Two Good Things
There are two things I really like about this pattern (from Michelle, at Patterns from the Past). The first is the implication that by making this dress you, too, will be first cloned, then admitted to the all-girl replicant-cyborg-robot pastel army (as an NCO).
The second is the scribbling all over the pattern. I really do love buying patterns that show evidence of use. Some folks might like factory folds, but I like tape, pencilled notes, and random newspaper cuttings in MY patterns (bonus if the newspaper cutting is a recipe for Jell-O "salad" or any kind of waist-reducing calisthenics).
The markings on this one seem to show that the original owner was DETERMINED to make six identical dresses, don't they? Maybe she was a chorine? Maybe she needed to make dresses for her synchronized-swimming team's awards banquet? Or maybe she was a sextuplet! I don't know, obviously, but I love to speculate (even more obviously).
What do you think these markings mean? Extra points for dragging in any of the following: The Knights Templar, the NBA, the gold standard, and colony collapse disorder. Have fun!
Here's today's widget ... and just to encourage you further to donate, I have that Secret Lives all ready and waiting for us to hit $1500 ....
Labels: Vogue_3004
posted by Erin @ 10:03 AM
28 Comments:
At Dec 7, 2007 10:34:00 AM,
miss twist said…
Further proof that the Paratheo-Anametamystikhood Of Eris Esoteric ordains Stepford Clone Priestesses. Given the rule of fives there are three more copies of each of these priestess, sewing discord by asking you to be more perfect than possible.
All hail Eris!
At Dec 7, 2007 10:38:00 AM,
Jesse said…
You know, none of these widgets works for me. (none work? none works?) Everything shows up as "undefined," and if I click, it takes me to an error page at www.changingthepresent.orgundefined
Is this just my own fault for using IE?
At Dec 7, 2007 10:54:00 AM,
Jen (Alienspouse) said…
The central pair have the hair style that Queen Elizabeth II favoured in the fifties, the women on the right are dead ringers for Princess Margaret at around the same time. Interestingly the blondes are going with a Wallace Simpson Do, and she did favour a slim line silouhette.
So I think you may have stumbled on some sort of fashion secret of the British Royal family.
Did you buy this pattern in London at the Buckingham Palace car boot sale?
At Dec 7, 2007 11:18:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
This may be obvious and lame, but she was probably doing bridesmaid dresses! I should scan and send the scrapbook my grandmother made of photos, swatches and newspaper clippings from some of the many sets she made. Including dance costumes and Wedding gowns. sigh...
She made my mom's dress which was unfortunately to small for me. My mom made mine, and I just made a christening gown for my great-nephew from his grandmother's dress(my sis-in-law)which was also made by my mom.
At Dec 7, 2007 11:47:00 AM,
Tea said…
Maybe she was the costume designer for Lawrence Welk? Or doing her own Lawrence-Welk-esque production in the church basement ala Christopher Guest.
At Dec 7, 2007 11:50:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
bridesmaid dresses!
At Dec 7, 2007 11:53:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Like Madame Defarge’s knitting in A Tale of Two Cities, the precise measurements and colors in this dress design contain a code. The code was originally designed by the Knights Templar to protect the location of certain ‘historical objects’ and it has been handed down through the ages in the form of garments worn by their descendants. Everything from the number of stitches in the hem to the length of the sleeves tells part of the code, and you must have all three dresses together to understand it! Obviously it has had to undergo certain revisions in order to fit the different fashions of the day, and it is these revisions that we see written on the pattern, which should have been kept secret or destroyed, but fell into foreign hands. These revisions have only made the code more intricate and hard to break. This is, of course, actually the original meaning of the term ‘dress code’, which has since come to mean something far less important.
I *know* there's a way to work the gold standard in here, which actually has to do with gold honey from the now collapsing bee colonies, which nobody cares about because they're watching too much NBA coverage, but I just can't find that connecting thread..... so just give me some cheap points for the pun.
Dawn
At Dec 7, 2007 11:57:00 AM,
divashop said…
You've been tagged!
http://divashop.blogspot.com/2007/12/tagged-again.html
At Dec 7, 2007 12:04:00 PM,
nommh said…
The bridesmaid dresses seem spot on.
But my bad consciences spurs me. I never make muslins (and paying dearly for it in my current project).
The three sisters, the shy and mysterious blonde, the good sport mousy one and the racy brunette couln't be more different. But they couln't be more united in thinking that nothing could be achieved without a muslin executed in a dreamy blue. Only after this effort could they step out fully accessorized and bewitching in their several ways. No one would suspect them of being so poor that they had to share their sewing patterns.
The hairstyle of the middle one was de rigeur in the early 60ies I think. I had a twitch, because it reminded me of my mother when I was tiny.
At Dec 7, 2007 12:12:00 PM,
Jill B said…
Those are some great options - which I couldn't improve upon.But I do love finding other people's comments - for me it's especially great in cookbooks, or wondering about the story behind inscriptions in any used books.
At Dec 7, 2007 12:41:00 PM,
Theresa said…
I have all my grandmothers cook books and she wrote in everyon of them. I write in them too. In a few I foudn hse had tucked some poems.
At Dec 7, 2007 1:38:00 PM,
Toby Wollin said…
I'm sorry - I'm still convulsed by the image of this being bought at the Buckingham Palace car boot sale. It was probably in the box with the chewed up Corgi toys.
At Dec 7, 2007 2:54:00 PM,
DivaJean said…
Clearly the markings on the envelope will lead you to some pattern treasure of yesteryear, like Nicholas Cage's National Treasure movies lead him to untold fortune!
At Dec 7, 2007 10:15:00 PM,
Tracey said…
Maybe she had some rare form of short-term memory loss and kept forgetting that she made the dress already.
At Dec 7, 2007 11:03:00 PM,
Oldpatterns said…
haha.. I have cracked the code! It is for me to know and for you to find out! Here is more information on the pattern. It is one of over 500 that came from an estate. A majority of the patterns arrived folded over at the top, with writing on them and almost all in a Bust 30 or 32". This was a well used collection. I love looking at sets of patterns from someones estate. It lets you look at a slice of their life.
-michelle at www.oldpatterns.com
At Dec 8, 2007 2:01:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Why are those two on the end holding a sign of some sort between them?
At Dec 8, 2007 5:34:00 AM,
andapanda-rlf said…
This coat could be shortened and reduced in price.
I adore it.
panda
http://cgi.ebay.com/Best-Vintage-60s-Wool-Plaid-Window-Pane-Darling-Coat_W0QQitemZ140182633645QQihZ004QQcategoryZ48882QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem
At Dec 8, 2007 9:09:00 AM,
Linda A-Z said…
The blond on the right and the one in the middle both seem to be more stylish and haughty. I think the one on the left in the button dress is Cinderella, and the other two are her beautiful, but evil step sisters. Cinderella made all three dresses for the visit of the Prince (and his mum, the queen) and of course was over the moon because the dresses were wonderful and asked who made them. Of course, the wicked step sisters told him that their maid, Cindersoot made them and he asked her to marry him so she could then make him a dress so the two of them could dress up and have tea.....
Linda
Sorry, no Knights Templar, Gold Standar or any of that, just a fractured "fairy" tale.
At Dec 8, 2007 11:25:00 AM,
techquilter said…
I think the markings are either teh pattern piece #'s used for that particular view, or maybe the amount of fabric...or size needed...I spy different top and bottom #'s, so any of those!
At Dec 8, 2007 2:51:00 PM,
Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said…
Sleeves...I remember when dresses had sleeves....
At Dec 8, 2007 3:47:00 PM,
Shay said…
I'm sorry, but if I can't come in as an officer I'm not going to sign up.
At Dec 8, 2007 5:59:00 PM,
MadeByAmanda said…
Off topic. I just wanted you to know, I was at my library today, and they had a book sale. I saw "Fashion is Spinach" and picked it up (for about 30 cents), because I had seen it on your page. I'm looking forward to reading it.
At Dec 8, 2007 8:21:00 PM,
The Seeker said…
Hello!
I'm new at the blog's World.
My blog isn't about fashion, but I'm trying to find my style, so I would be very grateful if you could help me, leaving a comment to my outfits.
Thanks a lot.
My url is http://searchingtheinnerme.blogspot.com/
At Dec 8, 2007 10:50:00 PM,
Libby said…
Clearly, the numbers indicate how many dresses of each view that are to be made for an enormous cult wedding to be held at Wrigley Field.
The illustration is the cult's full disclosure statement indicting that any woman choosing to participate in the ceremony will become a shadow of her former self.
At Dec 11, 2007 4:12:00 PM,
debtt said…
Maybe the owner of the pattern was a Sybil-like individual, with multiple personalities. Only a few of the personalities have sewing skills, so those personalities would be the ones making the markings and measurements. The black dress personality was Audrey Hepburn-like elegant; the center one, a picnic-loving sort; and the last one, in the orange dress, seems to be "holding" the measurement key -- and her eyes say she's the dominant personality, the one who really runs the show.
At Dec 11, 2007 5:13:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Marge 1.0 completed her blue muslin before either Daphne 1.0 or Shirley 1.0 had finished up. While she waited, she daydreamed of rescue. She’d met a discontinued Knight Templar, Godfrey 2.3. Ever since the gold standard had been picked up again, the economy had lost its momentum. There was no call for the Knights Templar now, and no one wanted them guarding their relics or fighting in their campaigns anymore.
Marge inspected her pattern envelope. Godfrey had hidden a relic he’d come across as a nest egg a while ago. He’d written the instructions to find it in plain sight, on the front of Marge 1.0s pattern. He was so clever. It wouldn’t be long before they could escape this island.
Daphne and Shirley finally finished their work, and donned their muslins. They all went out to the display room floor to model the muslins for the 2.0s. The 2.0s would never deign to speak to the 1.0s in any other scenario.
Marge 1.0 vaguely wondered what happened to all the models between herself and 2.0. The betas used to have the seamstress jobs, until they all started to put on a few pounds from sitting at a desk all day sewing, with no opportunity to get out to stretch their legs. If you couldn’t model the muslins, that was it. Off to another job. Beekeeping, she’d heard. And they might not last long there (there were rumors of CCD in the area).
Marge 2.0 walked all around Marge 1.0, fingering the fabric, checking the seams. She came back around to the front of Marge 1.0 still looking at the garment.
“I’ve selected the fabric,” Marge 2.0 said. “The old Marge will bring it to the sewing room.” Then she turned and walked away without ever having looked Marge 1.0 in the face.
That’s when Marge 1.0 noticed. This was not Marge 2.0. This must be Marge 2.1. Her step had a new spring to it. Her hair had a rich auburn cast. Now that Marge 1.0 thought of it, the new Marge’s eyes had definitely been a deeper shade of blue.
Marge 2.1 turned, looked Marge 1.0 in the eye for the first time, and said, “And make sure it’s ready by Friday night. I’m expected at a basketball game.”
Valerie
At Dec 12, 2007 9:11:00 AM,
Erin said…
Ha! I think we have a winner!
At Dec 16, 2007 10:29:00 PM,
Lolita said…
I want to be in the Stepford replicant army! The have great clothes! The robotization may even be fun, I'd finally get a day off.
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