Der Goldene Schnitt (1941) - pic heavy

[scarlet_nights]

Great book, its so fun to look at what was everyday stuff back then. I have a huge stack of vintage patterns that i got from my grandparents store(and i didnt even make a dent in what is still over there lol). Just reading through the pattern makes me nervous, way to complicated and way to small but i love the old illustrations.

[Brackish Potato]

I love these old fashions! It's a bit unnerving to see that much leg on a little boy, though!
My best friend would wear all of the women's fashions in the book. She loves the 40's!

[Ruby Copperhead]

@Brackish Potatoe: I know what you mean about the legs.

@aethelberga, the copy that I have looks like it's never been used, so maybe that book was more like an ideal, or maybe a guilty pleasure
I'm really not good at sewing, but when I was ten years old and had a year of sewing courses, I could do fitted clothes from complicated patterns with a bit of help from the instructor. Another year or two, and I think more advanced stuff would have come along. But I will ask some older folks about this question. I know that none of my grandmothers ever sewed for pleasure, but out of necessity, but I don't know to what extend.
@kriminie: Hehe, no, I'm not giving the book up, sorry But I could try hunting down a copy on ebay.

And here's more pictures (apparently my camera isn't made for this kind of thing, even in daylight):

Apparently, in those days, guys had really long legs too! And can someone explain that one-piece underwear to me? I checked the pattern for a trapdoor in the back, but no.


I love those hats!


And here's the illustrator's approach to "stronger ladies": a super thin waist, a chubby cheek, and a bullet hole in the temple *ew*


And after a book full of puffy sleeves, finally something without. The button details are amazing throughout the book.


More sportswear: Ski, Tennis, Ski, Biking


Mightily fashionable brides outfit at that time. I can just say I don't get it. That no-nonsense approach of the whole thing makes marriage look like a business arrangement with some Virgin Mary decor. I'm running into a cross-time cultural barrier here. Probably all you need to know about this dress is that they call the neckline "cleavage", and that bottom part looks like a well-hidden maternity dress to me. (I guess it makes sense because the wedding dress was supposed to be worn for years on festive occasions, and without the veil it's probably... no, not really...)


A last one: Dirndl dresses were still popular when I was a kid. Today, they're only worn for getting drunk on the Oktoberfest. They're as random at their ethnic approach then as they are now

[aethelberga]

I've got to ask my mom (who was a teenager in the 40's and who actually can sew), if she made any of her own clothes. I do know that when she was still at school they didn't have much money and sew she sewed up the pleats in her skirt (catholic school kilt) so it was tight for when she went out on the weekends, and then un stitched it again for Monday morning, otherwise she would get in trouble with the nuns.
Having said that I love pretty much all the patterns you have posted here, for the womens dresses anyway. I like the shirtwaist style. I also like the wedding dress. It looks like a more modern pattern that someone made and posted on Craftster sometime back where the back is brought around under the bust and fastened. This one here: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=361709.0 It would probably be very accomodating for a pregnant bride.

[suereal]

WHat a cool book!

Apparently, in those days, guys had really long legs too! And can someone explain that one-piece underwear to me? I checked the pattern for a trapdoor in the back, but no.

Real men don't poo.........

[alwaysinmyroom]

amazing stuff--I love seeing how fashion has evolved and changed...and how some things do come back in one form or another!

thanks for sharing this treasure--what fun!

[jemimah]

Wow, what amazing patterns!

My mum used to sew lots of clothes for herself and us. I don't remember her making men's clothes though. Here it still often used to be cheaper to sew your own things, even up to the 1970s and 1980s. It usually seems to work out more expensive now though.

[Puppy_girl]

I love those hats!
http://www.craftster.org/pictures/data/500/medium/148780_13Feb11_DSC02958.JPG

i love all the coats/jackets in that picture.  i'll take one of each please!      

[aethelberga]

I did speak to my mom, and she does not remember either her mother or her grandmother (who lived with them) making any clothes, though there was a sewing machine in the house. Her aunt, however, did make my mother's prom dress. My mom did say that in the mid sixties, having outgrown all her maternity clothes she did have a seamstress make a maternity dress for her (so even though she could sew, she still went to a seamstress rather than do it herself). So maybe this book was aspitational for the average housewife, but really useful for seamstresses.

[jemimah]

I think you would need a lot of technical skill to use a book like this. I keep coming back to this thread, I'd love a book like this, though I think this particular era is the wrong shape for me! The details are fab.