Gymslip Pattern

This is just so... COOL! Remember on September 1st, how I was going on about Gymslips, the school dress of the century? This week, I got an e-mail from Margaret, asking me if I was serious about wanting to make one (Note to all of you: I may use a mocking or sarcastic tone sometimes, but I'm ALWAYS serious about wanting to make costume!), because she just so happens to have made one last year for Halloween! Ask my Sweetheart: I was bouncing on my chair and clapping my hands excitedly.

Here is her story: having seen pictures of her mother wearing one back when she was in school, she jumped on the occasion when she found an old Butterick Pattern from the 1950's on eBay.

Butterick 516 (Enveloppe Front)

Butterick 516 (Enveloppe Back)

But when she got the pattern, she was disappointed as it was missing the yoke pieces, and it was a child's size. Luckily, her husband Mike who is an engineer, said upon seeing the pattern that he could fix it. spent a week photographing and measuring the original pattern and then re-drawing it on the computer to her size. Margaret then had to spend a day printing out pages and gluing them together (the pattern Mike designed fits on 8.5" by 11" pages - 45 of them to be exact).

Since she lives in a hot climate, she didn't make it out of the wool serge which is what these jumpers were made of back then (as confirmed by Margaret's mother and mine), but in a brown twill, because that was the color that her mother wore. Dark navy blue or bottle green were apparently more common colours (for instance, my Mom's was navy blue).

Margaret's Gymslip (Halloween 2008)

In the photo, she tells me she was more or less finished: she still needed to press the pleats and sew the buttons on the shoulders. Her husband Mike gave me permission to post the picture, because, as he put it, he thinks Margaret "looks da bomb" in the outfit. She does look very cute. Great job, both of you.

Now here is the extra fun part: Margaret and Mike sent me the pattern and the instructions in PDF format and I have their permission to share it with anyone who wants it. So if you want it, e-mail me and I'll send it to you!

Many thanks to Margaret and Mike, you are both awesome and you have no idea how happy you have made me.