Post-Holiday Mish Mash

With Thanksgiving behind us, we can finally catch our breath here at MPB before the true holiday madness begins.  In the interim, why don't we take a few moments to catch up on where we've been and perhaps think about where we're going.

Do you remember this famous photo from Life magazine of Liz Taylor at age 40 without makeup?  (I'm not making the claim, they are.)  I thought it might be interesting to see another beauty icon without makeup, as well as inspiring to those readers who occasionally wake up feeling less than beautiful.  Anything's possible with a little powder and lipstick and rouge!  Of course, I had to get Cathy's permission to post this photo; fortunately she has been in something of a turkey-induced haze all weekend.

Before...



After...

By the way, if you haven't yet seen Cathy modeling her 1944 outfit, you can do so here. 

In other news, readers, Rain paid a visit last week, to repair a problem I was having with my Singer 201 (which turned out to be a loose feed dog), and un-stick the stop motion wheels on both of my vintage Kenmores (that's the smaller wheel within the hand wheel that you release to wind a bobbin).  Who says nobody makes house calls anymore?  It's always fun to catch up with Rain and hear all the latest news about his vintage sewing machines, of which there wasn't a great deal, sadly.  Speaking of vintage sewing machines, I saw a black Featherweight at the flea market on Saturday and didn't even ask the price.  Now that's discipline!



Did I ever tell you about this book, Sewing for Special Occasions, from the Singer Sewing Reference Library?  I bought it last month on Amazon and it's really quite good, if not as interesting to read as Susan Khalje's Bridal Couture. 



But since you can buy a copy of the Singer book on Amazon for next to nothing and a printed copy of Bridal Couture costs a small fortune, it might be worth picking up if you're planning on sewing up something snazzy for the holidays, or getting married, or both.   Like all the books in the Singer series, it's full of highly detailed color photographs.  Are you familiar with it?





I recently received these four lovely framed copies of vintage Forties fashion illustrations from Michael's mother, who found them at a church bazaar.  Aren't they wonderful?  You really have to inspect them closely to see that they're not original oil pastels.  Truly, one of the best gifts I've ever received.











Finally, somehow, without my knowing it, the vinyls have doubled in number!  Frankly, it's feeling a little spooky here.



Now to address the question of next projects.  I really have no idea what I'll be sewing next.  Michael has requested a shirt made out of this vintage cotton I picked up at the flea market last week.  It doesn't exactly scream mens shirt to me, but hey, why not?



Friends, that's it for today.   Right after Thanksgiving weekend, I always feel a little unfocused, not to mention bloated.  I hope to spend some of today getting myself back into my routine and straightening up.  There's so much fake hair to put away at our house.

Happy Monday, everybody!  What are you sewing these days?