Monday, December 9, 2013

1930's McCall Bubble Dress Kit

Thought I'd share another vintage kit today. :) This one was made by McCall in the early 1930's. I first saw it in one of my McCall counter catalogs. After some fruitless research I assumed one would never be found. It first appears in the 1932 catalog and seems to have been discontinued in 1936.


A few years ago I bought a big lot of antique baby clothes on eBay for $4.99 that had a finished version in it. The auction photo looked like it was taken from mars, so I really didn't know what I was getting but for 5 bucks I couldn't resist. It was a pleasant surprise.


It's faded and very worn, but I still ♥ it. 

The day after Christmas last year a complete, uncut kit appeared on eBay. I HAD to have it so I prepared to squander a good chunk of my Christmas cash and got up ridiculously early so I could place my bid at the very last second so (hopefully) nobody could outbid me. I'm sneaky like that. And then nobody else bid. It was kind of disappointing. I won for less than $30.


The box is the same size as the pattern envelopes from the 20's thru the early 30's.


It comes with everything you need to make the dress!


The pattern is printed directly on the pieces. It also includes the basic tissue instruction sheet that came with the regular printed patterns at that time. 
Originally it cost $2.50 which seems high. 
A regular McCall pattern with transfer cost between 30-35¢ and a yard of "Sears' Best Printed Lawn" would only run you around 17¢. Other companies were offering kits that were precut for 75¢ and a brand spankin' new cotton lawn dress only cost $1.25 in the 1936 Sears catalog.

So maybe they weren't popular because of the price.

Sorry for the lack of posting. :( I've been trying to pick up this mess...



2 comments:

  1. oh...oh...oh. I'm almost speechless...almost! Mae you need to move to Australia to be my new best friend. Seriously, we'd get along great LOL I'd love a virtual tour of your sewing room as well; it looks fabulous in the pics.

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  2. What a wonderful find. I love the patterns for children from this era but have never seen a boxed kit like this. I love it. Hope you find the time to share photos of your other patterns in the basket above. Thanks a bunch!!

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