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| translation: "German Fashions-Newspaper" |
I recently came by this copy of a German sewing pattern newspaper, and just couldn't pass it up. Have been sporadically translating it ever since then, with the help of Google translate, running searches on words that the translation program doesn't know to find images and context, and a some contextual guesswork (since apparently a fair bit of 1920's German sewing terminology never made it into the internet age- go figure).
It can be incredibly slow going, since:
a) I speak no German, and
b) the printers of this newspaper decided to use one of those gloriously old-timey fonts where many of the (very, very common) letters look like entirely different letters, and take different forms in different locations (sometimes even combining with others in a way that resembles neither of them)
In other words, this is being translated purely by trial, error, and tenacity. But the end result will be 43 vintage patterns...once I can sort the pattern sheet supplement out!
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| !!!!!! (Left half of the two-sided pattern sheet. The lines are all unique to each pattern piece; the guide is printed on the side, along with the limited instructions for construction.) |
The sheet includes patterns for the coat and the two-piece suit the women are wearing on the cover. Also included are patterns for:
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| two 1920's bathing suits, a pair of 'modesty shorts,' a beach bag, two cover-ups, and a swimming cape(!) |
Some close-ups. There are patterns for everything pictured except the shoes, socks, bathing caps, parasol, beach ball (and people!).
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| Aside from this very nonchalant woman in her beach socks(!), you can also get a good look at that troublesome font. |
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| Traveling clothes. The top roughly translates to "For Travel Time;" I so wanted it to be 'for time-travel.' |
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| Embroidered summer frocks |
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| More frocks! |
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| Still more frocks! |
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| Children's beach clothes (with another cape!). |
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| Children's summer clothes. |
This newspaper also includes some sewing tips and techniques, like the following, and the inevitable advertisements:
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| As-yet untranslated how-tos, and an ad for 'Creme Mouson' skin cream |
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| ...the more things change... |
So overall, this is quite an undertaking (and haven't even touched upon all of my French pattern newspapers from this era- the font is much more legible, but there are many, many more patterns- may share some of those in a later post). Once I've managed to turn the descriptions and instructions into coherent English, I will begin untangling that pattern sheet into legible tracings, then start practicing my hand at resizing. Eventually, eventually, I hope to turn some of these patterns back into wearable things!
If anyone has any experience with this that they would like to share, it is more than welcome. Also, if you have any interest in trying your hand at some of these patterns yourself, feel free to contact me, and we'll see what we can arrange. I would love to see these back in use!
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