Readers, I am truly enjoying juggling multiple projects at once; it keeps things interesting. I hope it's not confusing for you. I'm not sewing different projects on the same day, of course, though I certainly have enough sewing machines to do that. (Silk pajamas at Sewing Station 4...)
Having ordered the Style slip pattern (btw, does that pattern company still exist?) off Etsy yesterday for my SIL Prachee's dress (or dresses, as it now looks like there will be two -- a slip dress and a sheath), I now turn my attention to Cathy's latest maternity ensemble.
I'm making View B of McCall's 4638 (pictured up top), illustrated in black, but what mother-to-be wants to wear black? Slimming, yes, but a little depressing. So off to the Garment District I went to hunt for something more interesting. I needed a fabric that draped well but not too limp. (Crepe, cotton, and jersey are among the fabric suggestions.) Readers, nothing really spoke to me; the prints were either too contemporary or the fabric was too expensive. Cathy doesn't pay me to make her clothes, you realize, I do it out of familial duty.
You may recall that I have about four yards of oyster cotton sateen in my stash and every time I approach a new project I try to use it; I've had it for more than two years and I want to move the merchandise. Finally, at Chic Fabrics on 39th St., I settled on this:
It's a lustrous, relatively drapey, cotton/poly brocade and you can use either side -- white on pink background or pink on white background.
And it coordinates well with my oyster sateen. Another opera coat perhaps?
But when I brought it home I started having doubts. I do like the fabric, but I just did a pink and white outfit. And brocade is better suited to something that isn't gathered, so you can see the design better. I think it evokes one of those fancy schmancy Vogue Paris Original patterns from the late Sixties. Oy vey.
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| The cast of Cinderella? |
Anyway, late Wednesday afternoon I swung by the Salvation Army, and look what I found for 99 cents: this huge (at least three yards) piece of black poly crepe!
Now I know black crepe isn't the most exciting fabric in the world but it will allow Cathy to display some of her prized pieces of bijouterie. And she can wear her faux white mink stole with it or her pink cotton sateen opera coat. Why do I sound like I'm dressing Barbies?
Apropos of nothing at all, I stumbled upon this bizarre pattern on Etsy the other day. Between my maternity pattern and this, it makes you wonder what they were smoking over at McCall's in 1958.
I also found this for sale. Did you know Burda has a retro line?
Readers, that's all for today. BTW, I'm washing Prachee's silk later today, so wish me luck. I've serged the raw edges as they were fraying like nobody's business.
Happy Friday, everybody!
Posts
Good luck with the silk! Waiting with bated breath . . .
ReplyDeleteHow would one walk when wearing the view B dress? You mentioned dressing Barbie dolls; there's no way a real woman could wear a dress like that and actually walk. I'm envisioning a "wiggle walk" like Hedy Larue in the movie version of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, only puffier around the midsection. Do you suppose someone has actually made (and worn) one of these dresses?
ReplyDeleteNot to mention your knees chafing together...
DeleteA garment suited only for standing on the front of a pattern envelope!
DeleteI love mixing up projects. Sometimes I do it by mood (like when I'm stalling/thinking about something) and sometimes I do all the machine tasks at once, then ironing, then hand work, etc. Depends on if I'm pushed for time or if I'm really excited about something.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, Style was a British pattern company. I think they were available in the US on a limited basis, but I know when I was younger neither Hancocks or JoAnn's here in the midwest carried them. Style was purchased by Simplicity in maybe the late 80's or so (about the time Simplicity purchased New Look) and Style patterns were widely available through Simplicity's distribution system for several years, but it must not have been a big money maker as Simplicity discontinued the line.
ReplyDeleteLove the brocade fabric. It would look great for that Vogue pattern...and it matches the chihuahua so well!! That McCalls pattern is strange.
ReplyDeleteYou don't do a Gucci stomp wearing view B that's for sure. It's more of a Geisha step. Really a small slit in the back could easily be added if you were worried about it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I found the Burda line through the Simplicity website and picked up that very dress pattern on sale at Joann's. I bough the skirt with the pleat in the back, too. I really want a reason to make that dress.
ReplyDeleteYou are hilarious. That dress with the gathered in bottom reminds me of a piece of candy - probably from 1958 too.
ReplyDeleteYes, Turkish taffy with legs.
DeleteSO GLAD you changed your mind and chose the black crepe. Can't wait to see it on the pregnant one.
ReplyDeleteWe in the Melbourne wears black club approve your choice for Cathy. We also suggest that the saucy minx in M4657 (view A) is definitely selling something of which her mama would not approve. Seriously- is the overdress which appears in A to have a deep gathered frill perhaps made with a draw string so it could convert to B while one did nothing but pose, then be converted back to A when walking?
ReplyDeleteAn exceptionally witty post - I chuckled a few times. What WERE they smoking over at McCall's in 1958???
ReplyDeleteI love that Vogue Paris YSL 1897 - whenever I see it I imagine it at the Kennedy Inauguration or some other soiree magnifico!
ReplyDeleteI've been away a while, so I did NOT know that Cathy was in the family way. And her such a quiet little thing! You never know, do you? That McCall's pattern would have been very outre in '58; the center version would have worked in New York or L.A. (in the right setting, of course; don't wear that to Stouffer's or Jack-In-The-Box), but in most of the country, you'd have been tagged as a Scarlet Woman, someone who was Up To No Good. For that reason alone, I quite like it.
ReplyDeleteIkea identical blond wooden coat hangers; new, big store and matchy matchy, all at their life enhancing best!
ReplyDelete