Butterick Costume Patterns

The mini version above shows all cover pictures from 1945 to 1950; further down this page are larger pictures illustrating patterns for women's clothes.  From a fashion history point of view, these post-Second World War pictures set the tone for the 1950s decade, and many styles of 1947 continued as a major focus of the 1950s. For many people these were still times of clothes rationing, and a continuance of the make-do-and-mend way of life that became the norm during the Second World War years.  These images of clothing are reflective of the lines of the day. Pattern fashion designs like these enabled ordinary people to carefully construct and sew fashionable garments for themselves.  Note how many styles follow the 'New Look' silhouette. My original detailed text information on the 1940s can be found in the main section in Utility Clothing and there are many more 1940s images including the 1940s fashion plates. You can also see some 1950s dressmaking pattern covers here which show the strong similarity of silhouette line with fashion designs post 1947. See more images here of McCall and Butterick dressmaking pattern covers from the war era of 1940-1945.

Butterick Costume Patterns 1945 1945 1947 1947 1947 1947 1948 1948 1949 1949 1949 1949 1950 1950

These fashion pictures on this page are a selection of McCall and Butterick Magazine Pattern Cover images from the era 1945-1950.

These post Second World War years of changes within fashion set the tone for the 1950s decade and many styles of 1947 continued as major focus of the 1950s.

For many people these were still years of rationing of clothing and a continuance of the make-do and mend way of life that became a norm during the Second World War years.

These images of clothing are reflective of the lines of the day. Pattern fashion designs like these enabled ordinary people to carefully construct and sew fashionable garments for themselves.