Own Name 166: 1930s Rare Uncut Pierrot Costume & Hats 34B Vintage Sewing Pattern
Original 1933 Own Name Pattern No. 166 - Turkish and Pierrot Masquerade Costumes
Original 1933 Own Name Pattern No. 166 for two masquerade costumes in one envelope, an Own Name pattern produced by the New York Pattern Company, made for ladies', misses', juniors', men's, and children's sizing. The Turkish costume is a sleeveless tuck-in blouse with a square neck, full trousers, a crushed girdle, a sleeveless jacket, and a turban; the Pierrot costume closes in front with a gathered neck ruffle, set-in sleeves, and a pointed hat. Size 16. Factory Folded and Unused.
Quick Facts
- Pattern Number: Own Name No. 166
- Year: 1933
- Garment: Turkish and Pierrot Masquerade Costumes
- Size: 16 Years (34" Bust, 37" Hip)
- Condition: Factory Folded
- Glassine Envelope: Included, stamped Barron Bros. of Texas - a little worn
Design
Own Name Pattern 166 packs two complete costumes into one envelope. The Turkish costume pairs a separate, sleeveless tuck-in blouse with a square neck and a sleeveless jacket, worn over full trousers gathered at the ankle and cinched with a crushed girdle, finished with a wrapped turban. The Pierrot costume closes down the front and gathers into a wide ruffle at the neck, with set-in sleeves and a tall pointed hat topped with a pompom, made up here in contrasting black and white. This size takes 5⅜ yards of 36-inch fabric for the Turkish costume plus ½ yard of contrasting fabric for its jacket, and 3¾ yards of 36-inch white plus 3½ yards of 36-inch black for the Pierrot costume. The pattern has 16 pieces across the two costumes, cut with one-half pattern provided.
A Moment in Fashion History
A single envelope offering two unrelated costumes, one drawn from an imagined "exotic" East and the other from the stock commedia dell'arte clown, reflects how narrow the era's costume-party imagination could be, and how efficiently a home-sewing pattern company could supply it: one length of fabric, one afternoon of cutting, either character ready to go. The Pierrot's ruffled neck and pointed hat and the Turkish costume's girdled trousers and turban are both instantly recognizable fancy-dress shorthand rather than anything historically accurate, which was exactly the point at a costume party. This is an Own Name pattern: the New York Pattern Company issued these envelopes without its usual branding, so that a department or dry-goods store could sell them as a house line. This copy comes from that world. Its original glassine envelope survives, stamped Barron Bros. of Texas, the small dry-goods store where the pattern was originally sold. The glassine usually took the brunt of decades of handling damage before the envelope did, so a surviving glassine, even a worn one, is a genuine rarity.
Connections
This Own Name pattern, produced by the New York Pattern Company in 1933, packed two complete masquerade costumes, a Turkish outfit and a Pierrot, into one envelope sized for the whole family, from children to men. Explore our ongoing exhibit of New York Patterns and Own Name Patterns from the 1930s, In Name Only, and our limited-time exhibit, Costumes for All Ages from All Eras, before it closes.
