Pattern Patter : patriotic

Well, it's true that not every Pattern Patter Team member is from the USA, but it's also true that pattern companies have been making Patriotic-themed patterns for a very long time! I thought today we'd take a look at some of those patterns that celebrated both history and country.

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

Starting in the early 70s, excitement started building for the bicentennial of the United States. By 1976, a huge number of bicentennial-themed costumes were on the market, produced by pretty much every major pattern manufacturer.

Image from Vintage Pattern Wiki

Here's the lady's & girls' version of the Butterick "Make it Real" bicentennial costume set.

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

This Betsy Ross costume is available in Pattern Pattern Team member Purple Plaid Penguin's shop.

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

You could even make bicentennial costumes for Barbie & Ken with this mail order pattern.

Image from Vintage Pattern Wiki

Here's another historical / colonial costume for Barbie-sized dolls.

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

This mail order pattern features a revolutionary era styled dress for the bicentennial.

Pictures from Vintage Pattern Wiki

Simplicity introduced a whole line of bicentennial costumes for everyone in the family. They are quite nicely done and continue to be very popular.

Simplicity 6787 @ team shops: Grey Dog Vintage, Clutterina's Shop

Image from Vintage Pattern Wiki

This one features a photograph instead of an illustration. Pretty cute, if you ask me.

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

How about these historical-esque sampler-type embroidery patterns, available in the shop of team member Cloe's Closet ?

Image from Vintage Pattern Wiki

This pattern pre-dates the bicentennial, and is a little more "Civil War era", but shows that Advance was in on the historical costume game, too.

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

Meanwhile Vogue released these revolutionary-look granny gowns that were still suited for the 70s.

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Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

Uncle Sam has been a long time popular costume as you can see from this circa-1940s Butterick pattern. Also included a Revolutionary-style costume. They got a lot of use out of this pattern and seem to have produced variations on it for at least 30 years.

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

This mid-60s pattern featured a Revolutionary style and Uncle Sam costume for both father and son, very similar to the one above.

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

I think this is probably a 1950s version of the same pattern shown above. The illustration is very cute!

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

Does anyone know more about this probably 1930s DuBarry Uncle Sam pattern? It's probably really rare!

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

This Uncle Sam pattern from Ideal Patterns & Montgomery Ward probably dates from the 1930s and was found in an Ideal Pattern catalog. I've never heard of one of these being available for sale, probably very, very scarce. Is Uncle Sam wearing lipstick? :)

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

Or how about this truly incredible Uncle Sam costume for 18" Dolls? Circa 1920s!

Image courtesy of Vogue Vixens

Team member Vogue Vixens has this unusual pattern in stock, Simplicity 7540, featuring soft sculpture dolls of Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty. Circa-1980s and likely a result of the Cabbage Patch Kid doll craze.

Image courtesy of Pattern Matters

Or how about this unusual and cheery Uncle Sam windsock available in team member shop Pattern Matters?

Here's some more highly interesting and VERY RARE Uncle Sam patterns are featured at Unsung Sewing Patterns, check them out!

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Uncle Sam wasn't the only character in the patriotic pattern game!

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

The Lady Liberty in this circa 1950s pattern looks pretty blase about the whole thing.

Here are some pretty amazing WWII era transfers I spotted at the Vintage Pattern Wiki.

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

These "Victory Aprons" are so great! Looks like she's serving sandwiches to various military branches? Argh, it's adorable! I want to frame the envelope.