pattern junkie

Accident at Astronaut Camp

Something tragic just happened in the illustration for Vogue 7513.  I'm thinking 1950s sci fi and atomic reactors:

 

WHITE:  Don't look.  Don't look.  If I don't look at them I can make myself forget that I'm twelve feet tall.

PINK:  We haven't grown.  Green shrunk.

GREEN:  Yeah?  Then why can I still wear gloves? 

PINK:  Pull them out of your pockets, missy.  We know you have fourteen fingers.

GREEN:  At least I don't have eyes in my throat.  And let's not even talk about what's going on underneath that turban.

WHITE:  Don't look.  Don't look.  I knew Dan shouldn't have messed with the dials.  Whose bright idea was it to have Wives' Day at the nuclear turbo-charge space facility anyway?

PINK:  Anyone up for lunch?  Des Moines is sounding especially delicious!

We Are From France

I'm just saying.

New Simplicity Patterns: Do Yo-Yo Animals Dream of Fabric Sheep?

This new craft pattern, Simplicity 2441, may be in the running for one of my favorite pattern envelopes EVER.

At first I glanced at it and thought, "A vintage re-issue.  Cool."  I like vintage re-issues.  And the green Simplicity envelopes were used in the early to mid 70s, which had some absolutely fantastic or some fantastically bad patterns, depending on your point of view.  Then I took a closer look at the envelope and realized that Simplicity had brought us right into science fiction territory:

The old pattern sits perched there, like a family photo.  Papa Monkey, Mama Hippo and Uncle Lion on vacation, perhaps.  Except that...there's no pattern number on the "old" pattern.

Did the old pattern ever exist?  Was it faked for the pattern envelope?  For that matter, why do Monkey, Hippo and Lion need a photo of their forebears?  (Or is the photo of their earlier, wilder 70s lives?)  We're entering Blade Runner territory now, and I'm hearing the Harrison Ford voiceover: "Why would a replicant...keep photos?"

My head is still exploding with the existential implications of yo-yo animal self-awareness when I notice something else: "Simplicity" is misspelled in the subheading!  Yup, someone's left the third "i" out of the word, so that "simplicity archives" reads "simplicty archives."

Whenever I catch one of my own typos, I want to poke an eye out.  But finding a typo on something that had to pass through many levels of approval?  Delightful!  Did this one actually make it into production?  You can bet that I'm swinging by my local Joann's to find out! 

Costume Countdown: Sci Fi Madness!

With just under a week to go until Halloween (one of my favorite holidays -- I'm still rubbing the blood off my arms from the "Carrie at the prom" costume I wore to a party last night), I'm declaring it "Costume Countdown" week.  I'll be featuring vintage costume patterns every day until Halloween. 

Today: SCI FI MADNESS!

First up, Butterick 6756, which you can find on etsy at the lovely PatternMania's shop.

I love this illustration.  I like to imagine it's actually from a children's book, "The Littlest Spaceman," about an astronaut's son who takes dad's spaceship and lands on the Planet of Animals.  As he shouts "I'm Lord of All I Survey!", Panda and Leopard bow compliantly, while Lion does a welcoming dance.  Sadly, the Littlest Spaceman has led a sheltered life on the space compound, and doesn't realize that Rabbit and Carrot have other opinions.  A coup's a coming, and it's not going to be pretty.

Now, no Sci Fi costume post could be complete without McCall's 8731, which any Star Wars fanatic should grab from PatternPeddler posthaste.  It is -- hold your breath now -- an Ewoks pattern.  OK, so some Star Wars fans may buy the pattern to burn it, but I'll take the cutesy Ewoks over Episode One any day.

I was excited to post this because I thought it gave me a valid reason to link to the Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978, until I remembered that that gem of television history featured Wookies, not Ewoks.  I'm linking to it anyway, because you've never seen such a confused mess in your life.  Poor Harrison Ford.

Finally, why limit Sci Fi wonderfulness to Halloween?  Erin over at Dress A Day finished her Tetris Dress, and it's great!  Here's a pic of the wonderfulness, but go to her blog to get the full story!