Thirties Blouses: Variations on a Theme: DuBarry 1522B
I once wrote, and I still believe it, that you can find more variation in dress collars and necklines in two pages of a pattern book from the 1930s than you can in an entire department store these days. They are a wonderful inspiration. For once you find a blouse pattern you like, you can ring on the changes, as it were, on the collar alone and create everything from the sweet to the sporty model.
You see here a DuBarry Pattern from 1936. Like most blouses before the 1960s, they eliminated a front opening in favor of a side snap opening. In fact, you can sometimes skip the side opening if your head and shoulders slip through the blouse easily without it, and then you draw up any blousing at the waistline with a belt. Removing the front opening means you no longer have to cope with a long row of buttons down the front and allows for a simple bound slit or a faced one--as you see here-- at the neckline, so that you can get your head through. These slits came at the back or at the front as they opted for here. This raglan sleeve pattern has a two versions and the designer meant them to serve most any occasion. Notice how the fabric suggestions range widely from fancy silk shantung to everyday cotton gingham to sophisticated wool crepe.
A slightly dressier blue version with a scarf tie that allows you to brighten it up with white buttons and a white buckle on the belt, and then puffed sleeves with cuffs. You can imagine it for evening in a fancy silk with rhinestone buttons and matching belt buckle worn with a long skirt. Then, there is the sportier version: the raglan sleeves are left open at the hemline, which is also cooler if you make this for summer, and “plain collar” worn with a simple contrasting ribbon is used instead. Realize that any number of collar versions could work on this basic pattern: from full ties to make into extravagant bows to a flounced collar trimmed with lace. Play with plain muslin version to figure out the best proportions, then draw pattern pieces to cut out your fashion fabric.
You can find this pattern and many others at the Commercial Pattern Archive at University of Rhode Island, the beneficiary of many donations, but the brainchild of Joy Spanabel Emery. People can now register and search the archive themselves: https://copa.apps.uri.edu/index.php
