1940s Dress Patterns

When it comes to 1940s fashion, Christian Dior’s ground-breaking new silhouette redefined women’s post-war style and revived France’s fashion industry after a difficult few years. The collection – featuring gorgeous full skirts and waist-cinching jackets – was Dior’s first and became forever known as the ‘New Look’, after Harper’s editor Carmel Snow said in 1947: ‘It’s such a new look!’ The New Look in the summer of 1947 emphasized the bust, waist, and hips reasserting female sexuality. The style had fuller skirts with crinoline used with petticoats and netting. The garments moved with ease and were worn with bustiers. The shaped fitted jacket designed to go with the full skirt was also worn with a straight mid-calf length skirt. Women’s dresses hit knee-length, had defined shoulders and waists – for example, vintage A-line dress patterns had puffed shoulders in patriotic colors were popular. They were decorated with buttons and pockets (inspired by military clothes) and were common in floral prints, but gingham, dots, and neutral colors were popular as well. Even though it was a restriction on fabrics, the 1940s dress patterns were quite flowy. Something that added to the femininity and balanced the strict lines of the military fashion. Browse our 1940s collections and why not make something special based on our vintage wrap dress pattern, vintage tea dress pattern or maybe our Vogue dress pattern. 

Our 1940's Vintage Dress Pattern and 1940s Dress Pattern Plus Size collections are available in sizes ranging from XXS – XXL. We offer either the original pattern, a high-quality true to scale 1930s sewing pattern reproduction or an easy PDF sewing pattern to download at home.

References:  The Fashion Folk, Cat Walk Yourself