Like Mother, Like Daughter (The Simplicity Way)

By Sherri of SewBettyandDot

Did you and your mother ever dress alike? I know that my mom, at least once, made us matching Easter dresses and coats. 

While other companies certainly made mother/daughter patterns—the Vintage Pattern Wiki has a 1925 Pictorial Review “Me and Ma” apron pattern, and there are numerous Hollywood mother/daughter patterns from the 1930s—Simplicity began to issue numerous “Mother and Daughter Fashion” patterns in the 1940s and have continued to do so to this day. Let’s take a look at some matching mom and child patterns from the forties and fifties.

Apron patterns were quite popular, and these often had both mother and daughter apron pieces in the same envelope.

Simplicity 4139: GreyDogVintage

Simplicity 1641: ThePatternSource

But not always: here is an example of two patterns, one for a little girl, one for mom.

Simplicity 4636: Clutterina

Simplicity 4632: KallieDesigns

In many cases, Simplicity would list on the back of each mother/daughter pattern what the corresponding mother (or daughter) pattern was. For example:

Mother Patterns Source: 1 2 3 4
Daughter Pattern Source: 1 2 3 4 

Some patterns don’t have the corresponding pattern numbers for the mother or daughter outfits, for example: 

Simplicity 3485: FloradoraPresents

Simplicity 4005: PatternPalooza

It’s really fun to search and find these matching outfits. It’s so interesting, too, to examine the envelope art and see the similarities in poses and hairstyles. Me…and Mini-Me, the Simplicity way!