I have started to notice a trend in my Etsy “favorites“, my eBay watch lists and even my closet, I love 1950s (and 1940s) House Dresses. My current collection is small (3 to be exact) but I would love to add more as they are fun and versatile and some of them are downright stylish.
For example regarding being versatile, today I’m currently wearing my newest find from Cabaret Vintage with a cardigan, belt, ballet flats and simple jewellery. When I leave work today I’m going to put my hair up, scrap the cardigan, add a brooch to the dress and kitten heels and off I go for my evening out. SEE….Versatile!
Here is the dress. Cute pocket at the top and one at the hip and I just love the sleeve with the pleat in it..too cute! The original tag says it’s a “Berkshire dress” but I have not been able to find any info on this line. If you know anything please let me know, as I’m very curious on its original origins.
(hehehe like my pink flamingo phone case that made an appearance here? lol)
House Dresses are also great for Swing dancing as the fabric is usually very easy to clean and due to the room they have, they won’t rip or tear like some of my precious vintage dresses could do. The dress below was my first House Dress I purchased (the fabric is coins) and I’m wearing it a Jazz street fest where I was doing a bunch of dancing. No rips to be had.
1940s & 1950s House Dresses
Now lets learn a little bit more about the House Dress (because that is one of the fun things about vintage clothing, learning about its history).
BLOG NOTE: I have also done on a post on the ‘1940s & 1950s Shirtwaist Dress‘ not realizing that they are basically the same style of dress, just called different names. You can find that post by clicking on the name of the post just above.
History of the House Dress
A house dress is a type of simple dress worn informally in the mornings at home for household chores or for quick errands. The term first originated in the late nineteenth century to describe at-home garments designed for maximum practicality and usually made from washable fabrics. It is directly descended from the Mother Hubbard dress. Such dresses were a necessary part of the housewife’s wardrobe in the early twentieth century and could be widely purchased through mail-order catalogues.
Although an informal garment, the house dress, particularly during the 1950s, was intended to be stylish and feminine as well as serviceable. The concept of attractive house dresses was popularised in the late 1910s by Nell Donnelly Reed, who established her house dress company in 1919. The company, renamed Nelly Don after Reed’s retirement, quickly became one of the most successful American clothing manufacturers of the 20th century. Some designers became known for house dress designs, such as Claire McCardell, whose 1942 ‘popover’ wrap dress was equally wearable as a house dress, a dressing-gown, a beach cover-up or even a party dress. The house dress version of McCardell’s popover came with a matching oven glove.
Here is the “Popover” wrap dress with oven glove. How stylish and beautiful is this dress?
Image courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sally Kirkland, in All-American: A Sportwear Tradition, reported that McCardell’s “Popover” dress “sold in the thousands (its low price [$6.95] and was classified as a ‘utility garment’. In utility achieved with ingenuity, McCardell found a synergy. The modern woman could both be chic and do the cooking (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History).
Let’s explore some wonderful Vintage House Dress Images & illustrations
The below just might convince you to put one on and bake a pie tonight, go swing dancing or just watch Netflix.
(UPDATED February 2023).
Vintage Shopping: I have created a collection of Vintage Housedresses from the 1930s-1960s on Etsy that are for sale right now. The collection is updated monthly and can be found HERE.
Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
NOTE: If you click on any of the items featured below and they are not available, don’t fret! Hit the search button and see what else is on the websites. There are 1000’s and 1000’s of items being listed daily.
1950s house dress by La -Mar Frocks with the cutest bows at the collar and never worn! (avail as of Feb 2023 HERE).
Source: Etsy-LousyLoversVintage
The dress on the right is a super example of a 1940s housedress and if you are a person who can sew, you can make it today! Digital PDF file avail as of Feb 2023 HERE.
Source: Etsy – VintagePatternsSewBI
1940s cotton dress with a lovely floral print, great sleeves and pockets. Brand: “The C&D Company” (Avail April 2022 HERE).
Source: Etsy
1940’s Turquoise Novelty Day Dress / House Dress (Avail as of April 8th, 2022 HERE).
Source: Etsy
1940s mint green cotton seersucker dress (avail as of Feb 15th, 2022 HERE).
Source: Etsy
Vintage 1950’s Lee Wentley by Wentworth housedess. Love the giant pockets and patterns (For Sale HERE as of Feb 1st, 2021).
Source: Etsy
Late 1940s/ Early 1950s SWIRL house dress with a faux apron gingham wrap (For sale as of July 23rd, 2020 HERE). SO CUTE!!
Vintage 1950s House Dress with Novelty Print (For Sale HERE).
Source: Etsy
1950s white cotton floral house dress. Love this! (For Sale HERE)
Source: Etsy
The pattern on this is awesome! I would be taking this one home with me if I could squeeze back into my “pre wedding” weight but that is not the case so it gets to go to another happy customer.
Dress from Etsy from Seller “BackinVogue“
The colour and the appliqued flowers are wonderful on this dress and I just love the asymetrical design.
Dress from Etsy from Seller “ForeverSexy“
Lovely 1950s Sewing Pattern for multiple pieces including a housedress with pockets (avail as of April 8th, 2022 HERE).
Source: Etsy
1950’s housedress sewing pattern illustration with embroidery transfer (For Sale HERE).
Source: Etsy
1952 vintage sewing pattern for a house coat and house dress (For Sale HERE).
Source: Etsy
This design below is another 1950’s design from Time Machine Vintage.
Note: She recently did my two piece 1940’s honeymoon outfit and did an outstanding job. So if you love this dress, go and get it made 🙂
Ohhhhhh….how lovely! I wonder what the “8-Page Etiquette Supplement” said too?
Below is a 1940’s sewing Pattern. As you can see they are much simpler compared to the 1950’s versions but I still think very very pretty.
Now THIS is a 1940’s House Dress I would give anything to own! The bows are absolutely delightful!
Pattern for sale on Etsy from Seller “Paneenjerez”
February 2023 update: House dresses are so great that you can even add a turtleneck on a cold day and still look great! Same dress as the very first image, but several years later. Still doing great and looking good! (Note: hit the little arrow on the right of my picture to see the dress in full)
For more really great House Dress Patterns then jump on over to the blogger “Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing“. She has a wonderful post on House Dresses as well.
Vintage Shopping: I have created a collection of Vintage Housedresses from the 1930s-1960s on Etsy that are for sale right now. The collection is updated monthly and can be found HERE.
Happy Housedress shopping!
FURTHER READING:
- 1940s & 1950s Shirtwaist Dress
- Vintage Fashions 1920s-1960s – Archived Blog Posts
- Vintage Fashion Designers – Archived Blog Posts
Liz 🙂
I completely agree, Liz! House dresses are definitely one of my obsessions — I own quite a number of them at this point, and love how stylish they are for modern wear, yet how durable and easy to clean they are. I know Risa Corbett is similarly enamoured with them.
More swing dancers should look into purchasing them, as they are generally less expensive pieces of vintage and you don’t have to worry about dancing in them and can easily hand mend any torn seams which might occur due to age of thread.
I totally agree Amanda about the easy fix to a torn seam etc.yay for house dresses!