This should be renamed the DuBarry Fan Blog. I’ve never gotten the feel that a dress fit the 40s more than those from DuBarry patterns. Perhaps it’s because DuBarry patterns have less design ease, or seem more flattering from the start and require less adjustment (for me, at least). I recently acquired this two-piece set, DuBarry 6008.

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Any pattern can be fit and perfected in the flat pattern tracing and muslin stage, but some with more work than others. When making dresses I try to get sizes that are equal to my upper bust measurement, but with vintage patterns there is no multi-size, and one can’t be too picky. Failing that I just buy whatever strikes my fancy, trying to keep within one or two sizes larger or smaller than my measurements to minimize the amount of resizing, and work it out during the flat pattern tracing stage.

Below are some pattern companies and my experiences with their sizing.

Simplicity – Most of my 40s patterns are from Simplicity. For most of these pieces I’ve had to resize severely, and measurements that should fit were too large. Perhaps it’s the design of these patterns, but gathers by the waist and shoulder (common to Simplicity 40s patterns) aren’t very flattering for me. I had good luck with this skirt, but that could also be because I’ve adjusted the pattern. I shouldn’t complain though — my basic four-gored skirt is from a Simplicity pattern. I yet have to make a Simplicity pattern that I love, but I haven’t ruled this out entirely. Perhaps I just need to be more stringent with the fit during the muslin stage.

Anne Adams – It fits a little better than Simplicity, but still a little large. This might have been the design ease on the bodice, but I will definitely be more particular during the muslin stage in the future, since I like fitted bodices.

DuBarry – This is my favorite so far. My latest project is a DuBarry shirtdress, and it fit pretty well from the start. It’s also the only dress which to me looks iconically from the 40s. I’m about halfway done with this one, and as I assembled the bodice the dress already felt very 40s.

McCalls, retro reissue – This is a modern pattern, and I’m fairly happy with the fit, but it took a lot of fixing to get here. The pattern pieces were still very large when I cut them based on my measurements.