Bathing Suit ~ Summer 2019 is here and I’ve found a vintage bathing suit knitting pattern to celebrate. It’s a two piece. The bottom is more like a short. The top is a halter.
It states bi-color but could be done in a solid color as well.
Ads From The Book
I’ve lost the cover on this book, but I believe it’s a Vogue Knitting Book. Since it’s from 1945, I found an ad that was interesting.
A paragraph accompanying the ad says. “These famous yarns will be plentiful again when wartime restrictions are removed.”
It’s for Beehive Yarns. See it below:
Another ad is for LaMode buttons. I’ve come across many of these vintage buttons at estate sales.
1940’s Sizing
The instructions are for a size 16, but remember sizes back in 1945 ran much smaller than today’s sizes. Unfortunately instructions aren’t given for other sizes. But by increasing or decreasing the stitches you may be able to compensate for another size.
According to the back of a 1940’s sewing pattern a women’s standard size 16 was a 34 inch bust and 28 inch waist.
In the Body Measurements For the Sizing of Women’s Patterns and Apparel (HathiTrust Digital Library) done in 1971 by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards, standard women’s sizing crept up a little to a Bust 38, Waist 29.
If you’d like to delve deeper into 1940’s fashion, the Glamour Daze vintage fashion site has a nice long article on the History of 1940’s Fashion with plenty of photo examples.
Bathing Suit Pattern Instructions
Download Instructions: Right-Click on the image. Select either “save link as” or “save image as” depending on what browser you are using. Or simply click on it, it will open in a new window and save it from there.
PDF File Download
This is a one page file with the photo and instructions for the bathing suit.
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Enjoy!
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hi debra- big fan of glamour daze website here as well- disclaimer- keys broken on laptop keyboard – cats i think- anyway- weren’t women teeny tiny back then. sizes were small sure, but the girls really had to work on it im sure.just watching the old films, the waist lines were so very narrow. barbara hutton, i read she ate benzedrines for breakfast to keep her weight down. don’t forget taking pills in those days did not carry a horrifying stigma like it does now, it was practically a matter of course to take a pill. i am listening to old time radio shows, and so many references to pre-war and the famous phrase i quote- – for the duration- -everyone used that phrase, we need do without til this war’s over. imagine, so many americans did without, and proudly. no one bellyached. if you did you were a traitor. i think, that was the proper way to be don’t you. ps you know all that stuff i am sure- but i just found out about barbara hutton’s pill thing. i saw her in ed gardner’s duffy’s tavern film on amazon, free i think, the film is terrible unfortunately too bad as the radio show is wonderful- it was apparent to me sadly she was -on something- i looked it up and yes she abused them terribly. hope all is well with you debra, please excuse my childish looking text.
Yes many of the patterns I come across from that era have models with teeny tiny waists. Glad that’s gone. Things are going very well, I feel great, just busy with some remodeling. Next doctor visit in Sept.
Those cats. 🙂