pattern junkie

Unfortunate Fashion Friday: The Day Pass Edition

Butterick 4489, on its own, isn't bad enough to qualify as Unfortunate Fashion.  The "pocketed pull-on outfit" is boring, sure, but it's the institutional blue and the ice cream cone that push it into UFF territory for me:

With that smile, that pose and that outfit, she has the look of someone who has finally earned enough Good Points for a Trip Outside.  Maybe she was committed for making Crazy Caps?

I don't know about you, but my mind immediately went to the scene in Girl, Interrupted when Whoopi Goldberg took Winona Ryder, Angelia Jolie and all the other beautful mentally-ill girls out of the hospital  for ice cream.  It didn't necessarily end well, but anyone who's ever seen a movie could've told you that.  (Of course, by "didn't end well," I mean it ended in a "unfortunate yet endearing way which let us feel like we were laughing with mentally ill people instead of laughing at them, even though the movie was doing just that.") 

Here's the scene -- in Spanish, because it's always better to watch WASPish characters with telenovela voices:

 

A Place In Anyone's Everyday Life

Take a look at Spadea N-1149:

Beautiful, isn't it?  Well, the pattern description is just as wonderful.  According to the Vintage Pattern Wiki listing, it reads:

Katherine Hepburn wears it in a film but it has a place in anyone's everyday life. Designed by Charles LeMaire, winner of three Academy Awards, it is an easy dress to wear and requires very little fitting.

Lovely!  Did it really say that?  I had to know.  Luckily for me, the pattern is for sale at Selvedge Shop on etsy, so I found a photo of the back.  Yep, that's exactly what it says:

 

Simply wonderful.  I'm posting this above my sewing machine as my new motto: "Beautiful dresses have a place in anyone's everyday life."

A Sewing Machine Is A Girl's Best Friend

Or so says the narrator in this British newreel from 1955.  Be sure to listen all the way to the end -- one of his last comments will make you want to slap him silly!

(Clicking the picture will take you to the clip -- unfortunately I couldn't find a way to embed the video  Be forewarned -- the site, British Pathé, an archive of over 3500 newsreels -- is addictively fun and capable of sucking up many hours!)

SEWING MACHINE

"Skill had played little part in the operation?!"  We're talking matching stripes on diagonal seams!  You try it yourself before declaring it so easy, buster!

On Blogging, Brain Saturation and the Bad Lieutenant

I started this blog because I love vintage sewing patterns.  Without a doubt, though, blogging about vintage patterns has caused me to think about them a whole lot more.  I spend more time browsing the Vintage Pattern Wiki looking for things to post, reading other sewing blogs, etc. -- not that I'm complaining.  Let's just say that in the pie chart representing my brain, the slice representing "vintage sewing patterns" has grown much, much bigger. 

The point of this prologue?  Mr. Pattern Junkie and I recently watched Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.  Last night I had a dream in which I was Nicolas Cage's character, and two people were bribing/tempting me by opening up someone else's mail.  (I know!  So BAD!  That should tell you just how daring I am in real life.)

Inside the envelope?  Two vintage dress patterns and some pot.   I really debated what to do.  Stealing's wrong, but...

I took the patterns and left the marijuana for its intended recipient.  No reason to ruin their fun.

Do you think I have a problem?

Project Runaways

Hello, and sorry for my hiatus!  I need to go take notes over at the wonderful discussion re: balancing work at life happening at Gertie's blog -- a work deadline meant that blog posts were only happening in my head, which unfortunately meant that they weren't showing up here.  Anyway, now I'm trying to get back on track and balance work, life, blogging and (gasp!) even actual sewing!

On to today's post.  Mr. Pattern Junkie and I ventured out Friday to catch THE RUNAWAYS and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Mr. PJ, having spent the mid to late 80s playing in punk bands, came out spouting questions about the movie's veracity -- I came out oohing about the fashion.  ("Huh.  I didn't notice that," was his reply.) 

As I've mentioned before, I have a soft spot for the seventies, and the THE RUNAWAYS hits the decade's teen/rocker look right.  Casual scrappy bell bottoms, tight T-shirts, wedge sandals and of course my fave, BIG COLLARS!  Oh, just look at the outfits they wear to sign their record deal!

Here, for comparison, is a photo of the actual Runaways:

Can we just stop and worship Joan Jett's boots for a minute or two?  Cherie Currie's silver ones are pretty impressive, but those white ones...wow!  Paired with track suits?!  Proof that when you're 16 and have a badass rocker chick attitude, you can get away with anything.  Even JUMPSUITS:

One of the posts rattling around in my brain had been about the horrific jumpsuits in the McCall's and Simplicity spring collections -- and while the jumpsuit will still not be right for me (I'm no rocker chick -- Mr. PJ classifies what style I have as "demented librarian"), there are those out there who can rock it.  Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart sure do in the movie.  What I loved best about the costumes in THE RUNAWAYS was that -- even when they were garish sequined ensembles -- they never upstaged the characters and the story.  They never screamed "Hey, look over here and laugh at the silly 70s fashion!" 

Of course, this wouldn't be Pattern Junkie if we didn't make fun of something silly, so here's Vogue 7882 -- a jumpsuit pattern that may well have been rock-worthy, even if the pattern illustration failed miserably.  The Runaways would NEVER rock pink and brown stripes and alien-bun hair:

Coming soon: updates on actual 70s sewing projects and recent eBay finds!

 

Stop the Presses! Two Geekeries Collide!

LIBERTY OF LONDON IS OFFERING RAY HARRYHAUSEN FABRIC!!

I know!  It's amazing, isn't it?!  What are you going to make?  I'm thinking a prim '60s shirtdress.  Maybe just a skirt, though, since Liberty's on the pricey side.  It'll have to have pleats, however, just so I can have the fun of pretending that dueling skeletons are hiding in them.  In fact, maybe I could do a hidden bit of embroidery!  Look at this fabulous fabric!  So dark and mysterious...you know some fantastic creature is hiding in the depths of that jungle:

You haven't said anything.  It's because you spit up your coffee in excitement, right?  Or because you clicked away to order fabric of your own?

Or...is it that I'm one of only about six people in the world who would be excited about this?  I don't know how often the fandoms of sewing and horror/sci fi movies collide.

I see a hand in the back.  "Who's Ray Harryhausen?" you ask.

ONLY ONE OF THE BEST MOVIE SPECIAL EFFECTS CREATORS EVER!!  He did JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS!  He did CLASH OF THE TITANS and THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD!  He studied at the knee of Willis H. O'Brien, who did the original KING KONG!

Deep breath.  I've calmed my movie geek side down.  Harryhausen is an amazing artist who created special effects in the 1950s with stop motion photography.  That meant that he created models (generally out of clay) and then shot them frame by frame, moving them just a tiny bit each time, to make an action sequence that flowed.  Keep in mind that 24 frames go into just one second of film and you'll get a sense of the kind of painstaking attention to detail he had to employ.  

Here's an example of his work, if you're interested.  It's his famous "Skeleton Fight" from JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS.  (Warning: turn down the volume if you don't want 50s movie music blasting from your computer, though I'm sure none of you are reading this at work.)  Laugh at the 1950s acting and the short gladiator costumes if you want, but remember -- this is the work of one man and his two hands.  No computers.  He did it all at 24 frames per second.  Every limb of every skeleton -- and often there are several onscreen at once -- had to be moved just a millimeter for each frame.  He'd often work all day to get half a second of footage.

Suddenly I don't feel like I should whine so much when I have to re-do a seam.  Enjoy!  (If you're in a hurry, the skeleton stuff begins around 1:45).

Creepy Children, Volume 3: It Puts the Lotion in the Basket, or It Gets the Hose Again

OK.  I know that Kwik Sew 345 is supposed to be all childlike and innocent, but it just creeps me out.  And yes, since it's from the 60s or 70s the resemblance to the poster for The Silence of the Lambs is completely coincidental, but it's there.  Behold:

Kwik Sew:

Silence of the Lambs:

The more I look at the Kwik Sew pattern illustration, the more it creeps me out.  What's the boy hiding behind his back, and why is he smiling like that?  What's wrong with the girl's fingers?  They're just weird.  And why does she have that big jelly arm?  Does she even have arm bones?  Where are the boy's feet?!

Ick.