pattern junkie

Happiness Is...Space Aliens on Your Dress and a Tiny Waist

Winner for Best. Etsy. Title. Ever. goes to bgitr and her listing for Simplicity 3996:

She called it "I'm happy because I have space aliens on my dress and a teeny waist."

My hat is off to you.  A more perfect caption does not exist!

I stumbled upon this wonderfulness while procrastinating taking a well-deserved break from work and, after laughing out loud, perused the rest of her shop Re-Mod: Vintage Inspired.  There are some amazing patterns at great prices!  I'm exercising self-restraint after a recent pattern-buying spree (details coming soon), but you don't have to.  Check out some of these lovelies!

Here's Butterick 7894, "Dangerous Curves Ahead," in a B42.  I love the asymmetric details.  And only $10.99?!

And how about Simplicity 3009?  Only $5!

Or the stripety marvel that is Advance 4906?  Imagine the hours of stripe-matching madness!  The sense of victory would be worth it, though:

There's even a pattern that was missing pieces, so she went ahead and drafted them for you!

I should note that I have no affiliation with this shop and have never communicated with the owner -- I just loved the title and her items.  Those of you who've never looked for vintage patterns on etsy, do check it out -- there are many wonderful sellers there and many hours to be lost.

How DARE You Question Me and My Big Bow!

Green:  I'm just wondering if...in terms of balance, your outfit...it's just that, the uh...the bow...

Red Bow: How dare you question my bow?!  It is the HEIGHT of fashion!

Green: The height?  I'm not so sure.  The width, I'll give you...

 
You can go to the listing for Simplicity 3942 on eBay by clicking on the picture.  I have to say, I love how the illustrator acknowledged that the bow might get "hmms" -- it's like she/he was preparing the potential wearer.  "You're gonna have to be strong to wear this, OK?  Here's a good pose to strike."

No doubt about it, it takes a certain aplomb to carry off a bow the size of one's head.  Here's Vogue 1973, a Bill Blass version:

Me, I couldn't do it.  I'd have coffee or lipstick on that thing in a second!  Any thoughts on where you'd wear a dress with a lace bow the size of a turkey platter?

Does the Yardage Chart Convert That to Bedsheets?

The new Vogues are out.  Here's an offering from Chado Ralph Rucci, Vogue 1181:

And here's one from Koos Van Den Akker, Vogue 1187:

Me?  I just think if you're going to go caftan, GO CAFTAN!  Tell us what size bedsheet to use to make either of these baggy beauties and we'll be good to go!

Diane. Let Me Know About This Skirt.

I love the note written on the pattern envelope for Simplicity 6161:

"DIane.  Let me know about this skirt."

Well, it's a straight skirt.  Side zipper and darts.  Pretty basic.

Why the note?  Obviously the writer didn't have the opportunity to show Diane the pattern and ask, "What do you think?"  Was it slipped under a dorm room door?  Left on a daughter's pillow?  Dropped on a co-worker's desk?

OR...is "Let me know about this skirt" code for "The premier will be arriving at 11"?  Was this pattern used by an international superspy?  The copyright date is 1965, so it was issued right in the middle of the Cold War.  The pattern is cut out, so our superspy could sew as well as evade the KGB.  Just think how wrong the Bond movies and Mission Impossible have been all these years!  Spy safehouses the world over were probably stockpiled with sewing machines and fabric so that these men and women of mystery could whip up new disguises.  I bet 007 himself, in addition to mixing a mean martini, could topstitch like nobody's business.

Parisian Peyton's

Simplicity 5645 is a great little blouse pattern, isn't it?  I love all the variations, from the ruffled neck to the sailor collar:

I had it in my etsy shop recently, and it just found its new home.  I'm happy -- because there's something a little extra special about this particular pattern.  Sometimes I find ephemera -- newspaper clippings, bits of fabric, notes -- slipped in with the pattern, and it always makes me wonder.  Here's the newspaper clipping I found in this pattern:

The ad text reads: "Sure to be campus favorites...the casuals with the British schoolboy look in Dark Oxford and Bright Red or Pencil Yellow.  Softer, fuller, but with meticulous attention to detail.  Blazers that really blaze, sharp little vests and skirts pleated or slim."  The "White oxford cloth, Chelsea collared blouse pin-lined in red and black or yellow and black" was priced at $5.99.

The thing is, the pattern itself was completely untouched.  Someone obviously was inspired by this ad and bought the pattern.  They folded up the ad, put it in the envelope and taped it shut...and then what?  Did they decide to buy the outfit?  Decide to make something else?  Did they plan to make it for a sister or a daughter only to be told that it wasn't their style at all? 

There's something a little sad about it.  This pattern inspired dreams once, but those dreams never materialized.  There are so many outfits in my head -- more than I'll ever sew -- that many of my own patterns will share this one's fate.  It's good to know that this one's winging its way to a new home and new dreams.

By the way, there was an added extra -- another dress on the back side of the ad.  How much fun is this green argyle dress?

The Sensational Pull-Over Caftan

Things I love about this pattern envelope:

1. Butterick declares their pull-over caftan to be "sensational"
2. It's not just sensational, but "THE" sensational caftan.  As in the best of the best, the caftan to top all caftans.
3. The yardage chart includes the handy fact that you can make it out of a queen size flat sheet:

So, should you wake up one morning and think, "This sheet would make THE MOST SENSATIONAL PULL-OVER CAFTAN!", you'd be all set to go.

Green Gingham Dreams

I've been tortured by four yards of green gingham recently.

Oh, it's pretty enough fabric.  The green is my favorite shade.  (I say my favorite color is teal, but this Granny Smith green is everywhere in my life: my kitchen cabinets, my car, several vintage dresses...)  And it has the prettiest ribbon stripe running down it.  See?

I bought it on eBay several years ago.  And here in L.A., now that the weather's gotten warmer -- stop laughing, rest of the world, we do have seasons here, they're just subtle -- my head is spinning with dress pattern and fabric combinations.  But green gingham?  What had I been thinking when I clicked "bid"?

I love wearing bright colors in the summer.  But -- I'm 41.  And it wasn't "mutton dressing as lamb" I was worried about as much as "grown woman dressed as a four-year-old."  I'd gotten to the point where I decided I'd have to give the fabric away.  Then I remembered that I had Simplicity 5349 in my pattern collection and thought that View 2 with the white collar might work well:

Still I doubted it.  Could I wear a gingham plaid?  Maybe the time had passed. 

Then I had The Green Gingham Dream. 

In it I saw a friend of mine wearing a green gingham dress.  It was one of those weird dream situations where for some reason I couldn't talk to her directly, but in my dream I exclaimed "Staci has shown me that green gingham CAN work for spring!  I have to tell her!" 

Funnily enough, a few days later I actually identified the dress my friend was wearing in the dream -- it's View 3 from this vintage 60s pattern, Simplicity 8611:

I'm "meh" about the pattern.  Making it in my green gingham stripe seems like it would result in the stuff of nightmares -- but maybe my subconscious knows something I don't!  At any rate, I'm pretty sure there's a pattern out there for me and my green gingham...and isn't the search half the fun?

What patterns and fabrics have appeared in your dreams?  I won't ask "if" -- I'm pretty sure if you're reading this blog, sewing makes a regular appearance in your dream world...

Oh, and my friend?  She's got a fantastic sense of style that's all her own, but I wouldn't say green gingham is a part of it.  I sent her an email declaring her the Green Gingham Oracle, and I think she's still too stunned to respond.

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!

 

You Had Me at Hello

Put down your coffee and drool:

Purty purty!

That's about as much as my brain could spit out when I first saw Advance 5605.  Look at it!  The contrast lapels and cuffs!  The double-breasted closure!  The little tucked dickey!  And..is that shirring on view 3?

Gorgeous.

Someone find this for me in a B34, OK?  I'll be ever so grateful. 

Vintage Vogue Wants YOU!

Some of you may have read already about Vogue's ongoing search for vintage patterns for their "Vintage Vogue Reproductions" series.  The basic info is this: you scan or send a copy of the pattern envelope to Vogue at Vintage Vogue Search, Vogue Patterns Magazine, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271 or [email protected].  Put 'Vintage Vogue Search' in the subject line.  If they decide to use your pattern, they'll ask you to send it in and you'll be credited on the envelope and get your original pattern back, plus 5 free Vogue patterns of your choice. 

Curious to know more, I donned my (imaginary) reporter's hat and fired off an email to Vogue, peppering them with questions.  Were there certain patterns they were looking for?  Certain eras they favored?  How often did submissions end up being used as reproductions?  And why oh why did they need to search for the patterns?  Why was their archive depleted?  I threw out my pet theory -- that sewing patterns, being women's work, have traditionally been viewed as disposable.  I feared that Vogue might not respond after my little rant, but their lovely merchandising manager, Carolyne Cafaro, wrote back with lots of great information:

Most of the Vintage Vogue patterns in the catalog are a result of the search. If you look at the Vintage pages, there are copies lines that give credit to the owner of the pattern. It will say: Pattern source courtesy of…… We borrow the original pattern for approximately 9 months so that the replication can be exact.

We are never looking for a particular design. We like to try all looks but have found that styles from the 40’s and 50’s generally perform the best. However, as we never know, we review all time periods. We file the submissions by decade and when the time comes, we look through all of them to see what best fits the total issue. We generally input 4 Vintage designs a year – two in our Summer issue and two in our Winter/Holiday issue.

We actually have wonderful archives of Vogue catalogs. Our archives are located in our New York office and the vintage catalogs have a hard binding with the month and year on them for easy identification. We are extremely careful with the books and try to disturb them as little as possible. We do not have an archive of actual patterns which is why we are always on a search.

While I wanted to follow up with questions like "Can I move into your New York office and sleep next to the pattern archives?", I tamped down the crazy and simply asked what changes they made to the patterns besides multi-sizing them and including modern instructions.  I know many people, for example, make adjustments to 1950s patterns to account for today's girdle and longline-bra free times.  Did Vogue do this as well?  Interestingly, the answer is no:

As you noted, the pattern has to be multi-sized and we do use modern instructions, but we try to stay with the original fit. We do not accommodate for previous undergarments, but the reason we require the original pattern is to match the fit as closely as possible. The standards for sizing in home sewing has not changed much over the years – they certainly do not match ready to wear!

A big public thank you to Carolyne for her answers and to Vogue for soliciting customer input on their vintage lines!  I know I'll be going through my patterns and scanning away!