Show Us Your 1930s Beach Pyjamas

[Miss Sis]

ColeV48, this outfit looks so good on you. LOVE the diagonal stripes! Delish!

[VintageBaroness]

I had the fabric in this beach pj pattern (below left) reproduced by Victory Fabrics (http://www.victoryfabrics.etsy.com) and am hoping to make myself a pair with bolero using Wearing History's "Lounging at the Lido" pattern http://www.wearinghistorypatterns.com?

I just realized a gal in an early 30s colour photo is wearing a beach pj get up in the exact fabric I had repro'd from the above pattern. Wow, cool! I definitely need the matching hat, too!

[Miss Tuppence]

I just realized a gal in an early 30s colour photo is wearing a beach pj get up in the exact fabric I had repro'd from the above pattern. Wow, cool! I definitely need the matching hat, too!

Oh WOW- Tis splendid! You deffo need to make the hat too- it's a must!!!!

[Miss Sis]

Now how cool is that, to find the photo matches the illustration?!?

I wonder if the pattern illustrators sometimes drew from 'life' or cloth, as it were. I'd always thought they just made it up or followed some vague direction - 'Make that one striped and that one green' style.

[VintageBaroness]

FINALLY got a chance to wear my early 1930s vest/bolero...


You can't tell in this pic, but Lauren (gal in the middle) is wearing an amazing pair of 30s beach pyjamas she made herself!! Lauren, did you find a full length pic of them? I think Nicole might have taken one

[swinggal]

I recently went on a cruise and made a pajama set (amongst other things) for it:


The trousers were from Eva Dresses 1934 Lounging Ensemble pattern, while the top is basically two triangles cut on the bias.

Fantastic! I have that pattern too but have not made it yet. The person I know who has the biggest collection of the most stunning beach/lounging pyjamasI have ever seen is a friend in LA named Amber. She has 9 pairs of original ones that I have seen her wear and they are all different and stunning and some come with matching boleros! I might ask her if I can post the pics of her wearing them here.

[VintageBaroness]

Fantastic! I have that pattern too but have not made it yet. The person I know who has the biggest collection of the most stunning beach/lounging pyjamasI have ever seen is a friend in LA named Amber. She has 9 pairs of original ones that I have seen her wear and they are all different and stunning and some come with matching boleros! I might ask her if I can post the pics of her wearing them here.

I agree! Amber's collection of beach pjs is impressive! I think the only other person I know who has amassed a major archive of these garments would be my friend Heidi (who, interestingly, recently scored one of Amber's best pairs on ebay). http://citizencouture.com/2010/06/heidi-rosenau/

[VintageBaroness]

Heidi actually even came across a picture of a woman wearing the exact same (or identical style) of beach pjs, complete with matching hat, that she had acquired a while before. What are the chances?! Vintage serendipity strikes again! I'll see if she will post here or let me do so!

[swinggal]

Yes, I love her collection. I have found beach pjs in the past but they were always too small for me so I sold them on to friends. So many women here in Australia wore them in summer in the 1930s so I am surprised more don't turn up. Maybe they were all worn to death and thrown away, as they are sooo comfy

I have this 1930 poster advertising Bondi Beach (at Bondi Pavillion in Sydney) framed at home. Such a lovely, stylised depiction of the beach fashions of the day...including our beloved lounging pjs. The woman on the left even has a matching hat

[VintageBaroness]

Gotta love beach pjs with matching hats! Here's Heidi in one of her sets...