The Blouse

10 November 2010 - this page is being edited for issues created when it was copied/pasted from a web site.  The page was created in 1993-1994, and copied to this blog page in 2010.

1.21
Blouse
1940's era women's blouse
Gift from Blossom Schmidt, Walnut Creek, California, 1991
Notes: The blouse belonged to Blossom Schmidt's mother, Louise Haverstock Blossom. Mrs. Schmidt stated that her mother had worn it in the 1940's. Mrs. Schmidt gave it to me, Laurie Taylor in 1991, indicating that she wanted it to go to someone with an interest in period costume.

For this project I chose the blouse over a 50's lace-over-flesh-tone cocktail dress (wanted something older), and a 1900-1920's dress that had been my grandmother's (difficult to photograph).

This blouse was given to me by my friend, Blossom Schmidt, in 1991 and has been stored since. It was probably a ready-to-wear garment, of cream-colored fabric, but with only a manufacturer's label and a size label, no fiber content given. Blossom told me that it had been her mother's and was quite certain about it being from the 40's. I am not prepared to guess about a fiber or weave just yet.

I found one detail confusing: the armscye seams have a serged finish. How long have sergers been in use? Is it possible for a garment of the supposed age of this one? Or is it likely that this one might have been altered? All other seams are unfinished and only fraying very slightly. There are other machine stitches evident, such as straight stitching, and a sleeve hem stitch meant to approximate hand stitching from the outside. Studying it closely, I don't get a feeling that this is an altered garment, in spite of the serger stitching. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I just don't think so.

As to the garment itself, it is about 5 inches longer than waist length. It has a high round neck with a small collar which is neither Peter Pan (1/8") roll nor true roll collar. It won't exactly lay neatly around the neck with or without roll, so I have concluded that storage has caused a slight problem with the collar that might be corrected by a better pressing, or perhaps a trip good dry-cleaners.

The shoulder and side seams are in normal position.

The 4 front and 4 back darts (two per body quarter) were sewn as dart tucks which extend from their full width at the hem and waist, to probably just a little above the waist, and then release.

The sleeves are set into armscyes which are at the normal end-of-shoulder point at the shoulder seam, and are dropped substantially below the underarm. The armscye may have been lowered as much as 2 inches. The sleeves are very simple, short sleeves, about 4" long at the longest. If laid flat, each sleeve would look much like a standard shirt sleeve, with a very flattened, wide cap.

The blouse fastens in the back, with a hidden button placket concealing 5 buttonholes between the waist and just below the neck. At the neck, there are two snaps, side-by-side 1/2 inch apart to keep the neckline closed and to keep the placket from drooping open at the top. There are only 4 buttons remaining. There is a hole in the garment where the lowest button is missing. The under-portion of the hidden placket ends at the waist, and the lower edge of the back opening is self-faced. I'm not 100% sure but I believe that the placket section was cut separately from the rest of the back, sewn right sides together to finish the ends, turned right side out and sewn to the edge of the self-faced left-back. The right back has just a self facing from neck to hem.

The inside neckline is finished with a very narrow (3/16") bias binding, which is edge-stitched down on the bottom edge, looking like top-stitching from the right side of the garment, under the collar.

The decoration is grosgrain ribbon, royal blue, top-stitched down to form a v-effect on the front of the bodice. The crest-like embroidery is in white, red, and a metallic thread which may have changed color with age. It appears mostly brownish, but hints at possible having been gold metallic. The motif is a crown over the heads of two birds, with ribbons and swords front of them.

I'm going to quote Tara's response to the crest on this blouse:

"Weirdly it reminds me of the Polish women's auxiliary uniform that the mother in
"Polish Wedding" runs around in. It isn't that it looks like the uniform in the film, so much as it has the same flavor of a woman's 1940's para-military club uniform about it."

"This is a really interesting garment. I'm almost willing to bet it is some sort of club uniform shirt. There was a whole world of women's war support clubs during W.W.II. I'd check the crest to see which of the various nationalities had that symbol prior to W.W.I. It might be from a country like Russia, Bohemia or Estonia, that had lost that symbol after W.W.I. The group that wore this might be refugees that supported a restoration of an old monarchy, or an independent nationality. There are lots of possibilities, nearly all with eagles, Serbia, Croatia, Poland, Latvia, etc.)"

I have not been able to locate any information on the web to help determine the significance of the embroidered crest. Whether or not this was a club uniform shirt is a mystery and shall so remain for at least a little while longer.

I did do a little research on e-bay, seeking pieces similar to my project garment. I found nothing like it, except for the silhouette with the waistline fitted closely. A couple of links are listed below.

I also found a couple of pieces that would be o.k. as coordinates to the blouse, but nothing that really made a great match for an outfit.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1135051023
A sleeveless summer top with a similar silhouette to that of my project garment.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1134471012
A blouse with the same torso shaping, but much more elaborate trimmings.

(Please note that the links given are several years old and quite defunct as of 10 November 2010.)


PROJECT GARMENT SKETCH
Here is my line drawing interpretation of the 1940's blouse.
The skirt is included for presentation purposes only.

The Label
The label in the garment says "Originals by Maison France". There is also a size tag "18".

Front View - 1940's Blouse
Here is the front view of my garment. It is shown on a dress form that fits quite will in the shoulders and bust area, but is more than a bit snug through the hips. I though this interesting because the label indicates that this was a size 18, which I partially am. The blouse does fit me in the upper body, but not the waist or hips.







The Front Embroidery
The decoration is grosgrain ribbon, royal blue, top-stitched down to form a v-effect on the front of the bodice. The crest-like embroidery is in white, red, and a metallic thread which may have changed color with age. It appears mostly brownish, but hints at possible having been gold metallic. The motif is a crown over the heads of two birds, with ribbons and what appears to be crossed swords in front of them.

Back View
The blouse fastens in the back, with a hidden button placket concealing 5 buttonholes between the waist and just below the neck. At the neck, there are two snaps, side-by-side 1/2 inch apart to keep the neckline closed and to keep the placket from drooping open at the top. There are only 4 buttons remaining. There is a hole in the garment where the lowest button is missing. The under-portion of the hidden placket ends at the waist, and the lower edge of the back opening is self-faced. I'm not 100% sure but I believe that the placket section was cut separately from the rest of the back, sewn right sides together to finish the ends, turned right side out and sewn to the edge of the self-faced left-back. The right back has just a self facing from neck to hem.

Back Neck/Fastening
The inside neckline is finished with a very narrow (3/16") bias binding, which is edge-stitched down on the bottom edge, looking like topstitching from the right side of the garment, under the collar.

 Inside Front
Visible inside the front are the dart-tucks, which end and release the fullness slightly above the waist.

Blouse Pattern

This is my rendering of a pattern for the blouse!
I used 1/4 scale slopers and graph paper to achieve the diagrams below. I hope that they are clear enough for everyone to understand.

I don't know what would happen if one were to scale this pattern up to full size, cut it out and sew it up, but I think I may try it this summer! Should be educational and good for a chuckle all at the same time.

Blouse Pattern

This diagram contains the pattern pieces for the blouse front and back, including an extension on the back for the button lap and self facing.

I decided to assume that the hidden buttonhole fly was cut separately although I couldn't tell for sure without risking damage to the blouse.

The armscye is shaped in a rather sharp V at the underarm, leaving me to conclude that the underarm point had been lowered substantially, possibly during patternmaking, or perhaps during an alteration, although I still don't find anything else pointing to an alteration. 

Blouse Pattern - Additional Pieces This diagram contains the pieces for the sleeve, collar and hidden buttonhole fly. The sleeve has a wide, flat cap. The collar was difficult to replicate as it is primarly cut on the bias and has lost shape with age. The fly may have been cut separately or in one with the bodice, but I couldn't tell for sure without risking damage to the blouse. The fly stops a few inches above the bottom of the blouse and is topstitched along the length and across the bottom. There are 5 buttons beginning with the first about 4 inches below the neckline and spaced approximately 3 1/2 inches apart below that. There are two snaps at the top of the opening, one on Center Back and the other at the edge of the overlap.

The 1940's and the Life Experience of a Blouse  Finally, it's time to look at the life of the woman who wore this blouse. I don't know why I didn't quiz my friend Blossom more about her mother, but since I didn't, let's look at what her life, and the life of this blouse, might have been like. The early 1940's saw women moving into the workforce as never before, courtesy of those warring nations that took men out of the factories and put them into battle. Women moved not only into factories but into nearly all aspects of industry, running their family businesses, building airplanes and acquiring the new wardrobes for their new activities.  The new wardrobe was a 'skimpier' wardrobe in that war-time restrictions and rationing came with specific limitations for fabric usage and apparel design. This worked well for the woman going to work as she needed simple, functional clothes, a relative first for many women.  The blouse featured in this web project was not likely worn in a factory. It would have been a good coordinate/mix-n-match piece in a wardrobe of separates.  On the other hand, were the blouse part of a uniform, such as was worn by members of a women's club, it still would have been matched with a suit of some sort, likely with a straight skirt and slim-fitting jacket. The blouse would certainly look nice with slacks, by our current standards, but it seems an unlikely pairing during those lean war years.  Once the war was over, it was only a short number of years before Mr. Dior introduced the wasp-waisted New Look, by which time this blouse would have lost its fashionable flair and become a relic in the back of the closet. I'm glad it's in my vintage closet today.

From here down, this page is malfunctioning.  The correction requires more of an understanding of html than what I have, so it's going to stay like this!  hehe