Universal Fashion Company 800 - Working Blouse

Universal Fashion Company

I've found several different founding dates for Universal Fashion Company, with the earliest date being 1881, though I've been unable to find newspaper advertisements for them before 1884.

Hartford (USA) Courant, p.1

Monday, January 7, 1884

Camden (New Jersey) Courier-Post,

Friday, March 7, 1884 p.4

Advertisements showing garments are very rare for Universal

The New York Times

Monday, May 4, 1885, p. 15 (in their Suplemento Hispano-Americano)

In the early years of the paper pattern industry there were many companies that flourished for a few years before going out of business or being absorbed by another company, but Universal was still in business in 1894. This advertisement provides a nice list of selling points.

Owensboro (Kentucky, US) Messenger

Saturday, January 6, 1894, p. 8

1894 would prove to be the last year that Universal patterns were advertised in newspapers.  By 1895 Universal was being sued by some of their agents who had been falsely promised exclusive territories, and by 1896 Universal was in turn suing to recover monies owed them by their agents. Universal's legal troubles persisted until about 1899 when they seem to disappear from the scene.

The Working Blouse

The term "blouse" when applied to men's garments confuses people today. When this pattern was made, the term was used for a men's outer garment. In English, the term survives today (just barely) in the term "middy blouse." 

The working blouse is a practical garment. It typically functioned as an over shirt, protecting the shirt underneath. The banded waist makes it safe to wear around machinery and keeps out dust or chaff. (1) 

Universal wasn't the only pattern company offering a working blouse pattern. In 1894, Butterick offered several working blouse patterns in its Delineator magazine.

The Delineator, April 1894, p. x

Note how Butterick uses the term  "jumper" interchangeably with "working blouse." Clothing terminology is always fluid.

The Merchant Tailor Museum has a very similar working blouse in their collection. The extensive piecing probably indicates a home-made garment.

Utilitarian garments such as the working blouse were good candidates for the early mens' ready-to-wear industry, which was boosted by the development of the sewing machine. (2) Levi Strauss offered a working blouse in its catalog as early as the 1870s, and this garment is thought to be an ancestor of their iconic denim jacket.

Several years ago JoAnn Peterson at Laughing Moon brought to my attention an eBay auction for a 19th century fireman's shirt that could have been made from this pattern, the cut was so similar.

Making the Working Blouse

Stay tuned!

Trade Card for Universal Fashion Company

(1) Eventually the working blouse and waist overalls would be combined into a single garment called a "working suit" or "union overalls."

(2) Prior to what we understand today as ready-to-wear, garments like the working blouse were probably produced by the slops trade.

Originally posted July 27, 2008, updated September 30, 2024.

Simplicity 4683 - Men's, Boys' and Women's Apron

Mid 1940s.

This unprinted pattern dates to before 1946, as this is apparently when Simplicity started printing their patterns.

A nice, straightforward apron for the Gentleman and his Missus, who has also made Buddy a spiffy apron for his first Industrial Arts class.  Why the illustrator chose to show the Gentleman wearing a shop apron but gearing up for kitchen duty is a bit of mystery.  And that tiny little cookbook he's holding seems to be awfully entertaining.

Your fifteen cents really bought you a good, thoughtful design.  Note that the Men's and Boys apron is darted at the sides.  This will make the apron set close through the hips, which will probably make it safer by making it less likely to snag, and should also make it more efficient at keeping the wearer clean.

The handling of the shoulder straps and ties is clever.  The straps will adjust to almost any size or shape and don't require any hardware to fasten:

Note that the topstitching around the pockets and the edges make this a very sturdy garment.

No fabric recommendations are given, but the aprons in the illustration surely look like chambray.  Denim would also have been popular, and frequently came in the 35" width called out in the yardage requirements.

Here is the men's apron made up in denim:

Here are the side darts from the inside:

And here they are from the outside:

The instructions call for a small patch of fabric to be sewn in as a backing for the button holes on the sides.  You can see that I've sewn down the patch and stitched a rectangle to outline the buttonhole.  The button holes were worked by hand.

And in the event this apron ever wanders away, I've "branded" it.

In the future, I'd probably use a good-quality twill tape for the straps, rather than making them myself, since folding those narrow strips of denim resulted in a certain amount of questionable language as I repeatedly steamed my fingers.

This denim is wonderful to work with.  Made under the SAFEDenim brand, it's made entirely in the United States by farmers who are trying to produce a sustainable product.  Cotton is demanding of the soil and can require enormous amounts of pesticides, so producing this denim requires a lot of commitment from the farmers.  I don't know where you can buy yard goods, but if you're willing to commit to a 30 yard bolt, you can buy it from the web site.

You can get a free pattern for a very similar apron from the James Thompson web site, makers of my preferred pillow ticking.  (This apron would also look great made up in ticking.)

I'm delighted to report that Simplicity has re-issued this pattern as Simplicity 8151.  Get yours now before it goes out of print again!

Originally posted on June 8, 2011.  Additional material added to show the men's apron made up. Additional information provided on the re-print.

McCall 4653 - Ladies' & Misses' One-Piece Overalls or Shorts

1942

Once you get your Victory Garden watered, you can change into a cool play suit and take a nice picnic out to the lake (provided you have enough gas coupons.)

Here's another fine entry into women's war-time work wear.  Miss A. wears the very get-the-job done overalls, probably made up in denim or chambray, with plenty of white top-stitching  The banded sleeves will be a little faster to make than struggling with sleeve plackets and buttoned cuffs.  The over sized right pocket with its pencil slot borrows from men's work shirts.

Miss B, who has finished her work for the day, looks cool and comfortable and ready for a game of badminton.  With her one-piece play suit, she won't have to worry about becoming untucked following one of her wicked overhand serves.

From the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas

This printed pattern has been cut out in Version A.

McCall's 689 - Choir Cottas or Surplices

1939

I suspect that right about now there are many church choirs out there that are right up to their floppy bows in performances that involve extended lines of "Gloria" and "Halleluja," and "O Holy." In some cases their beautifully starched and pressed cottas represent the labor of the Ladies' Auxiliary.  With luck, the ladies would have been able to plan ahead and weren't slipping away from the Thanksgiving table to sew a just a few more hems to get the choir ready for the service for the first Sunday in Advent.

The boys in this choir from the 1930s look as though they're on the verge of making a run for the ice-cream truck (or just disintegrating into a scrum.)  Wouldn't you love to know what the photographer had just said?

This printed pattern has been used.

Note the little gussets under the arms - a relic of the ancestors of this garment.

Ullstein-Schnittmuster V 34 - BildhauerKittel

Based on the style of a women's dress pattern that was part of the same lot, my guess is the early 1920s.

Since I have no knowledge of German, I've relied on Google Translate to help me out here, so this post will be of a somewhat minimalist nature.

This is, apparently, a "sculptor's coat,"  which may be as generic a term as "artist's smock," or "shop coat." Available in sizes for both men and young men, this is a nice example of its kind.  Gathering the fronts and back into a yoke provides some additional ease, so that the coat could be worn over a suit jacket or a heavy sweater.  And you can't go wrong with four pockets!

Ullstein Verlag, a large publishing house based in Berlin, published Die Dame, a ladies magazine, and this line of home sewing patterns - a business model similar to that of McCall.

It's easy to imagine this smock being worn in the studios at the Bauhaus.

This perforated, unprinted pattern has been used.

Butterick 2360 - Women's and Misses' Work Garment

1940s (World War II)

It's hard to think of a more generic description than "work garment." Simplicity called their similar pattern a "Slack Suit or Coverall,"  but the concept is largely the same - a shirt and trousers united at the waist.  Butterick's solution to the drop seat is to sew the belt to the top edge of the trousers, with the shirt being buttoned to the trousers only at the side back edges.

In the description, Butterick advises us to "Note the large utility pocket,"which is the very long breast pocket on the shirt, with its convenient pencil slot.

Even though Butterick's copy department thinks that the sleeveless version is "perfect for your outdoor life," the illustrator decided to show the lady holding a pipe wrench, an implement not generally required for "outdoor life." I can imagine the sleeveless version being worn over a pullover sweater during the winter.

For the photographer's visit to the plant, this young lady has layered a white shirt with her "work garment:"

This unprinted pattern does not appear to have been used.

Ladies Home Journal 1139 - Men's Overalls

1917.  What I most like about this pattern (after the brilliantined hair, the jaunty pose, and the spats) is the fact that the gentleman is wearing a tie.

This pattern was featured in an illustration in the November 1917 issue of Ladies' Home Journal entitled "Practical Work Clothes and so Easily Made."

This is an interesting style of overalls as there is no waist belt - the bib and trousers are cut in a single length.

Both the fly and the shoulder straps are buttoned.

This is an unprinted pattern.

When I unfolded the pocket piece, I found this fairly substantial thread of fabric.  Note that it's plied blue and white.  This is not typical of the yarns used to make denim, chambray, or hickory stripe.  If used in both the warp and weft, fabric made of this yarn would have had a mid-blue color, somewhat similar to chambray (even though the construction is different.) Because dyeing adds cost, plying dyed and undyed plies will eventually yield an economical fabric.  This contributes to an overall sense of the thrift of making work clothes at home.

Updated September 2015 with information from the Ladies Home Journal magazine.

Simplicity 4104 - Misses' and women's Slack Suit and Coverall

1942

This one shows up on eBay now and again, and there may be a reason for this.  In the '40s Simplicity published a periodical for Home Economics teachers called School Sewing Service News.   The issue for March 1942 profiled five patterns in a section called "Fashions for Freedom."

In that feature we find this stylish, permed-and-lipsticked young woman modeling the coverall.  Note the fabric recommendations for corduroy, denim, or duck.  (Unfortunately, the snappy garrison cap - also known as a side cap - is not included in the pattern.)

One imagines young women making up this pattern during the spring of '42 so that they'd be ready to jump right into war-time work over the summer break.

Notice that the shirt is sewn to the trousers only in the front.  The overalls have a drop seat, which is achieved by opening the zippers or snaps on either side and unbuttoning the trousers from shirt at the waist.  To keep the whole ensemble together the belt is buttoned through.

Most of us are familiar with "the Rosie pictures" at the Library of Congress, and even if you have a suspicion that these color photos are a bit staged, they're still wonderfully inspirational photographs.

Starting in 1943 there was also Jenny on the Job, who appears in a series of posters issue by the U.S. Public Health Services. Jenny was drawn by an illustrator by the name of Kula Robbins, who seems to have vanished into the mists of unrecorded history.  Jenny would have approved of the Simplicity pattern!

In another poster, Jennie recommended low-heeled shoes.  As our model shows us, saddles shoes finish off the ensemble.  Here's a little lagniappe for Lesli - a nice Bass advert from School Sewing Service News:

This unprinted pattern was offered in sizes up to a 40" bust.  Mine is battered and I suspect it has some terrific stories to tell, if only it could.

Ladies' Home Journal 2452 - Men's and Youth's Overalls or Mechanics' Suit

By the style of the envelope, this one is probably the late 19-teens to the 1920s.

When you unite a shirt with a pair of pants, you get union overalls.  In the UK this garment is called a boiler suit.   The other major style of overalls would be the apron or bib-and-braces style, which we've seen with Pictorial Review 3701, Boys' Overalls.  Either of these garments is also called coveralls.  Confusingly, overall or coverall (singular) in some cases refers to a woman's apron or rarely, a shop coat.

Making a ladies' apron at home offers the maker some opportunities for self-expression, if she has the money for pretty fabric and the time to add embellishments such as rickrack or embroidery.

Making overalls at home, on the other hand, is purely about getting the gentleman suitably dressed for his job.  The 27" fabric width is common for denim at this time.  There is nothing easy about cutting out, basting, or sewing denim.  While treadle sewing machines handle multiple layers well, button holes will still have to be sewn by hand.   In some household economies, home-made overalls must have made more sense than placing an order from the Sears, Roebuck catalog.

This unprinted pattern has been used and subsequently led a hard life in storage - it's been a little mouse nibbled.

Here's a nice variety of overalls worn by the crack mechanical team of 1919 at the Haverford Cycle Company in Washington D.C.

Found at Shorpy

Standard Designer 3804 - Surgical Gown and Cap

1920s

This one could use a little research.  I don't have enough context to know whether this is really intended for medical use or is a costume pattern.  The only other costume pattern I have from Standard Designer dates to about the same time but is in an entirely different number range.

Just a few years earlier during WWI, the Red Cross authorized patterns for surgical gowns, so the idea of home-sewn medical wear isn't entirely new.

This unprinted pattern and its envelope both show signs of wear.

4577 "Santa Claus" Suit

At a guess, the nineteen-teens

The envelope and typeface lead me to believe that this pattern might have been manufactured by the Beauty Pattern Company (1188-90 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York.)  Beauty Patterns were sold through newspapers, but I've been unable to find any reference to this one; I suspect it was available through their mail order catalog, which could be purchased for ten cents.

The double-breasted coat gives Santa a rather official air; imagine two rows of shiny brass buttons!

Leggings rather than trousers would be quicker, less expensive, and probably fit a wider variety of Santas.

This unprinted pattern does not appear to have been used.

Merry Christmas, everybody!