Can it be? Yes ... LINKTASTIC FRIDAY RETURNS! On a Monday.

Reware Vintage (in Pontiac, Michigan) is having a sale -- that's Bethany's black lace dress up there, B40 and $36 (!) -- 20% everything using coupon code THIEF.

Wendy at PatternStash is having a sale; it runs today through Tuesday. 20% discount with code "Dressaday".

A reader (who is NOT a pattern-seller, but a pattern-buyer) has asked if I could make a post about what people would like to see in online pattern stores, and also what they would NOT like to see. If you have wishes or pet peeves, would you email them to me? I'll compile a list and post it here (and you can be as anonymous as you like).

If you missed the comments on the COPA entry, I've set up a Google group for a potential co-op, and you can sign up to join here.

Lisa gives me some of the best news I've heard in a while ... Liberty + Target? Please let it be true ...

Great new blog from the FIDM Museum ... I especially liked this post.

Trista of Sugardale is getting rid of some vintage patterns on Etsy (you remember Trista, don't you?) and you can find them here.

Do you guys know about the California Art Deco Society's Gatsby Afternoon? That's not my time period but I'm very tempted ... (thanks to Kate for the link!)

It's a dress, it's a kayak, it's a cool link from Tracey. Check it out.

Sarah (of ColorKitten) sent a link to Little Golden Book fabric! (*WANT*)

That's it for today! Enjoy your little dose of Friday on a Monday this week.

Everything Shows Up On eBay Eventually

I think it was two years ago that I fell in love with this bag from Luella Bartley's Target line. It has lots and lots of pockets and it's bright yellow: of course I loved it!

I bought one (the only one my Target had) and looked for it at the other Targets in Chicago, but of course I didn't find one -- everyone loved this bag. So, once it was clear that I was going to wear it into little tiny bits (and I did; I broke the top zipper and washed it until it was more of a grayish mustard color than yellow) I started an eBay search for it.

I used the keywords "Luella yellow" and yesterday my search finally came up gold. (Or, rather, yellow.) Some seller dug up a new-with-tags version and put it up, and five hours later it was (notionally) mine. (I still have to wait for it to come in the mail, and I just realized I didn't remember to have it sent to my PO Box. D'oh! Time to email the seller ...)

So my recommendation to you is to save those eBay searches (check out this page if you need help) and keep renewing them. Everything shows up on eBay eventually. You just need to be patient.

By the Numbers

Remember those nursery curtains I bought at Target? They turned into this:



It's Butterick 2626, the same dress as the one in this post. It's not ironed -- this is how it looks after being hung up wet from the dryer.

I didn't realize until I took the picture how ... prominent ... the numbers are on the bodice. In my mind, it's an alphabet dress, not a numbers dress, but I don't mind. (And since I'm going to be wearing this mostly for work, I hope I earworm everyone I meet with Dolly Parton's "9 to 5".)

It took me forever to figure out what buttons to use, until I remembered I bought fifteen packets of covered-button forms at the last Hancock's notions sale:


The covered buttons were EASY. There's a template on the back of the package and then all you have to do is get the fabric wet and put it in the mold. It took less time to make the buttons than it did to sew them on. (Just remember to check the orientation of the shanks if your buttons have a definite up-and-down ... a couple of mine are sewn on an angle for that reason!)

If I had it to do over again, I would, and with a glad heart, but this time I'd unpick the curtain hems BEFORE washing them; the sizing made the fabric stiff and in my haste I ripped one of the hems along the seamline, which made cutting-out a bit awkward. (If you have rips or stains in your fabric, you can mark them the way I do, with blue painter's tape -- it's stiff enough so that you can feel it from the wrong side but it comes off easily without leaving any sticky stuff behind.)

The obligatory "Let me show you where I screwed up" part is here:



The skirt has an interesting slashed/darted opening on the left for the zipper, and the right-hand side is supposed to have just a plain dart. Which I forgot to make. Which means the back skirt is not centered on the back bodice. To which I say: big whoop; I gave up being worried if people were staring at my ass a decade ago.

Here's the full back view:



Despite that annoyance and assorted others (if you remember, this is the dress where I turned front and back bodice gathers into darts, plus I had to let out the waist an inch, which is irritating on a skirt with side-seam pleats) I will probably make this pattern at least once more. It's so comfortable!

If you're playing "spot the pockets", they're set in the front skirt seam, between the third and fourth outermost pleats. Very convenient!

Like Taking Window Treatments From a Baby

I just bought two of these curtain panels from Target. They are going to be a dress. Seriously, I'm not even kidding. Two panels should be about four yards @ 44" wide. I would have purchased three, but that's a little pricey. What with shipping and all it's about $10/yard, but I don't care, my jones for alphabet-print fabric in perfect colorways knows no bounds.

Supposedly this is a nursery pattern, but again, see me with the not-caring. What's the downside of making a dress from this? Small children will find me strangely comforting?

There's a really lovely pink kind of cattail-ish print, as well, that would be just as nice for a grown-up girl (or retro boy) as it is for an infant.

I draw the line, though, at transforming the changing-table cover into a hat.

[Oh, and while I'm thinking about it -- you might have seen my name on an article in the latest CRAFT: magazine, about turning a tablecloth into a circle skirt ... many thanks to Arwen who liked the idea!]