McCall's 3922 Dress and Coat Ensemble

I love finding newspaper clippings in vintage patterns. Reading incomplete scraps of stories, then using the information to date the clipping (easy with Google!) can help to establish the publication date an undated pattern. Even better, it is a brief look at history and the events which were news-worthy on a long-past day. This clipping is from September 1958. I know this because the only complete article on the back of the dress clipping was about a man named Leo Turck, who was jailed when he claimed to have killed Serger Rubenstein in 1955. Online copies of various newspapers dated September, 1958 say he was not the killer. Another incomplete article quotes sources that say President Eisenhower will appoint Lieut. General Elwood R. Quesada to head the new Federal Aviation Agency. Quesada was, in fact, the first head of the FAA, which was formed in 1958. There is another incomplete article about Chiang Kai-shik, Chou En-lai and the Formosa situation.

The front of the clipping is a dress - an empire sheath trimmed with French rose lace. I found the clipping inside McCall's 3922 - dated 1956.

The dresses are very similar, even though they are 2 years apart. McCall's was quite fashion forward, right? It is a beautiful dress!

1954 Fashion - David Crystal

This newspaper clipping, advertising a David Crystal suit, perfect for Easter, was tucked in the envelope of McCall's 9888 (1954). The store, Mindlins, was a Topeka, Kansas department store well known for their fashionable clothing. The suit being advertised looked almost exactly like the pattern illustration. Compare for yourself!

My immediate thought was that the original owner of this pattern must have chosen it so she could sew the latest style. When I checked the pattern pieces, the skirt was cut, but not the jacket! Just a straight, slim skirt, not even shown in the advertisement. Leaves me wondering..... Did she make the skirt and not like it? Why didn't she cut out/make the jacket? Why did she tuck this ad inside the pattern?

Read more about David Crystal on the Vintage Fashion Guild website. Interested in Mindlins Department Store? Read a bio of the founder, Rose Mindlin Jacobson .

See this and other 1950's patterns for sale on DellaJane Cloth and Patterns.