#vintage blouse

[littlealienproducts]

vintage 1940s Cotton Viole Embroidered Peasant Blouse by blossomvintageshop

[snootyfoxfashion]

Vintage Bell Sleeve Blouse from RetroRhapsody

[cakiecraftvintage]

Vintage Velvet Dress

[professorpski]

Playing With Stripes: Shirtwaist at the Grand Rapids Public Museum

Stripes are one of the most common patterns in fabrics and also one that has much potential for playing around in garment design. We are most used to stripes running up and down, as on men’s and men’s dress shirts. Then in sportswear, you sometimes see a collar or cuffs, cut on the bias, or diagonal. And an entire blouse bodice can be cut on the bias, a technique used in the 1930s, that I have tried and been pleased with. More on that later.

The cotton shirtwaist, or blouse, was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and in Europe. It was a break from the dress which was more expensive and harder to clean. A working-class woman could afford a set of cotton blouses to wear with a single skirt, and put some variety into her wardrobe. Yes, the first example of what some call a capsule wardrobe.

This shirtwaist uses bias on the bodice beneath a straight-grain yoke and with a straight-grain button placket . This is a smart idea because puts stability where you need it and allows for the drape of bias where it is flattering. You want stability at the button placket to hold the weight of the buttons and for the buttonholes which must bind the cut fabric. The yoke gives you a trim and relatively stable shoulder line (though it is necessarily on a slight bias to shape to the shoulder’s angle), and from the yoke drapes the bias portion which both creates a  soft mass over the bustline and appears to whittle the waistline. Both important to creating the then ideal silhouette of a full bust and a tiny waist. The soft, gathered sleevehead also emphasizes the wide to narrow drop from shoulder to waistline.

Working with stripes takes more effort than a plain weave. You must mirror the stripes from one side to the other or risk making the wearer look slightly drunk. And notice here the button placket is cut so that it does not disturb the stripes found in the yoke. But I always think the effort is worth it.

This is part of the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s exhibition on Fashion and Nature, which has a section on cottons. For more info, go here: https://www.grpm.org/fashion-and-nature/

[vintagelivingbydaisyb]

Daily Vintage: Bates Disciplined Fabric Blouses Ad, 1956

[uhhgoodd]

Tunic V Neck Button Down Blouse

[rabbitgonerogue]

Vintage 1970s Cacharel peasant blouse. Available now in the Etsy shop.

[cielitoskyblu3]

(Please don’t re-post my photos, even if you credit me, I still won’t allow it. Thank you very much :)

[maziecrazycloud]

Showing my face always makes me nervous, but this blue velvet 60s blouse is so cool. I feel so gender right now ???? 🫐❄️🐉🎸

(Definitely Jimbo inspired lol)

[cdamyb]

Hello World.

[darlingdawnvintage]

New in the shop • 1980’s Pierre Cardin blouse 100% Silk with peplum waistline and rhinestone pearl buttons • see my Etsy link in bio to shop

[littlealienproducts]

vintage 1940s Cotton Viole Embroidered Peasant Blouse by blossomvintageshop

[snootyfoxfashion]

Antique Edwardian Embroidered Blouse from persephonevintage

[cakiecraftvintage]

[professorpski]

The Dramatic Shirtwaist at the Grand Rapids Public Museum

I usually think of shirtwaist as puffy, printed, light-colored cotton garment like the one worn by my great grandmother, but of course, a shirtwaist, or blouse could come in any color.This one is part of the Fashion and Nature exhibition at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, part of the section on cotton and shirtwaists.

As you can see, it is an over-the-top design of excessive details and embellishments. The sheer black fabric is pleated down the sleeves, and each pleat is marked by a red velvet ball. The blacks backed with white, and lace trims the cuffs. Then lace collar has a red band outlining it as well as a red ribbon at the top of its high neckline and red bows to shut its surplice front. Don’t forget the red balls and bands at the shoulders. You can see why It reminded me of Elizabeth Phelps, the dress reformer who complained in 1873 that women’s fashion had become “a meaningless dazzle of broken effects.”  This blouse dates to the early 20th Century, but the eye finds no rest as it travels up and down and across. No wonder the Dress Doctors kept harping on simplicity. Their eyes had been exhausted.

For more on this exhibition, go here: https://www.grpm.org/fashion-and-nature/

[vintagelivingbydaisyb]

Daily Vintage: Women’s Blouses, Sears Catalog, 1957