July 18, 2025 • 19 mins
Holly and Tracy discuss the challenge of enlarging sewing patterns from small diagrams. They also talk about one of Butterick's most popular patterns of all time -- the 1952 walk-away dress.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, A production
of iHeartRadio. Happy Friday, everybody. I'm Holly Fry, I'm Dracy B.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Wilson.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
We're laughing because apparently I'm on another planet today. Like
I'm just my time of things is weird. I'm having
a moment I would to tell.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, we're just We're recording in the afternoon, which is
not typical. I'm just back from some time off during
which I forgot how to do anything involving my job,
and I also have a newly issued work computer which
has thrown everything off listen.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I'm also just excited in Wiggley because we have behind
the scenes where we get to talk about one of
my favorite things, which is patterns and sewing.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, I'm in the middle of a giant sewing project
right now, making a wedding dress for a friend, So
I'm like sewing all the time when I'm not doing
my job, and that just makes me want to talk
about sewing all the time. We talked about so much
stuff in this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
It was a lot. I have so many things to
comment on.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Have you you mentioned I think it was while we
were recording your mom having various tools. Yeah, to do
scaling up of patterns. Have you ever done it?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I have not. Well, it's a pain in the toukis
it seemed like it would be. I don't like it.
So my mom taught me to sew. Taught me to
sew with patterns. So I learned the things like figuring
out what size you are, and you know, how to
how to cut out that size from the pattern, and
in we always saved the pattern for future use. So
(01:43):
I probably could have, like if I was trying to
make something from a pattern I had used before, but
I had gone up a size, I might have been
able with my mom's help to like work that out.
But but the like the idea of you know, starting
(02:04):
from a sort of template and turning that into a
thing that needed to be sized up for a person
that would have relied on some skills that I struggle with. Uh,
And I never got that far. I don't know that
I would have needed to get that far in my
sewing education, but I did not.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, I remember once getting into a long and protracted
argument on a sewing and costuming message board. That's how
far back we're going that I ran with someone because
I had had mentioned I had made a garment for Brian,
a historical like a Victorian coat, and I was like, hey,
(02:42):
this is like an easily gettable pattern, like and this
one person was just adamant that I should not be
recommending people use modern patterns. I should only be recommending
that they hand draft from existing pattern and I was like, okay, cool,
yes that's more accurate, but like that that is something
that not everybody has the skill or interest in doing.
(03:03):
And they were like, anyone can do it, you just
have to learn it. And I'm like, anyone can, but
not everybody wants to, like, and it just went on
and on for like a month of back and forth.
I should have just tapped out earlier, but it was
making me crazy anyway. Yeah, scaling up patterns is a
big pain in the tukis. And I will say this,
this relates to the koalas, which are an ongoing process.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I have made one of the koalas, I have the
fabric for the others and haven't gotten to them yet
because of this wedding dress progress.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
If you're like, what are these koalas because you haven't
listened to all of the episodes recently, Yeah, this is
a pattern that existed in a magazine from my use, yes,
that I wanted to make of these plush Christmas koalas
and their clothes, and I was obsessed.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And then I couldn't. I didn't ever find the patterning,
and my mom said they were a little too complex
for me, but I yearned for them. And when she died,
I went through all her stuff, like all her sewing stuff,
trying to find it, and I couldn't find it. And
I magically found it eventually thanks to an Etsy seller
who had scanned in all the pages of this magazine
(04:07):
and also had like tagged them all so like Christmas
Koalas popped it up anyway.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, so if you didn't hear that earlier episode, now
you're caught up on the koala It.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
The Koalas are ongoing. I'm I have not posted an
update lately, but I'm posting them on Instagram because they're
so fun. But one of the things that really tickled
me about it was that I benefited from the years
that have gone by, that like forty years since when
that the magazine was published, because now I can just
pop those pattern scans into Photoshop or another editing thing.
(04:41):
Blow them up to the right size and yeah them
right out. Granted that's for like a plush thing, not
a full sized garment, but you could also do it
for a full sized garment. You would just have to
tape your print pieces together or take them to a
specially printer. But yeah, yeah, that is an avenue that
is now available for people that want to do things
that were rafted and printed long ago.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
One of the things that was really awful back in
the old days, and I have dealt with some of these,
is that to save on paper and page name numbers.
Sometimes you would get these in a book and multiple
pattern pieces would be overlaid over each other and you
(05:23):
would have to figure out which line went to which
one and like draft it from my head hurt thinking
about that.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
That's awful. It was awful. I did a couple and
I was like, who, it's rough. This' the rough stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Theirs a really funny. It tickled me, It may tickle
no one else. We talked about the Queen and Lapsie
Tailoring book and how they would, you know, go on
and on about their thoughts on various garments.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
But one of the things that tickled me was that
they had this one section that was just on breeches, okay,
and it just starts with some practical observations on the
theory and practice of making breeches. This delicate and necessary
appendage to dress requires more common than the trade would
(06:11):
perhaps really imagine, chiefly owing to the great variety of
materials of which they are composed according to the choice
and approbation of various customers, and that they may suit
the purpose. Basically, they're like, we know you don't want
to talk about underwear, but we really have to. I
just loved that. I thought it was the funniest thing ever.
I like how this passage clearly had the long s's
(06:35):
that look like f's, which always makes it more funny
to me. Yes, And I also am just thinking about
how my grandma would have called that breeches. Yeah, many
people would. I still sometimes say breeches, so yeah, yeah uh.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
And those get into like different right, the terminology shifts
a little bit because for a long time that would
have been underwear yep. But also they used that gets
used for pants nowadays, like I would think of bridges
as pants. The most part, you don't have any briches
on what are you doing? I can't leave the house.
You got no bridges on. I feel you, but I
(07:11):
just thought that was a hoot. Listen, you can still
find great underwear patterns, by the way, Love them, Love
them because that's a great way to burn through fabric
overridges in your scratch. Yes, I have a nineteen forties
Little Undies pattern that I make all the time. One
of the cool things that that has happened in terms
(07:32):
of preservation is that because most of these patterns that
were printed on it at full size from the beginning,
we're printed using acid free tissue paper, that they haven't
broken down.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Oh nice.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So there are quite a few that exist in like
repositories and museums and whatnot. I wouldn't unfold them and
use them, sure, but they're there and they have been
preserved in various ways, which is kind of nice because
we get a really clear view of some of it.
Have you ever heard of or did you ever encounter
(08:09):
when you were sewing the Butterick walk Away dress?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I don't think so. I love this dress.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Here's why. There's a cool factoid, which is that in
nineteen fifty two this dress pattern was so popular that
Butterick shut down production of all of its other patterns
and was running only this pattern on its presses until
they could get all of the back orders fulfilled that
they had because there were so many people that wanted
(08:39):
to make this dress. And the reason why is that
it's the simplest dress on earth. There are only three
pattern pieces to it. The front looks kind of like
the front of like a column dress, like a slightly
tailored columnar dress, right like a straight up and down,
straight skirt, very simple, some darts to create the bust.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Seeming and whatnot. But then the back.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Has the second pattern piece, which is the top of
the back like the back bodis. And then the lower piece,
which is a very fluffy skirt and it's wide enough
that it wraps around the front and it usually buttons
right there at the front at the waist, and so
it creates with only that one closure address that's super
easy to make, super easy to put on. I've known
(09:25):
a lot of people that do retro stuff that still
make these, and they'll do them reversible, so you can
pack for an event and you have two dresses in
one nice This pattern has been reissued many times. You
can buy it now. It's readily available. Maybe if you're
going to order it directly from the website, do that now,
because I don't know how long that's going to be around.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I've definitely for sure seen this pattern package you have.
I guarantee. I just googled it. Yeah, definitely for sure.
But it made it.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, it's a goodie. If you're me and you're a
bit hippy and you decide to make it, you want
to extend that front piece a little bit wider because
it kind of wraps around your front hip, and usually
ties or some people do like an elastic like a
button in elastic at the back. But like for me,
if I just make it as sow and I tend
to have gaps at the side because my hips are wide.
(10:19):
But you can always alter it, and then once you
have your pattern down, you can just turn out like
multiples like a uniform. That was why that one quote
about why not just cut out six or twelve shirts
at a time. It's really easier. I'm like, yes, it is.
That's how I survived in like my twenties in terms
of having clothes, and even in college it would be
like I'm making a dress. Yeah, I'm gonna make three
(10:40):
of this dress because I don't want to mess with
pulling patterns out over and over. I would just lay
out layers and layers of fabric at a time and
cut everything at once the best. Here's another fun factoid
that I ran across. Ray Bradberry used to write for
(11:02):
McCall's magazine. I love that because the magazine would include
in addition to things about clothes, it would include fiction
pieces as well.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote for McCalls for a long time.
Super duper interesting. There was also a mention in an
obituary for Joseph Shapiro, who founded Simplicity, that he had
a sign that he kept on his desk which tickled me,
and that sign read fools invent fashions, wise men follow them.
(11:35):
And I'm like, I wish I could travel back in
time and ask him what he thinks that's actually saying,
because is he basically saying I did this smarter because
I wasn't trying to reinvent anything. I was trying to
make it more easily accessible for people, Like, are you
saying that wise men follow the fools or they follow
the fashions?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
I'm not sure. Yeah, the same mental question yeah, I
have many questions. I love it.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I will say for any of our listeners that are
stitchers or soists or however they choose to identify, that
are chagrined about the possible end of or even if
they continue, I imagine there will be big changes of
the big main commercial pattern companies. There is a world
(12:20):
now of independent pattern companies that are many of which
are fantastic. There are ones that specialize in retro patterns.
There are ones that specialize in like really really like
simple shape, easy to make knits. There are ones that
specialize in almost anything you could want. So if you
haven't ever ventured into that world, I would, you know,
(12:43):
take a look around, because there's some pretty good stuff
out there. Now we have to talk about the elephant
in the room, which is what Burda Patterns. Yeah, I
mean I don't wanna Okay, there's some Nazi problems. Yeah, yeah,
the founder of Burda Patterns got involved with the Nazi Party.
(13:04):
And when you re and I won, it's a it's
a different game than this. It was you know, going
on in Germany.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
But two I didn't find a satisfactory examination of that situation. Okay,
because the few attempts at biography are all very well, like,
he didn't believe in it. It was just good for business.
It was the way to make his business continue and survive.
And I'm like, keep thinking about that quote of like,
(13:32):
if there are ten people at a dinner table and
one of them is a Nazi, they're all essentially Nazis
because it's poison and if you're not calling it out,
you're letting it happen.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So I just was like, I'm not even gonna get
into this. It's a whole big There could be a
day in the future. I don't know how far along
that we would talk about that whole thing if I
can find more examination. Yeah, of the more interrogation of
all that. Yeah, that isn't so like he's just trying
to get by. And I'm like, you were, you were
(14:08):
in the Nazi military and it wasn't like he was
seventeen and was conscription. He was he was a businessman
at that point. I don't know what his lived experience was.
I haven't done enough research. But also I'm like, ooh,
they're really uncomfortable, So that's what's up with that anyway,
Sewing sewing, all the time sewing.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
I love it. I love it, I like it.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
It's very This is actually a funny thing because people
throughout my life because I have always sewn. I started
sewing when I was three, so I don't remember how
to not sew. But people always assume that if you sow,
you love sewing. Like we The joke among anybody, and
I'm sure you've run into this, is that, like now,
(14:53):
there are a lot of shirts that say, no, I
won't hem your pants. People think that if you sew,
you just love to sew, you want to put anything
under a needle and stitch it. And it's like, no, yeah,
And I always tell people it's not so much that
I love to sew, it's that I love having clothes
and a lot of them, yeah, and clothes that are unique.
(15:16):
I do often enjoy sewing and making things, but I
have also had some sewing disasters that were like so
upsetting and so frustrating that I can't put it all
into the category of.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I love this, you know. Yeah. And it's also something
that I have not done with any kind of regularity
in a long time, in part because I live in
New England and we don't have a lot of space. Yeah. Yeah,
I've definitely had some disasters, and I love doing creative stuff,
but I definitely see sewing as a means to an end. Right,
(15:55):
I want a porg that is tropical colors, Well, nobody's
going to make that. How to make of myself? Sure? Sure?
I want you know, a crazy looking dress that has
yeah droid's all over it that is yeah, kind of
a ball gown. Nope, nobody's going to make that. I
have to make it myself. I also think my relationship
(16:16):
with this has been affected by the fact that, like
I like, I learned to sew in elementary school ages
and I was in four h and I was in Brownies,
and we did all of these things that involved sewing
in quote, handicrafts. And as I got to an age
where other kids didn't think that was cool, I cared
a lot about what other people thought of me. Yeah,
(16:39):
No matter how much I tried not to care about
what other people thought of me, I really did care.
And I, like, I got to an age that I
was being bullied for wearing clothes that I had made
myself to school, and that hampered my desire to continue
doing it. Yeah, I could see that for sure. This
(17:00):
is something that like I, the fact that you did
not care what anybody thought of you ever is something
I have always admired about you because that is a
skill that I have never developed for myself. I did
at some point, but then I think I've said on
the show, I remember the exact day that I stopped caring. Yeah,
where I just was like, I won't say the phrase
(17:20):
that I like to say because it has bad words
in it. But I just was like, sure, I don't
trust these people's taste.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
What am I worry about? But I did kind of
a flip of what you just described where when I
was young. When I was younger and my mom made
a lot of my clothes, I hit a moment where
I was like, please stop making my clothes like other
kids comment on it, right, And then by the time
I was like thirteen fourteen, I was like, I'm making
all my clothes and I loved wearing my weird stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
So yeah, I just hit a different moment. Yeah, and
I still love making all my weird stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Now we're in the dangerous zone where you can, you know,
sign your own fabric and have it printed and make
your weird clothes.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Out of that and it's brilliant. I love it. I
love it to pieces. It's the best, It's the absolute best. Yeah,
I just love sewing.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
If this is your weekend coming up, I could tell
you what I'll be doing, and it's sewing because I
got to finish this project. But whether you're sewing or not,
I hope if you have time off that you get
time to do whatever it is that you like or
that makes you feel peaceful or fulfills your creative urges.
If you don't have time off, maybe you can sneak
(18:30):
some of that kind of stuff in Listen. It's also
perfectly cool if you just want to sit on the
couch and watch TV all weekend.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I'm not going to judge.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Those are great weekends sometimes. If you are out in
the world, I hope everyone you encounter is kind to
you and.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
That everybody's cool. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
We're gonna be right back here tomorrow with a classic episode,
and then on Monday we will have something brand new.
Stuff you missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, A production
of iHeartRadio. Happy Friday, everybody. I'm Holly Fry, I'm Dracy B.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Wilson.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
We're laughing because apparently I'm on another planet today. Like
I'm just my time of things is weird. I'm having
a moment I would to tell.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, we're just We're recording in the afternoon, which is
not typical. I'm just back from some time off during
which I forgot how to do anything involving my job,
and I also have a newly issued work computer which
has thrown everything off listen.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I'm also just excited in Wiggley because we have behind
the scenes where we get to talk about one of
my favorite things, which is patterns and sewing.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, I'm in the middle of a giant sewing project
right now, making a wedding dress for a friend, So
I'm like sewing all the time when I'm not doing
my job, and that just makes me want to talk
about sewing all the time. We talked about so much
stuff in this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
It was a lot. I have so many things to
comment on.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Have you you mentioned I think it was while we
were recording your mom having various tools. Yeah, to do
scaling up of patterns. Have you ever done it?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I have not. Well, it's a pain in the toukis
it seemed like it would be. I don't like it.
So my mom taught me to sew. Taught me to
sew with patterns. So I learned the things like figuring
out what size you are, and you know, how to
how to cut out that size from the pattern, and
in we always saved the pattern for future use. So
(01:43):
I probably could have, like if I was trying to
make something from a pattern I had used before, but
I had gone up a size, I might have been
able with my mom's help to like work that out.
But but the like the idea of you know, starting
(02:04):
from a sort of template and turning that into a
thing that needed to be sized up for a person
that would have relied on some skills that I struggle with. Uh,
And I never got that far. I don't know that
I would have needed to get that far in my
sewing education, but I did not.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, I remember once getting into a long and protracted
argument on a sewing and costuming message board. That's how
far back we're going that I ran with someone because
I had had mentioned I had made a garment for Brian,
a historical like a Victorian coat, and I was like, hey,
(02:42):
this is like an easily gettable pattern, like and this
one person was just adamant that I should not be
recommending people use modern patterns. I should only be recommending
that they hand draft from existing pattern and I was like, okay, cool,
yes that's more accurate, but like that that is something
that not everybody has the skill or interest in doing.
(03:03):
And they were like, anyone can do it, you just
have to learn it. And I'm like, anyone can, but
not everybody wants to, like, and it just went on
and on for like a month of back and forth.
I should have just tapped out earlier, but it was
making me crazy anyway. Yeah, scaling up patterns is a
big pain in the tukis. And I will say this,
this relates to the koalas, which are an ongoing process.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I have made one of the koalas, I have the
fabric for the others and haven't gotten to them yet
because of this wedding dress progress.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
If you're like, what are these koalas because you haven't
listened to all of the episodes recently, Yeah, this is
a pattern that existed in a magazine from my use, yes,
that I wanted to make of these plush Christmas koalas
and their clothes, and I was obsessed.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And then I couldn't. I didn't ever find the patterning,
and my mom said they were a little too complex
for me, but I yearned for them. And when she died,
I went through all her stuff, like all her sewing stuff,
trying to find it, and I couldn't find it. And
I magically found it eventually thanks to an Etsy seller
who had scanned in all the pages of this magazine
(04:07):
and also had like tagged them all so like Christmas
Koalas popped it up anyway.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, so if you didn't hear that earlier episode, now
you're caught up on the koala It.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
The Koalas are ongoing. I'm I have not posted an
update lately, but I'm posting them on Instagram because they're
so fun. But one of the things that really tickled
me about it was that I benefited from the years
that have gone by, that like forty years since when
that the magazine was published, because now I can just
pop those pattern scans into Photoshop or another editing thing.
(04:41):
Blow them up to the right size and yeah them
right out. Granted that's for like a plush thing, not
a full sized garment, but you could also do it
for a full sized garment. You would just have to
tape your print pieces together or take them to a
specially printer. But yeah, yeah, that is an avenue that
is now available for people that want to do things
that were rafted and printed long ago.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
One of the things that was really awful back in
the old days, and I have dealt with some of these,
is that to save on paper and page name numbers.
Sometimes you would get these in a book and multiple
pattern pieces would be overlaid over each other and you
(05:23):
would have to figure out which line went to which
one and like draft it from my head hurt thinking
about that.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
That's awful. It was awful. I did a couple and
I was like, who, it's rough. This' the rough stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Theirs a really funny. It tickled me, It may tickle
no one else. We talked about the Queen and Lapsie
Tailoring book and how they would, you know, go on
and on about their thoughts on various garments.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
But one of the things that tickled me was that
they had this one section that was just on breeches, okay,
and it just starts with some practical observations on the
theory and practice of making breeches. This delicate and necessary
appendage to dress requires more common than the trade would
(06:11):
perhaps really imagine, chiefly owing to the great variety of
materials of which they are composed according to the choice
and approbation of various customers, and that they may suit
the purpose. Basically, they're like, we know you don't want
to talk about underwear, but we really have to. I
just loved that. I thought it was the funniest thing ever.
I like how this passage clearly had the long s's
(06:35):
that look like f's, which always makes it more funny
to me. Yes, And I also am just thinking about
how my grandma would have called that breeches. Yeah, many
people would. I still sometimes say breeches, so yeah, yeah uh.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
And those get into like different right, the terminology shifts
a little bit because for a long time that would
have been underwear yep. But also they used that gets
used for pants nowadays, like I would think of bridges
as pants. The most part, you don't have any briches
on what are you doing? I can't leave the house.
You got no bridges on. I feel you, but I
(07:11):
just thought that was a hoot. Listen, you can still
find great underwear patterns, by the way, Love them, Love
them because that's a great way to burn through fabric
overridges in your scratch. Yes, I have a nineteen forties
Little Undies pattern that I make all the time. One
of the cool things that that has happened in terms
(07:32):
of preservation is that because most of these patterns that
were printed on it at full size from the beginning,
we're printed using acid free tissue paper, that they haven't
broken down.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Oh nice.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So there are quite a few that exist in like
repositories and museums and whatnot. I wouldn't unfold them and
use them, sure, but they're there and they have been
preserved in various ways, which is kind of nice because
we get a really clear view of some of it.
Have you ever heard of or did you ever encounter
(08:09):
when you were sewing the Butterick walk Away dress?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I don't think so. I love this dress.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Here's why. There's a cool factoid, which is that in
nineteen fifty two this dress pattern was so popular that
Butterick shut down production of all of its other patterns
and was running only this pattern on its presses until
they could get all of the back orders fulfilled that
they had because there were so many people that wanted
(08:39):
to make this dress. And the reason why is that
it's the simplest dress on earth. There are only three
pattern pieces to it. The front looks kind of like
the front of like a column dress, like a slightly
tailored columnar dress, right like a straight up and down,
straight skirt, very simple, some darts to create the bust.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Seeming and whatnot. But then the back.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Has the second pattern piece, which is the top of
the back like the back bodis. And then the lower piece,
which is a very fluffy skirt and it's wide enough
that it wraps around the front and it usually buttons
right there at the front at the waist, and so
it creates with only that one closure address that's super
easy to make, super easy to put on. I've known
(09:25):
a lot of people that do retro stuff that still
make these, and they'll do them reversible, so you can
pack for an event and you have two dresses in
one nice This pattern has been reissued many times. You
can buy it now. It's readily available. Maybe if you're
going to order it directly from the website, do that now,
because I don't know how long that's going to be around.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I've definitely for sure seen this pattern package you have.
I guarantee. I just googled it. Yeah, definitely for sure.
But it made it.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, it's a goodie. If you're me and you're a
bit hippy and you decide to make it, you want
to extend that front piece a little bit wider because
it kind of wraps around your front hip, and usually
ties or some people do like an elastic like a
button in elastic at the back. But like for me,
if I just make it as sow and I tend
to have gaps at the side because my hips are wide.
(10:19):
But you can always alter it, and then once you
have your pattern down, you can just turn out like
multiples like a uniform. That was why that one quote
about why not just cut out six or twelve shirts
at a time. It's really easier. I'm like, yes, it is.
That's how I survived in like my twenties in terms
of having clothes, and even in college it would be
like I'm making a dress. Yeah, I'm gonna make three
(10:40):
of this dress because I don't want to mess with
pulling patterns out over and over. I would just lay
out layers and layers of fabric at a time and
cut everything at once the best. Here's another fun factoid
that I ran across. Ray Bradberry used to write for
(11:02):
McCall's magazine. I love that because the magazine would include
in addition to things about clothes, it would include fiction
pieces as well.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote for McCalls for a long time.
Super duper interesting. There was also a mention in an
obituary for Joseph Shapiro, who founded Simplicity, that he had
a sign that he kept on his desk which tickled me,
and that sign read fools invent fashions, wise men follow them.
(11:35):
And I'm like, I wish I could travel back in
time and ask him what he thinks that's actually saying,
because is he basically saying I did this smarter because
I wasn't trying to reinvent anything. I was trying to
make it more easily accessible for people, Like, are you
saying that wise men follow the fools or they follow
the fashions?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
I'm not sure. Yeah, the same mental question yeah, I
have many questions. I love it.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I will say for any of our listeners that are
stitchers or soists or however they choose to identify, that
are chagrined about the possible end of or even if
they continue, I imagine there will be big changes of
the big main commercial pattern companies. There is a world
(12:20):
now of independent pattern companies that are many of which
are fantastic. There are ones that specialize in retro patterns.
There are ones that specialize in like really really like
simple shape, easy to make knits. There are ones that
specialize in almost anything you could want. So if you
haven't ever ventured into that world, I would, you know,
(12:43):
take a look around, because there's some pretty good stuff
out there. Now we have to talk about the elephant
in the room, which is what Burda Patterns. Yeah, I
mean I don't wanna Okay, there's some Nazi problems. Yeah, yeah,
the founder of Burda Patterns got involved with the Nazi Party.
(13:04):
And when you re and I won, it's a it's
a different game than this. It was you know, going
on in Germany.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
But two I didn't find a satisfactory examination of that situation. Okay,
because the few attempts at biography are all very well, like,
he didn't believe in it. It was just good for business.
It was the way to make his business continue and survive.
And I'm like, keep thinking about that quote of like,
(13:32):
if there are ten people at a dinner table and
one of them is a Nazi, they're all essentially Nazis
because it's poison and if you're not calling it out,
you're letting it happen.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So I just was like, I'm not even gonna get
into this. It's a whole big There could be a
day in the future. I don't know how far along
that we would talk about that whole thing if I
can find more examination. Yeah, of the more interrogation of
all that. Yeah, that isn't so like he's just trying
to get by. And I'm like, you were, you were
(14:08):
in the Nazi military and it wasn't like he was
seventeen and was conscription. He was he was a businessman
at that point. I don't know what his lived experience was.
I haven't done enough research. But also I'm like, ooh,
they're really uncomfortable, So that's what's up with that anyway,
Sewing sewing, all the time sewing.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
I love it. I love it, I like it.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
It's very This is actually a funny thing because people
throughout my life because I have always sewn. I started
sewing when I was three, so I don't remember how
to not sew. But people always assume that if you sow,
you love sewing. Like we The joke among anybody, and
I'm sure you've run into this, is that, like now,
(14:53):
there are a lot of shirts that say, no, I
won't hem your pants. People think that if you sew,
you just love to sew, you want to put anything
under a needle and stitch it. And it's like, no, yeah,
And I always tell people it's not so much that
I love to sew, it's that I love having clothes
and a lot of them, yeah, and clothes that are unique.
(15:16):
I do often enjoy sewing and making things, but I
have also had some sewing disasters that were like so
upsetting and so frustrating that I can't put it all
into the category of.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I love this, you know. Yeah. And it's also something
that I have not done with any kind of regularity
in a long time, in part because I live in
New England and we don't have a lot of space. Yeah. Yeah,
I've definitely had some disasters, and I love doing creative stuff,
but I definitely see sewing as a means to an end. Right,
(15:55):
I want a porg that is tropical colors, Well, nobody's
going to make that. How to make of myself? Sure? Sure?
I want you know, a crazy looking dress that has
yeah droid's all over it that is yeah, kind of
a ball gown. Nope, nobody's going to make that. I
have to make it myself. I also think my relationship
(16:16):
with this has been affected by the fact that, like
I like, I learned to sew in elementary school ages
and I was in four h and I was in Brownies,
and we did all of these things that involved sewing
in quote, handicrafts. And as I got to an age
where other kids didn't think that was cool, I cared
a lot about what other people thought of me. Yeah,
(16:39):
No matter how much I tried not to care about
what other people thought of me, I really did care.
And I, like, I got to an age that I
was being bullied for wearing clothes that I had made
myself to school, and that hampered my desire to continue
doing it. Yeah, I could see that for sure. This
(17:00):
is something that like I, the fact that you did
not care what anybody thought of you ever is something
I have always admired about you because that is a
skill that I have never developed for myself. I did
at some point, but then I think I've said on
the show, I remember the exact day that I stopped caring. Yeah,
where I just was like, I won't say the phrase
(17:20):
that I like to say because it has bad words
in it. But I just was like, sure, I don't
trust these people's taste.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
What am I worry about? But I did kind of
a flip of what you just described where when I
was young. When I was younger and my mom made
a lot of my clothes, I hit a moment where
I was like, please stop making my clothes like other
kids comment on it, right, And then by the time
I was like thirteen fourteen, I was like, I'm making
all my clothes and I loved wearing my weird stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
So yeah, I just hit a different moment. Yeah, and
I still love making all my weird stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Now we're in the dangerous zone where you can, you know,
sign your own fabric and have it printed and make
your weird clothes.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Out of that and it's brilliant. I love it. I
love it to pieces. It's the best, It's the absolute best. Yeah,
I just love sewing.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
If this is your weekend coming up, I could tell
you what I'll be doing, and it's sewing because I
got to finish this project. But whether you're sewing or not,
I hope if you have time off that you get
time to do whatever it is that you like or
that makes you feel peaceful or fulfills your creative urges.
If you don't have time off, maybe you can sneak
(18:30):
some of that kind of stuff in Listen. It's also
perfectly cool if you just want to sit on the
couch and watch TV all weekend.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I'm not going to judge.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Those are great weekends sometimes. If you are out in
the world, I hope everyone you encounter is kind to
you and.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
That everybody's cool. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
We're gonna be right back here tomorrow with a classic episode,
and then on Monday we will have something brand new.
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Hosts And Creators
Holly Frey
Tracy Wilson
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