Whether daily shopping, a rockabilly event or dressy dance, circle skirts were a style front-runner and showed up everywhere. This trend had started with some peasant styles in the 1940’s, but really took off after the war ended. Of course, it called for a new kind of blouse and top. Favored styles were close-fitting, whether tucked-in or extending over the hips. The natural stretch of knits made them perfect for the job.

The upper photos show casual tops that worked well for warm or cold weather. Needlework magazines published both patterns for these tops and instructions for making and decorating the skirts. Below, we see two-piece dresses in another iteration of those we’ve recently looked at. The apricot-colored dressy skirts pictured met the need by including matching tops in the patterns. The striped outfit has a cap-sleeved blouse for tea-time and one for an evening event with longer sleeves and a plunging back. The solid-color dress is a bit more demure. All of them carry the added possibilities of separates to be mixed and matched within a wardrobe.

And, what a wardrobe! We’ll see how many looks the home needle-worker could create with a few pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MORGANA MARTIN, THE MAGICVINTAGESPY

BLOG: MAGICVINTAGESPY.COM