That's how Susan (DrSue on Pattern Review) described this dress. (If you don't know The Magic School Bus, ask any elementary-school student.)
You see, this is what I love about sewing. You want a purple lemur halter dress? You can GET a purple lemur halter dress. (First, catch your purple lemurs … ) Can you imagine walking into Macy's (or even that bastion of customer service, Nordstrom's) and telling a saleslady you are looking for something in a purple lemur pattern? They'd be recounting that story in the break room for the next three YEARS. But if you can sew, you can have your purple lemur dress, no problem, and no raised-saleslady-eyebrows, either.
I would *especially* like to point out how DrSue arranged the arms of the lemurs to be part of the halterneck. Now, that's loving attention to detail! Ms. Frizzle would be so proud.
A Dress A Day 
hey you need an http:// in that link to the magic school bus websiteThis dress is awesome. I always used to crave Ms. Frizzle’s clothes. And her ability to transform herself into an insect at will, but also her clothes.
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Fixed! Thanks!
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Lemur dress…bet you just made a one hit on google.Made me laugh out loud. Thanks, I needed that!By the way, I’m loving the dress/literary connection here. You could whomp up a great bibliography, something like “Literary expressions expressed as Dress”. An American Culture/Pop Culture conference “sure hit” presentation.
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Sweetie,Haven’t commented in a while, but ‘first catch your lemurs’ made me laugh out loud. I miss you … when are you coming back to NY?
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I’d go to that presentation! Puprle lemurs…what fun! (and such clever layout.)I love this pattern. Can someone tell me which one it is? I’m building my courage to sew as I wait for a new (read: used, hand me down) Bernina. I would love to start thinking about projects and slowly figure out what to do once I can actually sew. This is the kind of dress I’ve always wished I had. Although, I’m not sure purple lemurs are for me.Holly
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What a perfect description! 🙂
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Beautiful. DrSue rocked it!
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I can’t find a drsue review for this dress on PatternReview (maybe I haven’t defined my search correctly or she didn’t do a review?), but this dress looks like this Folkwear pattern (Folkwear #239, Blonde Bombshell):http://www.folkwear.com/239.htmlCMC
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I’d love to see her review (even though I’m the opposite of her with fitting issues!)
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OK, OK. Drsue here. I made this dress over 10 years ago. the pattern was from Style patterns; an old pattern line which is now defunct. I’m afraid I don’t know the pattern number as, though I’m sure I still own it, it’s in my old pattern deep freezer. I really can’t review it as I’ve lost too many brain cells in the past few years to remember much about it’s construction. If you search the sellers of OOP patterns and look for Style patterns specifically you may be able to find it. It was a current patten in the early 90’s. Now the fabric, that’s another story. Where does Ms. Frizzle get her fabric? This fabric was actually clothing grade not quilting cotton. Pretty nice cotton lawn. I couldn’t resist buying it. I wore this dress once, on a trip to the zoo. I felt very Ms. Fizzle-like.It’s funny, it’s fifties, I thought you all would find it amuzing.
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There are several similar patterns out there this year, with the renewed popularity of midriff bands and that upside-down V line under the bust. If I get a chance today I’ll look through my folders to see which ones I grabbed images of. I was looking specifically for wraps and Duros, so might not have saved these, but I’m pretty sure I remember seeing them. (The big 4 plus Hot Patterns & Folkwear are all I searched recently.)Erin or anybody – are there any copyright issues with posting pictures of current patterns? Has anybody looked into it?
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Mina, posting pictures of any patterns, new or vintage, for review or comment is almost certainly fair use.I say “almost certainly” because the fair use guidelines are not set in stone anywhere, and yes, some pattern company could decide to sue the skirts off me for posting one of their pictures. (You can sue pretty much anyone for anything.) But it would be dumb for them to do it, and really not worth it, anyway.So post away!
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Glad to see this showcase of drsue’s sewing talent here. Nice work!
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Thanks DrSue! I guess I’ll just have to read some of your other reviews (so many to choose from!)
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Great dress, DrSue! Before I realized the lemur connection, I thought the print kind of reminded me of Keith Haring’s work.Erin, be sure to read the article on dresses in the NY Times. It appeared on line yesterday. Dresses are the new thing!
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Sue, that is indeed a lovely dress.
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To Lucitebox Vintage: You could do this dress with Vogue 9668 and make a fuller skirt (either poach one off another pattern or do a circle/half circle). I’m sure there’s another version, but that’s the one I’ve been lusting after. 🙂
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I love it.
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The 2 halter dresses I had happened to pull pictures for are: Vogue V8240 with a wide skirt and straight miriff band – and waist opening down to the waist! Not my notion of fun for anyone over about 18.Simplicity 4577 – several variations, some seem to have the inverted V under the bust, along with ties. Some seem to have a midriff band.Neither of these is as perfect in style as DrSue’s dress. But there are more out there, this is not the style I was looking for, so I know I didn’t save them all, only those that had something else I liked. And if you like the style, this is the year to find a pattern, since there are lots of similar things showing.
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Drsue again! I went through my “deep freezer” and found the pattern. It’s Style pattern # 2740. Copyright 1995. I will take a picture of the pattern envelope and post it on my photo album at patternreview. It was a great pattern, and Style was a great company. If they had only lasted long enough for the internet to really get going. I think they would have survived. A mini advice on construction: I made this in cotton lawn. I used cotton batiste to underline the skirt and midriff. I used the same basiste to line the halter part. This gave the dress a great drape, reasonable heft, and the ability to last many years. My teenage daughter really enjoys wearing it when she wants to get attention.
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Thank you all for help identifying the pattern! I’ll check these out and see if there’s a snowball’s chance I can possibly sew something like this. It’s the kind of dress project that would really interest me quite a bit, but I’m afraid it may not be right for a yet to be self-taught but willing to learn and go slow person like me. Holly
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This is a dress I would wear. I love it! And fantastic lemur arrangement.Esther A.
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I love the innocent (but not infantile) fun/sexy combo, I love the paws reaching up on the midriff band, and I LOVE that the fabric is lawn. Lemurs are great! The only TV show one of our cats ever really “watched” was one about lemurs.
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that is definitely a Miss Frizzle dress. the magic school bus was the coolest thing ever.
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