First question: is the woman in green looking at the woman in brown and saying "Yeah, I guess the bows were really too much"? (Pattern from Serendipity Vintage on Etsy.)
Question the second: if I were to write an article (say, for Sew News) about working with vintage patterns, what kinds of questions would you want to have answered in it?
Holly (of Lucite Box Vintage) is having a holiday sale — 20% off anything site wide! Use the coupon code HOLLYDAZE; sale runs through the end of the day Monday.
You might do worse than snapping up this pink dress — be sure to click through to see ALL the pictures, there's some really interesting construction details here …
If you know someone who loves to sew and are stumped for a suitable holiday present, this list might help …
Books: Sewing books are always a good idea, and you really can't have too many. There's always more than one way to accomplish any given task or technique, and the more sewing instruction you read, the better the odds of you finding the way that 'clicks' with you.
First on the list this year is a lovely new book from Ruth Singer (whose blog you may know): 
It's called, in full, The Sewing Bible: A Modern Manual of Practical and Decorative Sewing Techniques
A book that is probably on a lot of internet-enabled sewists' list this year is Diana Eng's Fashion Geek: Clothes Accessories Tech
And it's not quite in the "books" category, but either a subscription to Threads Magazine, or, if you're feeling really Santa-like, the new giant all-the-issues Threads DVD.
Fabric: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a sewist in possession of some fabric is always in want of MORE fabric. However, if you don't sew, buying fabric for someone else can be a bit tricky. What do you buy? How much do you buy? I think you can never go wrong with high-quality natural fibers (or, of course, Liberty). My advice? Either buy four yards of something gorgeous, or try a gift certificate to one of the posher online fabric shops.
Notions: Go. Nuts. Seriously. Wander into a chain sewing store and hit the notions aisle with a basket and an open mind. Don't know what a bodkin
Patterns: This, surprisingly, is less fraught than buying fabric, IF you already feel confident when buying clothes for the same person. You just choose a pattern that looks like something your recipient would wear, IN THE RIGHT SIZE. Remember, pattern sizing is different from "normal" sizing, so go by measurements and not the size number. A better strategy is to get a fancy vintage pattern in an approximate size (or even a couple of patterns) so that you have some redundancy in the system. Bonus points for saying "These were so beautiful, they reminded me of you," when you give them.
And if your budget is tight this year (and whose isn't?) one of the best gifts you can give to someone who loves to sew is time. Offer to run a weekend's worth of errands, make dinner, answer the phone, watch the baby, walk the dog, or anything else that would allow for a four- or five-hour uninterrupted block of time. (And make the sewing time real time — no interruptions, if you please, unless someone is bleeding or on fire.)
Do you sew and have a gift wishlist of your own? Leave a comment!
ONE-LINE STORY: Sometimes Samantha just didn't understand modern art.
There is NOTHING about this pattern that I don't love … and it's available from Jen at MOMSPatterns, and it's 20% off today through November 30, 2009! Just use coupon code 'toomuchturkey' when you check out.
ONE-LINE STORY: Amanda hoped that no one would realize that she was actually a blow-up doll.
This pattern is also on sale, from Sheila at Out of the Ashes: 15% all orders, through Sunday night — use the coupon code "TURKEY" at checkout!
And while you're clickety-clicking around, this dress is super, uber, mega-cute:
It's being listed by my friend JZ, who posed it on my dressform (set to its daintiest size!) in my garage. So I saw this in person, and if it had been my size or any reasonable approximation thereof, I would have bought it on the spot. So if you're on the teeny side, you should REALLY check this out!
Faryn is making a wedding dress for a friend (she's a better man than I am, gotta tell you) and the friend is looking for a pattern for a dress like Ava Gardner's in this picture:
No, no, I'm totally kidding you. She wants Lana Turner's dress. What I want to know is what kind of event accommodated both outfits … Ava's dressed for a day at the office where she may just have to move some file boxes, and Lana is dressed for, well, a wedding. Possibly a wedding in an Old West Saloon, where high kicks may or may not be involved.
It doesn't seem to have affected their friendship, though:
I know nothing about Lana Turner and only slightly more about Ava Gardner, so I am relying on you film buffs to enlighten me.
And in the top picture, there's a guy in what looks like white tie, and in the bottom there's a guy in what looks like an Eisenhower jacket. Go figure.
As for the dress, you should be able to modify a fairly standard off-the-shoulder gown to be like this. Add a slit and some ruffles, sprinkle on some bling, and you're done! But if you have a link to a similar pattern, please leave it in the comments for Faryn …
Blue: C'mon, first hit's free.
Red: That's what you said last time.
The rest of the story writes itself, although you're welcome to write more of it in the comments. Bonus points for using: "mother's little helper," "get clean," and "riding the dragon."
Other scenarios: ticket scalping; invitation to secret society; numbers-running. What do you think is the most plausible?
Pattern courtesy VintagePatternDStash (get it? de-stash?) on Etsy. Carolyn's de-stash is your re-stash, or something like that.
If you've spent any time on the Vintage Pattern Wiki at all, you've met Birgit (she uses the name Tarna there). Birgit has made more than FORTY THOUSAND wiki edits, and is one of the main helpful elves who help maintain the wiki, keep it neat and tidy, and hold the hands of those who need help—and boy, do I appreciate it!
Here's a quick interview with Birgit:
How did you get involved in the pattern wiki?
One fortuitous day in early December of 2007, I read on your blog that a wiki for Vintage Sewing Patterns had been established. Finally, my hoarding of pattern pictures already sold was given a justification! I promptly proceeded to upload them, and start scannning in all the others, and have not stopped ever since. I format, add categories and descriptions, clean up redundant categories, track down listing duplicates, typos and broken or expired links – almost every day.
What do you like to do best in the pattern wiki?
I absolutely love doing a random search, and happening upon a treasure I had never seen before. It is a bittersweet thing, as most of them are not (immediately – hope springs eternal) available. Another delight is seeing what new pattern images have been uploaded, as well as discovering that one of the elusive wished-for patterns had a new vendor listing added. Seeing a picture of someone's finished work is the ultimate, though.
Generally, the idea of preserving the history of these patterns, making them approachable, searchable, and link to the ones you can buy is what I love about the wiki, and with over 22,000 pattern pages now up it is becoming more useful every day. I have even been contacted by magazine writers who were looking for a high resolution image for the article, based on their search of the wiki.
Do you have any favorite pages?
There are too many patterns to list – I am a serious addict – but when it comes to the special pages, New Files is among my favorites as a quick gallery of new additions. The Designer category pages also stand out.
How would you encourage other folks to get involved?
Just start by browsing around; get familiar with the Search feature (what it does and does not bring up) and with the general formats and the proper date ranges (no later than 1985). Then, get to uploading. If you have questions, ask one of the frequent contributors by going to the Community tab on the left, or use the forums. If you make mistakes, don't worry – most are completely and easily fixable.
And please, pretty please, upload pictures of your finished vintage creations. There are far too few (check out the Gallery Photos category). At least, add a link to your other online postings such as blogs, picture galleries and reviews. Petite Main, our busy admin, is doing an incredible job of hunting these down and linking them, but certainly, there must be more of you out there actually sewing and creating!
Are you active in any other wikis?
Um … no. I certainly hope nothing else I am seriously interested in comes around – housework and other necessities would end up completely neglected.
Birgit also runs the Stitches and Loops pattern store at Main Street Mall Online — the pattern at the top of this post is from her store, isn't it gorgeous? I also love this Incredible Stealth Pocket Dress and this Mollie Parnis designed shirtwaist. Sooo pretty.
So remember the Wedding Wiki Challenge? We didn't get quite to 500 dresses tagged "Bridal" before the deadline, but if you add in all the ones tagged "wedding" we're there now, so I went ahead and donated the promised amount ($500) to Women for Women.
Have you all browsed this category? Check out this one and this one (I'm pretty sure Princess Leia got married in that one) and this one …
The dress in this post is from Specialist Auctions — so pretty!
Robin sent this link from Regretsy — you must click through and read all the comments. I try to stay off Regretsy as there are not enough hours in the day as it is, but if you see anything as miraculously demented as this, please feel free to send me a link.
Of course, when I was looking at it, I thought, "Wow, if they had just hoiked it up a bit so that the flappy eyebrows were the top of the dress, this might actually work." Then I thought "Man, it would be horrible to try to get crumbs out of that skirt." Then I decided I needed more caffeine, and went and got some.
What does this dress make you think you need? Other than a strong drink and a hug from a *live* Muppet? And has anyone cross-referenced this dress with the Muppet Wikia to see what beloved character was trapped and skinned to make this7?
"Random Bride," America's favorite faux-relationship reality show, shook the dice once again in its stunning season finale, marrying ALL the contestants to men plucked from a random casting call held earlier this year in the Silver Lake Starbucks.
Contestants had earlier been told that they would be competing for a dream wedding package, including a "mystery groom."
"This way we're ALL winners," declared Claire Deloon, the fan favorite and season-long front runner. "Except for the girls not getting endorsement deals, of course."
"All the brides were so radiant, so toned, so downright obsessive about the details, that we thought it would be a shame not to marry them all off," said Executive Producer Larry Lumpen.
After the multiple-couple ceremony, the newly-married couples celebrated in a reception on the soundstage. Their honeymoons are also being taken jointly, and will be filmed for a future "Random Bride: After the Cake" special. (Airdate TBD.)
Next season, the producers are planning to launch "Random Bride: Ball and Chain," where three lucky women will have the weddings of their dreams … to men serving life sentences in maximum-security prisons.
[Writing this I can't believe how downright plausible it all sounds … sanctity of marriage my foot. And yes, I'm looking at you, Maine!]
(Today's pattern is from Wendy at PatternStash — you can get 15% off just by mentioning "dressaday" in the message to the seller. You can use this code for her patterns at ecrater, too.)
A Dress A Day 