Friday, February 8, 2013

Harping on a Theme



This will be the last post on Vintage Reproductions for the time being, I promise!


I wrote a long and rambling email to Carolyne [carolynec at mccallpattern dot com] about my love of the Vintage Vogue line and asking for clarification on a few issues, and she graciously responded to my email.  It is rather impressive to me that someone responded in such a timely manner – fabulous customer service, Vogue!


I think we are all curious as to why the company does not have archives of their older patterns.  They have kept their catalogs, but  “we also have 4 brands and limited space which is why we do not archive patterns.”  Understandable, but I sure hope all of those leftovers went to good homes and did not end up in the garbage.


As far as The McCall Pattern Company purchasing those expensive and amazing patterns that appear online every once in a while: “we have no need to purchase patterns as we have many willing consumers who just want to share from their collections.”  And to reiterate, Vogue will return all original patterns should your pattern make it through the selection process.


“Also, due to input limitations, we often plan for several Vintage, but not all make into the line.”  I have a perverse desire to see the designs that did not make the cut, and then whine that my favorites were not chosen.


“Butterick is a different story than Vogue. With Vogue, we require the original pattern to duplicate. With Butterick, we utilize our archives and recreate the pattern ourselves.  Currently, McCalls does not feature a vintage line but we do have the catalogs.” 


So make sure to share your favorite Butterick pattern designs, even if your patterns are not in pristine condition.  Perhaps we can influence the next Retro re-issues.


“Also, keep watching for more Gertie designs in Butterick.”  Yes, I certainly will!  Tthat is very good news, indeed!



 [Click on image for source]

20 comments:

  1. What wonderful eye candy. How elegant they all look. I am afraid our modern day figures don't quite measure up to these any more! Thank you for sharing.

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    1. Some modern figures do. ;)
      Vintage style patterns fit me but most modern patterns look wrong on me as they seem to be made for rectangle shaped people with no waist or bust or hips. :o

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  2. I never knew! Thanks for sharing :)

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  3. I like the top 2 patterns. Would buy them if re-issued.

    Interesting I notice butterick 6119 bust 34 is a size 16 but butterick 9635 bust 34 is a size 14.

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    1. The changing sizes of patterns is always a challenge. I know that a seller has no sewing experience when they state the size without mentioning the bust measurement on a vintage pattern. Different companies also have different standards which further complicates the issue! And then there is always a question of how much ease an given pattern will have built in. Craziness!

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  4. Thank you very much for investigating this matter further for us and going right to the source to do so, dear gal. You're awesome!

    ♥ Jessica

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  5. I love a person who goes to the source for info! Good job! I will say that when I worked for Joann Fabrics about 30 years ago, when we were restocking new patterns, the old ones were taken out of their envelopes and the tissue soaked in water to prohibit stealing the patterns.

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    1. Really? Why didn't they just mark them down? They were giving some away for free at my joanns a few months ago, but I missed out on that!

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    2. NNOOOOOO! This is exactly what I did not want to hear. Remember the big hullaballoo when some cheapo clothing company (perhaps H&M) was taking scissors to their old stock to make it completely un-wearable? I believe they stopped the practice because clearly the right thing to do was donate the items to someone in need. And granted, sewing patterns are not clothing, but surely they could be donated to local schools or a sewing school or Goodwill?

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  6. I, for one, thank you for doing this. I do not have a vintage pattern collection, so I can't send any in. I do, however, have nearly all of the vintage vogues and retro buttericks from recent years. I wish there were more reproductions from the 1910s, 20s and 30s as those are my favorite fashion decades. The current patterns seem to be 50s and 60s centric. I have found and purchased quite a few repros from those eras on etsy and eBay, but the out of print ones sure can get expensive! I'd much rather buy them on sale at Joann's for $3.99/$1.99! I am loving all of the 40s patterns that Simplicity has been putting out and snatching them all up for 99¢. :)

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    1. Having patterns from the 30s would be Divine! All those bias cut dresses make my mouth water.

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  7. Thanks for finding out all of this info. Those are some really lovely patterns. I posted about a few of my favorites (that you had not already posted - I love that shelf bust dress). http://aseriesofvintagesewingattempts.blogspot.com/2013/02/vintage-butterick-patterns.html Hope you don't mind that I copied your post idea, I linked back to you

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    1. Copy away! I think getting the word out is the most important thing! If we can "save" any vintage patterns before they disappear forever, it would be wonderful.

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  8. The re-issues that have come out are lovely, but I think it's high-time that they finally reissue a true shelf-bust dress. Vintage patterns with that feature are so nearly impossible to find, much less with the right size and price range.

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  9. There's a etsy shop you may or may not know of called La Prairie lady. She sells printable vintage patterns and has some nice playsuits right now. :)

    But then, there's nothing like pattern tissue, either.

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  10. You are so smart for getting all these answers for us. And I really had to laugh at your instinctive need to know which ones had been passed over so you could complain about it. I'm never truly happy unless I'm complaining about something, so I can relate.
    I still have to take issue with her assertion that they have too many brands/patterns and too little space to store them all. That's like saying a bank or a law firm can't store its records because there isn't enough space. I think what she probably means is they don't want to pay for the storage space.
    How great to know that the McCalls company is paying attention to the vintage enthusiasts and not only responding but even encouraging this ongoing interaction with the community. Yay!

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  11. Thanks so much Laura Mae for doing this, that is great... I am off to look at my old vogues to see if I have any to send in.

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  12. Oh, I hope the reissue the Butterick 6119 - I LOVE that one!

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  13. Great story. I LOVE 1940s and 1950s McCall's and have written them asking them to PLEASE get on the reissue bandwagon. Maybe if we all write to Carolyn and all post on their facebook page we can get the ball rolling.

    Tia

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  14. My tailor in India had a Vogue catalog from the 1950's, likely left by the last of the British. didn't have the patterns, but he could do a pretty good job just from the drawings. it was fun!

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