Omigourd, do you follow the Tiddleywink Vintage fan page? Did you read about my altercation last night with a persistent Attack Centipede? Hor. Ri. Fying.
And with that interruption finished, back to our show! Today highlights sewing pattern designs by Esterel, Estévez, and Ed Gerrick. It’s not often that we run into a dress designer named Ed! Ed, it turns out, was a specialist in designing dresses for fuller figures. “Ed Gerrick has a definite touch of genius, exhibited everytime [sic] he designs clothes for the mature woman with mature measurements.” – The Deseret News, Apr 9, 1959. Notice that his pattern design starts at a size 12-1/2 (that would have been a 27″ waist) and goes up to a 22-1/2 (37.5″ waist). Those are definitely Plus sizes!*
Do I really need to tell you that clicking the images will open them biggererer?
Esterel A537 – Sun and fun dress
Est̩vez M130 РDaytime or evening dress
Ed Gerrick A528 – Eye-catching capelet costume
*Yes yes yes, you can find larger sizes from the period. They are, however, rare and were specialized cases. The largest size I can find in a Sears catalog of the time is a 20, but most of the dresses only go up to a 16 or 18. A more generic “large” of the time fit a 30-32″ waist, and Sears didn’t readily offer anything bigger. If you couldn’t get your size at Sears, the mail-order-for-everyone source, you were really looking for specialty departments!
shoes and pie 