Good morning, all!
As you can probably guess after Wednesday's pre-dawn post, I spent most of yesterday in bed trying to catch up on my sleep. I am happy to report that, not only do I feel rested and refreshed, I also look ten years younger.
Michael made the most refreshing summer drink with dinner, which helped. Here's the recipe:
MICHAEL'S SUNNY SUMMER QUENCHER
To a (room temperature or cool but not iced) half-gallon-sized pitcher of filtered water add:
- Several stems of basil (leaves and, in this case, basil flowers)
- Several stems of mint leaves
- One yellow cucumber, sliced thin (green will do, peel if not organic)
Refreshing and so invigorating!
But let's get back to sewing...
Friends, as you've pored over Cathy's photo shoots featuring the styles of so many different eras, you may have noticed that the period conspicuously absent is the late Fifties-early Sixties, currently known as the MAD MEN era.
I do not own a television set, so all I know about MAD MEN is what I read on the sewing blogs, increasingly my sole source of information, period. I know it has something to do with wiggle skirts, advertising, and Brylcream.
As far as women's fashion goes, I'm not fond of this era. Of course, this was the height of the Doris Day sex comedy, and Doris was undoubtedly fetching in those cinched-waist, wiggly-skirted sheath dresses.
They just look so uncomfortable to me and Cathy -- who refuses to cinch -- isn't fond of them either. Or the hair, or the shoes...
Anyway, my loss is your gain.
I think it was reader Kelly who sent me this pristine, 32" bust, McCall's classic wiggle dress pattern from 1960 and I believe I received Kelly's permission to give it away. If it wasn't Kelly and and if I don't have permission to give it away, well, you never should have sent it to me in the first place.
(Click on photos to supersize.)
Your pattern is complete and in excellent condition. It has been sniffed by dogs but that's the extent of it. Again: It's a vintage Size 12 or a 32" bust.
To vote, please leave a comment below. However, this comment MUST rhyme. It can be as simple as:
In that pattern
I'd look like a slattern.
or
Girls in wiggle dresses
Rarely are successes.
Those are my rhymes; you'll you have to come up with your own. A simple couplet is sufficient. Sonnets are welcome but won't earn you extra points.
NO HAIKUS PLEASE!
Deadline is Friday, 6 a.m. EST. I will announce the winner (chosen at random) on Friday morning. I'll need your mailing address ASAP as I'm leaving town on Saturday, or else you'll have to wait a week. Sounds fair, right?
I'm opening this up to my readers all over the globe, so Aussies and Kiwis, rev your engines.
Have a great day everybody. Get out your rhyming dictionaries!
Posts
Sheathed in that dress,
ReplyDeleteI'm a lady, not a mess!
And we're off!
ReplyDeletePeter,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog. Read it every morning. And I appreciate how you've grown as a sewer. I hope to get better in time.
You've got to find Mad Men on DVD. It's the best.
Anywhoo, I'd love to have this dress.
There was a cute dress with a wiggle
ReplyDeleteWhose curves made me instantly giggle
A 32 bust
For me is a must
And the deep, curving back makes me jiggle!
Sorry. I know it's a little early in the morning for limericks.
Tia, were you rhyming "best" and "dress?" Hmmm....I don't know...
ReplyDeleteOh Peter, I am too fat to look good in that!
ReplyDeleteI wish that I really was thin,
My Spirits are fading at the thought of pattern grading,
So please let some Skinny Minnie win! xx
Here from a young lady in Den Haag,
ReplyDeleteWho would love to make this dress, ja graag!
The sizing, she found out, would be a cinch,
After calculating from cm to inch.
I sew because I can,
ReplyDeleteIt is what I like to do;
Making something with my hands,
An outfit brand new.
But is this the pattern for me?
My waist hasn’t been seen in years,
When was the last time I showed my knees?
Opaque, dull fabrics reign in the closet here.
So although the ‘wiggle’ dress would probably never get made –
I want it just the same-send it my way!
While Mad Men's becoming a fad,
ReplyDeleteWiggle skirts are certainly rad:
I'd cut one out,
sew one up,
and be one stylish grad.
For a girl nearing fifty
ReplyDeleteMy figure's quite nifty
I'm really quite skinny
Look good in a pinny
But it's time for an up-lift
So get stitching a cute shift
And I reckon this pattern
Is just the thing to do it...and I can't think of anything to rhyme with "pattern" other than "slattern" and you've used it already so I give up. How's that?!
I can wear that dress
ReplyDeletebut I probably wount run
and I don't like Mad Men
rhyming is more fun
Dearest Peter,
ReplyDeleteWould you be so kind
As to make that pattern mine?
I really must have it
Besides being a great fit,
It would added to my collection
And I would show you mucho affection.
From,
VintageGrace
Here’s my try. I’m in no way a poet.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteDid Michael buy the basil from a greenmarket or local grocer? I've never seen basil with flowers.
I think that episodes of "Mad Men" are viewable online. I started watching only last season, but it's a fascinating show; real social commentary told through interesting characters. I love that Robert Morse, who originated the role in "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying," has a small role.
Sixties corporate fashion was not an attractive look for women, in my opinion, even though the actresses on the show tend to be very good looking. I keep hoping for a touch of "Mod London." They're up to 1964. Maybe that's coming.
Actually, I don't like most vintage looks after 1935. I like to look at the clothes in order to study the techniques.
Mad Men is super, rhyming is fun
ReplyDeleteDoggerel great, and sew is a pun.
But figure too oldish to wiggle with charm
So pattern should go to much younger marm!
This pattern is devine!
ReplyDeleteI have to make it mine!
Sorry, its all I can think of right now!
Seeya
Betty
There really is nothing that's worse
ReplyDeletethan the temptation to write doggerel verse.
But don't it to me; I'd never say "It fits"
It'd never fit over my great big .... breasts"
(substitute a word that's synonymous)
I think I'd rather remain anonymous.
Good grief, oh Lord!
ReplyDeleteYour examples be thick
much like your gourd.
'Slattern's' no trick.
As Cathy's a dish,
imagine the wiggle new
free from pattern & kitsch
keep 5630 I beg you
Oh no. I wrecked a divinely horrible verse by poor proof-reading. The above should say "Don't *send* it to me" on the 3rd line
ReplyDeleteI must confess,
ReplyDeleteI need that dress!
It's my size too! Thanks for the giveaway!
To say that the dress is a jest
ReplyDeleteIs surely an quite unfair test
Made with love and the right detail
and wore with perhaps hat and veil
I, for one think that just possibly
It would end up being in truth lovely
The one good thing
ReplyDeleteto being non-boobalicious
In a dress from this pattern
I'd look quite delicious
Since I'm in Germany, here it goes:
ReplyDeleteIch liebe dieses Kleid, es ist so chic!
Dazu meine hohen Schuhe- Diese machen klick, klick!
Jeder würde mich beneiden, würde ich mich so Kleiden.
Bitte schick mir das Schnittmuster zu, Ich näh' das Kleid im nu.
The Google translation is a little wonky but I think you'll get the picture.
You can watch Mad Men here:
http://www.casttv.com/shows/mad-men
I could draft this myself
ReplyDeleteBut this post is like a Christmas elf
Gift-giving to the max
Santa Male Pattern Boldness's blog is like Saks
Fifth Avenue style
Wiggle dresses that beguile
That dress is slamming and hot
Not some pattern that time forgot
X-rated like an underage teen
Made up in cotton sateen
This sheath dress against my skin
Can unleash the inner diva within
Janice
http://www.meladori.com/shesinfashion
A 32 bust dress is sure to rip
ReplyDeleteBuying pattern paper would be worth the trip
There's no size that fits
I have to increase the tits
(I can't think of anything that rhymes with full bust adjustment.)
In a wiggle dress,
ReplyDeleteI'd look a mess.
But give me one from 1930
And I'd look right perdy.
Ok, I'm not Shakespeare....
Guys, the rhymes are great; the meter on the other hand...
ReplyDelete"La mode passe, le style reste."*
ReplyDeleteThat pattern will be quite the test.**
*Chanel ("Fashion passes, Style endures.")
**I have no interest in the "patron." Just entering this in the spirit of good fun.
This Kiwi lass
ReplyDeleteDoesn't need a new dress
Because she has dresses galore
But this little number
Woke her up from her slumber
And she decided she needed one more!
not milne, a.a.
ReplyDeletenor barackus, b.a.
"this dress is for me",
said cummings, e.e.
"à chacun son goût",
I say to you.
Only 12 more hours
ReplyDeleteTo share your poetic powers!
My, what boldness to tempt us with 5630,
ReplyDeleteA design quite ladylike and passing sleek.
Yet, on second thought, I’d call this playing dirty
As regrading, for many, would be more than a tweak.
Though vintage men might be mad for reasons other,
Women endured the era’s most vexing hurdle.
Even now some might recall the hectoring bother
Of beginning every day wrenched into a girdle.
There once was a girl from Seattle,
ReplyDeleteShe decided to enter a battle,
She was quite a mess,
But she fought for the dress,
As the poems stampeded like cattle.
Though a 32 bust wouldn't fit,
ReplyDeleteThe Mad Men style is a hit.
I've had fantasies
Being down on my knees
What I might do - not for it, but *in* it!
(Oh, hell, yes, I'm posting Anon on this one...)
Biba, Cardin, Cashin, Quant
ReplyDeleteHow's that for a Sixties' rant?
My husband, he feels,
ReplyDeletein that dress and some heels,
we'd make some deals,
to take me out for some meals.
-Sandra
I haz no TV
ReplyDeleteWas born in teh sixties
But not into wiggle
though you post made me giggle
Why no haiku?
To hauty tauty for you?
I dig that recipe
Thanks for sharing with us peeps.
Can I stop rhyming now?
My brain wants to melt down
Oh not posting for the pattern
Where'd you come up with Slattern?
You didn't think Saturn?
Not even cavern?
Well shucks this was fun
Love ya, gotta run!
Vintage pattern with a 32 inch bust?
ReplyDeleteDon’t send it to me, it will just gather dust
phew thats more than enough rhyming for me! Actually it wouldn’t gather dust if my daughter fancied it, so perhaps you could send it to me!
My mother who is quite petite
ReplyDeleteWith stilettos of red on her feet
In the bright autumn of 59
Rocked this number quite divine
Her daughter alas and alack
Has never been that compact
Upon using this cute vintage dress
Would find all her assets compressed.
An ode to Cathy
ReplyDeleteWho would have thought
That she could have caught
A man, without her girdle?
But sparkling eyes
And come-hither thighs
Can triumph any hurdle.
And a 36 bust
Is really a must
To carry off frocks with elan.
Oh, curse my small waist
And addiction to taste
I'd renounce it all for a man!
(Or possibly a day of girly gossip with the lovely You Know Who. Failing that, the pattern).
Thanks for your lovely blog.
Sian
I have a large-scale acid green houndstooth
ReplyDeleteThat I don't relish matching, in truth
A simple shift will be best
And this one is perfect for my flat chest!
Hey!
ReplyDeleteI've entered a contest to win a walk-on role on that retro-licious TV show, "Mad Men".
If you wouldn't mind taking two seconds to vote for me, I would really appreciate it.
Click on my name above to go to my blog and vote.
Thanks so much!
MadMenGirl