1958 Claire McCardell Separates

Maybe it the fact than in the past few days every single bathing suit and shorts set ever designed by Claire McCardell has been showing up on Pinterest and Facebook, or maybe it’s just that I really, really need something new to wear at the beach when we go next month, but I keep looking at her designs and thinking about how perfect they are.

Even if I were lucky enough to find the McCardell bathing suit of my dreams, I’d never wear it.  But it dawned on me today that I can have a McCardell of my own to wear.  You see, I have the pattern.

I’ve actually had this pattern for years, pulled out of the pattern drawer at a Salvation Army thrift that’s been closed for at least 10 years.   I’ve sold a lot of patterns over the past years, but this one was never in the sell pile.

Claire McCardell only did a few patterns for McCall’s, all in 1957 .  My pattern was released for summer 1958, probably around the time McCardell died in March of that year.  She also did patterns for Spadea in the early to mid 1950s.

It you look carefully at the illustration, you will see that except for the skirt, these pieces are cut on the bias.  And as you might expect from a McCardell sportswear design, there is topstitching galore.  The suggested fabrics are linen, sailcloth, poplin, gingham, denim, duck and cotton.  I’ll be using a piece of indigo kettle cloth that I’ve had for quite a while.