sewing skills and confidence were now at a level she felt comfortable tackling designer patterns. I would say 70% of the patterns had been used. The pattern pieces were trimmed, the dart lines were perforated by a tracing wheel, and they were neatly refolded when put back in the envelope. There were no signs that Mrs. McW made any pattern alterations. And she appears to have maintained her Bust 36, Hip 38 figure during the years for which there was patterns.This would have made her just slightly smaller ( 1 size) than me, though in all likelyhood a bit shorter. She even switched from a size 16 to a 14, staying with the same measurements, in 1968 when Vogue did some vanity resizing of their patterns.

On the back of some of the pattern envelopes, there were penciled calculations. They looked like yardage requirements multiplied by the cost of fabric in the 7 & 8 dollar range. Is this price level indicative that her fabric purchases were of high quality fabrics? I would like to think so. Mrs. C. McW certainly had a dressy, designer wardrobe in the 60’s. Where did she wear it? Did she work outside the home or did she have an active social life. The latter I suspect, based on the norm for women at that time. What did Mr. C. McW do for a living ? A Google search of his name did not return any info. He must have been successful, given where their home was, and the type of clothes his wife wore. I wish I could have seen her finished creations, touched her fabrics, talked to her about her love of sewing. Some more favorite patterns: This lovely draped Laroche.

This Pucci with a free hanging bodice.

A Pierre Cardin bias cut dress.

A Jacques Griffe dress styled to look like a vest and skirt, and jacket.

This Patou dress with matching cape.

Mrs. C. McW was obviously married and living in the house in 1955, based on the Spadea envelope labels. So the fantastic 1960’s ermine trimmed wedding dress pattern must have been purchased to make the dress for a non wedding event.

Were there any children? One, perhaps a girl for which she made this charming smocked dress in 1966. It was the only child’s pattern.

The last designer pattern was from 1973. After that the patterns were for Home Dec. items, Christmas ornaments, etc.. I didn’t buy them. If Mrs. C. McW was in her 20’s in the 50’s, she sewed gorgeous clothes through her 30’s and tapered off in her 40’s. There was no sewing machine or fabric included in the estate sale, supporting my hypothesis that she had not sewn for quite some time. I wonder why she stopped sewing? Did her lifestyle or body change? It happens. To see all of Mrs. McW's Patterns
My other purchase at the sale was this velvet, beaded, Victorian pincushion. It was so horribly over the top, and much too big (12" diameter) for my crowded sewing table. But it was red, my favorite color, and one of the beaded monograms is an "A". How could I resist?