Déjà vu all over again

As many of you know, in addition to being a fabriholic, patternaholic and shoeaholic I am also a purseaholic! What can I say? I am just a little bit compulsive! As I was reading one of my favorite purse blogs this morning, I came across this:

It’s a lovely bag from Moe Bags. Look familiar? Let me refresh your memory:
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1940s Vogue Pattern

Sewing Workshop Obi Bag Pattern

I had originally thought to make this bag in velvet but I think the leather is fabulous and better suited for an everyday bag.

Pucci print dress!

Many of you know about my cutting mishap with this Pucci-inspired fabric. Even decades of experience do not make one immune to silly mistakes! But, thanks to Sherry Doty, who so generously offered me her piece, the dress is now finished! I used the same vintage pattern, Simplicity 6672, that I used for my graduation dress back in May.

The dress will be making it’s debut this evening at my father-in-law’s birthday birthday bash.

A New Treasure

I recently scored this lovely vintage Claire McCardell pattern on Ebay. I really like the style so I might actually make this one. I will carefully copy each piece as the paper is very delicate. For now, I’ve popped it directly into an acid free bag for safekeeping. It looks to be from the late ’40s or early ’50s.

While we’re discussing Ebay, I’d like to piggyback onto Erin’s Dress A Day web rant. I like to check Ebay often for new vintage patterns. Lately, this has become a very frustrating task. Maybe my patience is simply wearing thin, maybe not. Here goes:

*Get rid of all the extraneous graphics. All I want to see is a decent picture and a brief description along with your terms. I don’t want to have to search for them. If there are too many graphics and your page takes too long to load even on my high-speed connection I’ll be hitting the Back button.

*Please list the bust measurement in the title. Size means nothing when it comes to vintage patterns. “1950s evening gown B32″ tells me everything I need to know - “1950s evening gown size 14″ requires further investigation which I might, or might not, have time for.

*Please add a gallery photo - it’s only $.35. There are many hundreds of new vintage patterns listed every day. Most of us skip right over the ones without a gallery photo.

*Erin said it and I’ll say it again: spelling counts. I will bid to the death for a Claire McCardell pattern but if you misspell her name I’ll never even see your auction.

*No music or sound of any kind. It can’t be said often enough. There’s nothing worse than having the life scared out of you when you’re trolling for patterns in the wee hours. Sleeping husbands don’t like it either. :-O

*Try to end your auction at a normal hour - sometime before midnight EST is good. I’ve been known to stay up until midnight to ensure winning a desirable pattern but 3:00 a.m. is a bit much, even for me.

I Love Ricky!

My sadness over losing the Desi Arnaz apron auction didn’t last long! Last week, the same seller listed another copy and, you guessed it, tonight I am the lucky winner! Woohoo! Ricky and Lucy - together again.

A few people have asked me if I intend to make these patterns up. Hmmmm, not unless I can persuade my darling husband to barbeque in a shirt and tie. Me? Well, I don’t cook much. I intend to frame copies of the envelopes and then tuck the patterns themselves into acid free bags for safekeeping.

Heart sick, just plain heart sick

Imagine my delight at finding yet two more vintage I Love Lucy patterns on Ebay last week! Not that I’ll ever sew them but the Lucy apron is my size and the Desi apron was my husband’s size - destiny! I love the fact that Desi is going to barbecue in a shirt and tie. As luck would have it, I was unable to be home last Thursday night when the auctions were scheduled to end. I put my highest bids in and crossed my fingers. Happily, I won the Lucy apron for less than half of my highest bid. Imagine how sad I was upon discovering that I lost the matching Desi apron by one bid. Yes, it’s my fault. I should have put a higher bid in but I never thought it would go as high as it did. I honestly thought Lucy’s apron would go for more - silly me! I was so upset that I couldn’t even enjoy winning the Lucy apron because Lucy without Desi….well, it’s just wrong. Now I will have to spend the rest of my life searching for the Desi apron.

Have pity on me, if you have a Desi apron that you’d be interested in selling to a desperate, crazy collector, please contact me! Lucy misses him.

Dresses!

Aside from Simplicity/New Look, I rarely look at The Big-4 (or Big-2, whatever you prefer) patterns anymore. However, when Erin over at Dress A Day posted this pattern last week I couldn’t resist buying it.

It’s eerily similar to a vintage Vogue Nina Ricci pattern I bought last week. Which, BTW, I see Erin bought as well! A pretty dress is a pretty dress.

My one concern is that the gathering below the midriff band will be too much for me. I’m not small-waisted so I may have to reduce the fullness a bit. I have quite a few nice rayons and silks in my stash so I’m thinking of making the McCall’s (the Vogue pattern hasn’t arrived yet) dress to wear to a brunch on Sunday. I think the secret to this style is using very drapey and light-weight fabric. I like the tie because it will make the dress somewhat adjustable through my weight-loss journey.

Not back in the sewing room yet….

I know, I know. Can you stand one more vintage pattern? Last-minute graduation stuff is taking up all of my time so hang in there. I’ll get to the sewing room soon, I promise!

A few months ago I had treated myself to an Elsa Schiaparelli book from Amazon. I received notice this week that they would not be able to fulfill the order. What better way to ease my disappointment than to buy this fabulous uncut (and in my size!) Schiaparelli pattern from the 1950s? This is the most I’ve ever paid for a pattern but Phyllis assures me it was a bargain. If I ever hope to make this for myself I’ll need an industrial-strength waist cincher, that’s for sure.

Happy Mother’s Day to me!

You probably don’t know that I am a big I Love Lucy fan. I started watching ILL when I was about 4 years old (it was already in syndication then). Later I watched The Lucy & Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show and Here’s Lucy but nothing can come close to the original. When my son was small, he was shocked that no one else in his kindergarten class knew about Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel and their hysterical antics.

One of my favorite episodes is #63 entitled Lucy Wants New Furniture (June 1, 1953). Ricky finds out that Lucy has purchased new furniture without his permission and refuses (my, how times have changed) to allow her to go to the hair dresser and buy a new dress for an upcoming event. What’s a girl to do but give herself a home permanent and make her own dress on a rented machine? That’s what I’d do! Well, maybe I’d skip the home permanent.

Anyway, when I spotted this 50 year old pattern on Ebay I had to buy it. I know it’s quite tattered and I may have paid too much considering the condition (at least my DH thinks so) but it was impossible to resist.

The Big Night

Here is the finished garment on prom night. My son was the only boy not wearing a tie - he certainly enjoys being unique. All the kids were calling him John Travolta and he humored them with a quick Saturday Night Fever pose or two. His date’s Chanel-inspired dress was made by her grandmother. I wish I had taken some close-ups of the gorgeous beaded and sequined lace used in the skirt. I like the way the lace with white underskirt goes so well with the pattern of the shirt fabric. That’s it for this project. On to my graduation dress!

Dress rehearsal

Please excuse my Mountain Man - he’s refused to shave, cut his hair (or wash his uniform) until baseball season was over. I’m not 100% happy with the sleeves. I suspected as much going in - I even made sure I’d have enough for a recut. My son has not been home much and by the time I decided they needed recutting it was too late. You can see that the sleeve cap needs more height so I’ll make that change next time. But, bless him, he thinks the shirt is perfect just as it is.

The fabric is a wonderful, silky cotton with just a touch of lycra. It is from Ascher Studios and was a pleasure to work with. Year before last, Fashion Fabrics Club had many gorgeous prints from Ascher at an irresistible price so, naturally, I bought all of the ones that appealed to me. Top-quality cottons are not always easy to come by!