#mccalls8645

[professorpski]

Simple A-line, But So Much Work: McCalls 8645

This 1966 pattern illustrates the impact of the Youth Quake, the time when the large numbers of Baby Boomers dominated the marketplace and thus style of a great deal of goods. A cultural shift then emphasized that everything that was young was probably good, and everything that was not young was probably bad. The abandonment of sophisticated styles for women 30 and over was part of that shift which meant the loss of the draped dress. Instead, every woman, regardless of age, was supposed to wear what were called Young or Youthful styles.

You see such an example here in the A-line dresses which came with matching patterns for girls as well. The silhouette was certainly simple, and reminiscent of toddler’s dresses of the time, as were the look of the patch pockets, but this dress was anything but simple to make.

First of all, it was lined, as were the patch pockets which might be cut on the bias as you can see in the plaid version. The collar was also cut on the bias and one version, seen here in stripes, had a contrast collar with a bias-cut tie as well. The striped version also had gathered sleeves, a lapped facing to add cuffs, while the flower print had 3/4 sleeves with elbow darts and bias-cut cuffs. A zipper ran down the back.

Clearly, although the look was Young, a great deal of sewing knowledge was needed to pull it off. It was only in later years that the design and the sewing became more simplistic, and linings, bias elements, elbow darts, etc., were lost.