Category: Clothing

Switching Centuries, with Strawberries

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, Food

It’s an early birthday treat, patterns and shoes, and all on sale! I’m fairly certain that if told these had been purchased while on sale, my mother would say they did not count as a treat. never mind, they do to me!

American Duchess “Georgiana” shoes sold as imperfect, but quite good enough for my impression. Getting closer to having to make my version of the striped silk polonaise at the V&A.  They’re super shiny and lots of fun.

The patterns include vintage patterns, unused, and shockingly enough, in my size, from Sandritocat on Etsy. I have vintage fabric in blue, just enough to make the dress with short sleeves. All in all, happy early birthday goodness.

Today, in addition to chores and sewing, I think I’ll try making (or starting) strawberry cordial. The recipe was in the Country Living (UK) magazine, and can be found online, too. 2.2 pounds of strawberries, just have to make the room in the fridge. This might work well for the opening, too.

Regrets Never Stopped Me

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, Events, Museums2 Comments

That moment of regret…promised work a cake and punch, promised myself a new dress, it’s going to be 99 today, and there’s still an exhibit to install. Once again, what was I thinking? Apparently I was thinking that all I have to do is want something enough and I can make it happen.

So the bodice muslin is cut out, I’ve asked someone else to find a punch receipt while I make cake and lemonade, and I’ve got labels underway. This is manageable, maybe.

The way I start with patterns, as you can see in the top image, is by tracing them. I use architectural trace, AKA onionskin or drafting paper, mostly because it is cheap and readily available, and because I got into the habit just because it was around. (I am a refugee from a graduate program in architecture, which explains a lot about why I have drafting tools, keep way too busy, and am comfortable working with construction projects.) I use the trace patterns to cut the muslin from, and after JennyLaFleur’s workshop at Dress U, I fit muslins and recut final patterns in Pellon pattern ease. Formerly I saved muslins, now I re-trace. So much smarter, much less space.

So tonight, I’ll stitch up the muslin and see where I am. Today, I work on labels. The lower image definitely illustrates the process. There’s a big whole where a uniform will go, and we’re still using the ladder. Why is there a doll in an exhibit about war? Because how else do you fit in a dress when the case is small?!

8 Days, a Pattern, and some Taffeta

On By kittycalashIn Clothing1 Comment

I did decide to make a dress, or perhaps more properly to try to make a dress in time for the opening. Since I really can’t wear the new Indian print cotton dress, I chose a 1945 Vogue pattern.

The red plaid taffeta from Jo Ann’s was 50% off, and normally I do eschew all fibers unnatural and rustling, but this is 1945 and heaven knows nylon and rayon were THE thing to have. It’s fancier than I normally trend, clothing-wise, but that’s the fun of making things.

I bought buttons, just in case, though I was pretty sure I had some in my stash–and I did! (Photo surely proof that I need to replace the camera, or at the least, get the D40 sensor cleaned, stat!) These are from my husband’s grandmother’s stash, if not his great-grandmother’s, so they are of the period. Flowers and plaid, pretty scary usually, but moderately apropos here. It will be something to do in the awful heat we expect, though I am tempted to cut this out at work tomorrow night in the chilly realm of the Library reading room. I did not make a muslin of the bodice last night, I lazily drank two beers, ate pad thai, and fell asleep.

Lady Boss

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, Events2 Comments

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The exhibit opens in a little more than a week, and I think we’ll make it. Along the way, we’ve cataloged hundreds of items, photographed dozens, and discovered several in need of conservation treatment ranging from intensive to manageable in house. These are all good things, and I’d say my sole regret is the probability of not getting the 20th century’s world wars into the cases by June 28.

That, and having to dress for the opening.

Hence a crazy scheme: 1940s dressing. My mother gave me Lady Boss for Christmas a few years ago, purchased from her church’s annual jumble sale (it’s C of E in Main Line Philadelphia, so I think I can use that term). Lady Boss resonates on several levels: my mother knows I love vintage, I used to collect antique dolls, my grandmother Elsa was a Lady Boss in the 1940s, and now I’m a Lady Boss.

I could dress as Lady Boss for the opening, or some variant of 1940s style, and would probably feel more comfortable in recreated vintage than in my own work clothes. It makes a better armor, these re-enacting clothes, than my skirts and blouses. Now for a pattern….