1930s Vintage

Vintage patterns to draft at home

Pattern from Mrs. Depew Vintage Etsy Shop, see link below

I found Mrs. Depew's Vintage shop on ETSY with these small draft at home patterns that are very much like the Lutterloh system I wrote about here. The biggest difference is the measuring device. Lutterloh has one tape measure, in centimeters. The first part of the measuring tape is used to make the size adjustments. After taking the appropriate measurements you use the number you measured as the pivot point to make the rest of the register dots when marking out the pattern. 

Mrs. Depew's vintage patterns are also very small replications of the patterns but each size has its own tape measure that you will need to print and tape together. Custom tape measures are included for all sizes when you purchase the pattern. The size differences are made by adjusting the measurement marks. Instead of each mark being a full centimeter, the number stays the same and the distance between the marks is different. This means your marks probably are not an exact centimeter, depending on the size you need. You may also need to use a couple of measuring tapes if your top and bottom measurements are not exactly the same.  

Custom measuring device, labeled with pattern number

I found the best way to create the measuring tape was to rough cut the pieces from the paper, join the ends together with small pieces of tape then lay the tape measure over the clear packaging tape. Once that is smoothed down, Cover the other side of the measuring tape with packaging tape so that the paper tape measure is sandwiched between two long strips of packaging tape. Once that is completely smooth then trim the tape measure. You can see in my photo that the yellow tape (Lutterloh) and the white tape (Mrs. Depew's) are not marked the exact same, although I did start them together at the beginning of centimeter 1. Each tape measure for each different size on the Mrs. Depew's tapes will be slightly different and are made specifically for each pattern. 

Why you need the customized tape measure

There is a lot of interest in vintage patterns and the biggest complaint is grading these to fit. To check out Mrs. Depew's ETSY shop go here. She has vintage patterns from several eras. I just happened to find several from the 30's I had to have. 

From Online Etymology Dictionary:

grade (n.) 

1510s, "degree of measurement," from French grade "grade, degree" (16c.), from Latin gradus "step, pace, gait, walk;" figuratively "a step, stage, degree," related to gradi "to walk, step, go," from PIE *ghredh- (cf. Lithuanian gridiju "to go, wander," Old Church Slavonic gredo "to come," Old Irish in-greinn "he pursues," and second element in congress,progress, etc.).

Replaced Middle English gree "step, degree in a series," from Old French grei "step," from Latin gradus. Railway sense is from 1811. Meaning "class of things having the same quality or value" is from 1807; meaning "division of a school curriculum equivalent to one year" is from 1835; that of "letter-mark indicating assessment of a student's work" is from 1886 (earlier used of numerical grades). Grade A "top quality, fit for human consumption" (originally of milk) is from a U.S. system instituted in 1912.