This week, I tried my first vintage draft at home sewing pattern from Mrs. Depew Vintage.

1930s blouse pattern

Mrs Depew is owned by my sweet friend, Anna Depew who specializes in rare pdf sewing patterns from the 20's-50's. I found Mrs Depew ages ago in an etsy search and fell in love with her gorgeous and affordable patterns.

I am always on the hunt for a bargain, especially with sewing. Buying fabric and notions is expensive, why shell out so much for a single pattern? That's exactly what 1930s home seamstresses were thinking when they used these amazing draft at home pattern books.


1  2   3   4

Mrs Depew's draft at home patterns are from a 1930s-50s French system. The pattern is a semi-circle with numbers all over it and you use this circle along with the included measuring tapes to draft a pattern in any size from dolls to plus size.



I have been sewing my own clothes since I was 12 and this looked terrifying to me at first but Anna wrote a beautifully simple tutorial to show you how to do it and once you get started, it's very easy and really fun! I was so excited and impressed with myself that I had to show Pj how it works when he came home that afternoon.


1   2   3   4

The difficult part about these patterns is that there are no sewing instructions included. These patterns were made in a time when most women knew how to sew clothes. I got a little hung up on mine and am still working on it but for a seamstress who enjoys a challenge, it really is a blast to do these. From a fashion history stand point, its very interesting to see the ingenuity in creating these patterns and what women did to look fashionable back then


There are so many beautiful patterns to choose, I wish I could list every single one of them here but you'll just have to go check them out!


Website     Blog     Etsy     Facebook    Twitter   Pinterest