A Taste of Spring: A Fifties Blouse

I bought this blouse a looong time ago, early this fall when I first discovered the Vintage Haberdashery here in St. Louis. I’m not sure why it took me so long to get actual pictures of it, but if you’ve been following me on instagram, you’ve seen a pic or two of it in the past few months.

It’s definitely from the 50s. As a swing blouse, there’s just too much fabric to be from the war years. I first tried it on and thought it was  a maternity piece, frankly. I mostly wear it tucked, because I find an hourglass shape most flattering for my figure.

If I eventually have a need for maternity pieces though, I’m confident that this one will still fit. The shoulders fit me just right, but there is so much swing to this top! I’ve tried to illustrate  it in these photos, but the wind was not cooperating!

As you can see, most everything has been bursting into life here. Recent warm weather and rainstorms means that the green of spring is coming back! Many trees have already burst into bloom, which makes most things seem more cheery. We’ll see if they survive the snow we’re supposed to get this weekend though. Ick.

This blouse is perfect for spring though. It has a nice soft hand, almost like barkcloth. The details of this blouse really are what I love so much about vintage. The color palette and pattern on the fabric is just not something that you find on modern clothing these days! If someone proposed a paisley print with kimono sleeves and rick rack trim today, they’d probably  get laughed out of the room.

I’ve paired it with my trusty 40s reproduction pattern, Simplicity 3688, which is now in desperate need of being taken in. I’m being lazy and am unwilling to unpick the waistband to fix it properly right now. I really need to put some well-placed darts in it though, which would fix the weird wrinkles and the necessity of wearing a belt with it. That would also make it easier to take back out again if I should ever need to.

Outfit:

Blouse: Vintage Haberdashery

Skirt: Memade Simplicity 3688

Belt: Warehouse sale

Shoes: Payless