Bells Are Ringing (plus new wiki charity challenge)
Rita at Cemetarian sent me this over Labor Day (pattern sellers: not unionized, don't get major holidays) and I think it's really sweet.
Even though pointy seam lines on a skirt always make me think of Tinkerbell (who has been COMPLETELY RUINED by Disney, thank you very much), I still think this would be a fabulous dress for a midday wedding (for the bride). I love that little jacket, so (I'll say it again) sweet. I want it to be made in champagne-colored silk faille, which would weigh ONE METRIC TON, but it would be gorgeous.
I like the non-wedding-y versions, too, but they all seem to require the wearing of massive girdle-type garments to get that smooth waistline, which I think is a bit much to expect of a gown that's NOT a wedding dress.
This also reminds me what a fantastic resource our Wikia Vintage Pattern Wiki is for brides -- here's the link to all the dresses tagged "Bridal": 179 patterns and counting! I think we should have another wiki contest: If we get to 500 honest-to-goodness wedding dresses uploaded and tagged by Oct. 1, I'll make a donation of $500 from A Dress A Day to Women for Women International, to help women around the world so they have the freedom to get married because they want to, not because they're forced to -- a freedom most of us take for granted. What do you say?
First item of business: Lisa at the Vintage Fashion Library is a donation/sale event: Now through April 19th, you get 15% off your purchase price with keyword PINK, and 10% of your purchase price will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.
(I really want this pattern at the VFL but it's not my size. Anyone got one in a 36/38? I don't have time to grade stuff right now ...)
Check out these super-cute uniform dresses! (Thanks, Jesse, for the link.) I haven't clicked through to the source page because I'm sure they are depressingly expensive. If I'm wrong feel free to let me know.
Just an update: did you know that the Vintage Pattern Wiki is one of the top sites on Wikia, in # of articles? (We're the top site if measured in pure stylishness.) Let's get cranking and knock those World of Warcraft guilds back on their heels!
Hana tells me there's a Duro-like tunic dress pattern available as a free download on the Burda site ... it looks pretty cute!
That's all for this random Friday; check in next week for slightly more ordered posts.
Check out this fantastic silver and black brocade dress (currently up on eBay), which is being auctioned to benefit Writercon, the wonderful conference for fanfic writers and enthusiasts.
I'm only showing you the close-up picture because you *have* to click on the image and check it out for yourself. It's hand made from vintage fabric! It has a watermelon-colored lining and matching petticoat! It's princess-lined! It's also B39/W32, with a 19 inch skirt -- putting the voom in va-va-voom! (And, when I wrote this, it was going for $24.99!)
Proceeds from this auction are going to benefit the scholarship fund for Writercon, which helps folks who couldn't otherwise afford to attend, attend. (I've never been to Writercon myself, but I've heard fantastic things about it -- in my book, anything that encourages writing of any kind is totally a good cause.)
So, now that we've established that this dress is great, and Writercon is great, we have time to get to the important question: Would Xander Harris like this dress? Discuss.
Remember the 2008 charity drive? Doesn't it seem a million years ago? It ended January 6, and according to the widget, we raised $1250 for Books Through Bars! Which is fantastic, given how completely horrible the economic news has been ...
And I did promise that I would name a character in my forthcoming novel, The Secret Lives of Dresses (due out from Grand Central AND Hodder in 2010! And in Dutch and German sometime after that!) after one of the generous donors, and ... the winner is ... Maureen Boyle!
This character, as far as I know now, sports a Bettie Page haircut, fixes motorcycles, knits, and is studying HVAC. (All this is subject to change before publication.)
If you'd like to know my randomizing methodology, it's this -- I dumped all the email addresses into an Excel file, assigned them all random numbers using Excel's RAND function, and then sorted on that number. Maureen came out on top!
I want to thank all of you who contributed to this year's fundraiser ... the money we raised will go towards books for women prisoners in particular.
If you want to be more involved with books for prisoners, Books Through Bars has set up this cool interactive map of programs in the US!
Just wanted to remind you that there is PLENTY of time to donate to Books Through Bars:
Remember to put "Dress A Day" in the dedication field and email me your receipt so as to be eligible to have a character in my "Secret Lives of Dresses" novel (coming from Grand Central and Hodder in 2010!) named after you! We're trying to get to $1500 by January 7 ...
Has anyone else heard about the proposed CPSIA law? The best discussion of it is going on over at Fashion Incubator. If you buy from small manufacturers (or ARE a small manufacturer), you should REALLY know about this. Seriously. Go check it out.
So, here's the deal. I haven't even come close to finishing my holiday shopping yet -- I celebrate Christmas, so I'm gonna call it Christmas shopping, please feel free to substitute the name of any holiday you like -- and I haven't even had time to even look, for the most part. And I figure, with the way things are in the world, a lot of you might not have finished yours, either. And time's a-wastin'!
One of the things that's been holding me back, shopping-wise, is that I didn't really feel like buying mass-produced, cookie-cutter things for people who are (to me) one-in-a-million. I'm planning to do a little shopping on Etsy, and at craft fairs, but I've been looking for cool vintage stuff for folks, too.
So I asked all the lovely folks who advertise with me what they would suggest as presents for vintage-loving or sewing-loving folks, and send me some links, and I'll be posting them all week (sometimes several times a day, if I can manage it ... I got sent a lot of links!) so check back early and often!
I know a lot of folks hesitate to give vintage, since it usually can't be returned, and because you really have to know the recipient for it to work. But really, this year -- if you gave something from Linens-N-Things, well, that can't be returned now either! And a really great vintage dress is so much better made than almost anything modern -- if you're not entirely sure of someone's size, give it and an offer to get it tailored to fit them. (Personally, I'd rather get one fantastic vintage dress, even if it didn't quite fit, than ten "eh" presents ...)
First up is Holly from LuciteBox, who sends three fantastic dresses ...
I would send this one to a best friend who is looking for a cool but still possibly office-y dress:
This one is definitely a teen-ager's dream ...
This one I think folks might be tempted to get for themselves ... New Year's Eve is coming up ... or maybe you should forward this to your significant other?
But wait! There's more! Holly is offering NOT ONLY 15% off any purchase on her site (with the coupon code: pleasegive), she will ALSO donate 10% of the order total (less shipping) to Book Through Bars, our charity this year!
Here's the sweet part. Every customer who shops using the pleasegive coupon code also gets to be entered into the pool of names to be chosen for a character in the upcoming "Secret Lives of Dresses" book. If you've already been entered, you'll have increased your chances of getting chosen when part of the proceeds of your purchase are given to Books Through Bars. (Holly promises to send me your name right away.) This offer expires on December 27th, 2008.
How can you resist that? The dresses, plus the discount, plus the donation?
In presenting a dress to a friend whose circumstances are not so affluent as your own, and who you know will gladly receive it, select one of excellent quality, and of a colour that you think she will like. She will feel mortified if you give her one that is low-priced, flimsy, and of an unbecoming tint. Get an ample quantity, so as to allow a piece to be cut off and laid by for a new body and sleeves, when necessary. And to make the gift complete, buy linen for the body-lining; stiff, glazed muslin for the facings, buttons, sewing-silk, and whatever else may be wanted. This will save her the cost of these things.
If there are givers reading this blog solely to get ideas of what to give givees who are very interested in sewing, a length (four yards is safe) of a very nice fabric is always welcome. Choose a color you've seen your givee wear, and ask for in the store for advice about fabric if you're unsure -- natural fibers are best. Or you could visit some of the advertisers there on the right and choose a fantastic vintage pattern or vintage accessory -- always welcome!
Oh, more about the charity drive for this year: first, we're up to $860! Second, I was wrong about international donors -- it only works for Non-USians if you use Paypal. If you can't use Paypal and want to donate to an equivalent prisoners' or literacy charity in your home country, you're still eligible, just forward me your receipt! Remember, one lucky donor will have a character in my forthcoming novel named after them (or after a person important to them) -- go out and donate here. Thanks!
If you've been a reader of this blog, you probably know about the Secret Lives of Dresses series. (If you don't know about them, the links are over there in the sidebar, on the right.)
And you probably also know that, for the last couple years, I've been lucky enough to be able to raise money for some great charities by offering to write new "Secret Lives" vignettes if we reach our donation goal. This year, I hope we can raise $1500 for Books Through Bars, a charity in Philadelphia that provides books, especially dictionaries, to prisoners. They are working towards starting a program in a nearby women's prison, and our donations would go towards that effort.
If we make our goal, I have a new prize this year. You see, there's going to be a "Secret Lives of Dresses" book (just like many of you have asked for!) sometime in 2010, from Grand Central Publishing in the US and Hodder in the UK. And guess what? It's a novel! A novel that I haven't exactly finished yet, so I have room to rename a character! If you donate to this charity drive and email me a copy of your receipt (email is erin at dressaday dot com), I will choose one name from all the donors and name a character in the novel after him or her. (Yep, seriously.)
I don't care if you give a dollar or a hundred dollars (although obviously, I'd prefer you give a hundred dollars, if you can ...). But if you give anything at all, you have a chance to be a character (or at least a character's name) in the "Secret Lives of Dresses" novel. In addition, my wonderful editor at 5 Spot/Grand Central, Caryn Karmatz-Ruby, has offered to send me a box of their fantastic books to give as prizes for some runners-up (whom I'll also select randomly from all donors) ...
So, what are you waiting for? Scroll back up and click the "donate" button, and help a woman in prison educate herself so that, when she is released, she never has to go back.
The Donate For Good site accepts PayPal and credit cards; please put "DressaDay" in the "Designation" box so that Books Through Bars can make sure that our donations go to their women's program.
Oh, hey, folks: it's Blog Action Day. And I was resolved not to miss it this year, and what did I post about this morning? Shoes. sigh
This year's Blog Action Day topic is "poverty" -- and usually, when we think of poverty, we've been conditioned to think poverty is a problem Someplace Else, someplace far away, where we see news reports of barefoot children and people lined up with begging bowls.
But, of course, people are poor everywhere (some people in our own neighborhoods are poorer today than they've ever been). And so one of my favorite charities has always been the Greater Chicago Food Depository. It's hard to be hungry -- and harder still to be hungry in a country where there's fast food on every block, sugary drinks advertised on every billboard, and where an apple can cost more than a hamburger.
If you want to help your neighbors get enough to eat, please do consider making a donation to your local food bank or food pantry.
And (on a lighter note) if you want to help one of our vintage-pattern neighbors ...
Rita at Cemetarian is updating her site, and wants to know what you think of the recent changes. If you make a useful suggestion, she'll offer you a 20% off coupon! And then you can send your savings to the food bank, and everyone's happy!
Disorganization is still an organization, just not an optimal one
I think maybe two years ago I said I was going to organize my sewing room "soon" and show you all pictures. Ha. I managed to carve out a few hours a couple weekends ago and made a start, anyway. Here's a look at one of my bookcases o' sewing:
And yes, that is a large box labeled RICKRACK there on the lower left. The pattern pieces on the wall are held to a metal strip with magnets; the patterns in the boxes are ones I haven't filed yet.
Here's a closer-up view:
And these little trays? Are all full of bias tape, sorted by color:
I had this fantasy that I would sort everything out and have matching gorgeous boxes and pretty jars and so on and so forth, a sort of Martha Stewart organizational orgy, but then I realized that I liked the weirdness of all my leftover shoe boxes, file boxes, Mason jars, and candy tins. Some of the hardware boxes and cigar boxes were used by my husband's grandmother to keep HER sewing things in, which I like.
The bookcase itself is a leftover from our last apartment. (In our house, the sewing room is where furniture goes to die. "Should we toss this?" "Nah, just put it in the sewing room." I'm surprised there's not a saggy twin bed and two slightly wobbly dining room chairs in that room.)
I'm nowhere near done -- there's still an entire closet that might as well be Fibber McGee's, and a couple of drawers I am hesitant to open, not to mention the fact that every time I move a box I find a couple more issues of Threads lurking behind it -- but it's getting closer. Anyway, now I know where all my rickrack is. That's a start.
And speaking of Threads, I have three extra copies of the most recent issue, with my piece on fabric shopping in Tokyo in it. I was thinking -- if there's interest -- I'd auction off signed copies (with tape measures thrown in for good measure, ha ha) to benefit Homeless Women Veterans again. What do you all think?
Oh, and I keep meaning to tell you -- Marge is having a sale at Born Too Late Vintage (the vintage Born Too Late, not the patterns Born Too Late): $10 off any item $50 or higher. It ends tomorrow, the 17th, so get clickin'!
This is up at Yoox today, NOT in the sale, mind you, even though Christmas is but a cold and distant memory. This is a charity dress, made by Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, with all proceeds (and at $250/per, that's some proceedings) going to Greenpeace.
It's wool. I'm assuming felt, from the way it hangs. Here's the back:
I even almost like this dress. I think with the right joie de vivre, and the right audience (say, a class of third-graders on a pre-holiday sugar high) you could pull this off. I wish the hearts were stars, though, because you could then also wear a big star on your head. (Our house is an angel-tree-topper house, much to my son's chagrin; he's a big star-topper proponent.) Or star deelyboppers! And of course, dangly Christmas-tree earrings. Preferably ones that require batteries.
Of course, every time I come up with excuses for dresses like this I am afraid I am one step closer to being their target audience. I can already be tempted much too easily into stuntdressing ...
If you're tempted by this dress, click on either image to be taken to the Yoox page. And good luck!
She'll pull us both out, and lay us next to each other, and we think "Is this it? Are we going to be made?" We try to look tractable, reasonable, pretty. We try to look as if we'll get along. It's harder on the poor fabric than it is on me—if I get made once and it turns out badly, there's always a chance she'll blame the fabric, or fiddle with the fit, and try again. But once a piece of fabric is cut, there's no second chance. They're hardly ever recut into something else, at least in this house.
[Thanks to Jen at MOMSPatterns for the image ... and she's having a HUGE clearance sale to clear out some patterns before the end of the year! The sale is EXCLUSIVELY for her mailing list and people who read this blog and will last just one week, so hurry on over and grab yourself her best ones! Use coupon code 'merry25' and you'll save 25% off of any sized order! The sale will start the moment you read this and end at the stroke of midnight EST on New Year's DAY.]
Let's see, what else? Oh, THE WIKI IS OVER 3000! I won't give out the prizes until January, though, so keep on loading ... you guys rock.
I'll dole out the red-dress prizes after New Year's, too ...
And I had (completely unrelated to dresses) a piece in the Boston Globe yesterday, all about Christmas superstitions. I hope you and yours who celebrate have a lovely day (and that those who don't celebrate Christmas have a nice quiet day to do with as they please)!
If you have a sewing resolution for the next year, why not leave it in the comments? And then maybe next week sometime I will do a big roundup post about them. Mine is "Take the time to do things right the first time." We'll see how that works. See you all in 2008 ...
Sometimes I wish she wasn't so loud. Red lipstick, red nails, red handbag, and even (I hate to tell you) red underwear. Sometimes I can't hear myself think, with all that red around. I just want to be quiet; to sit down and read a book or listen to the radio, not to go play bridge with the girls or spend all day shopping. And it's not like she really likes me, either: I heard her say "This old thing?" more than once. Even when I was new! Maybe she'll give me to her sister. Her sister's lipstick is pink.
This dress from the spring 08 Anne Klein collection is just marvelous. I want it, and I can't remember the last time I wanted something that went down a runway. (It's the white shirtdress with the colorful digitalish border print, if the link doesn't work.)
Thanks for all the pattern-envelope suggestions! Maybe I'll give it a shot on Monday ...
Believe me, I've had a full life. I've been places, and I've done stuff. But there's been gaps. I've never seen a snake. I've never seen a peanut-butter sandwich. I've never seen an airplane. I've been told about them, but I haven't seen them. I've never seen snow. I have trouble even believing in it. As cold as ice cubes, but teeny-weeny and somehow fluffy? And it falls from the sky slowly, like feathers? And piles up like sand dunes, so high you have to shovel it away just so people can walk? I just don't buy it.
[dress, on ebay now -- click it to go to the listing -- from Jumbleaya]
Linkishness for today:
Elaine sent a nice link to a dress on London Daily Photo. What can I say to motivate you to click? How about "enormous polka dots"? That do it?
Advance warning: I'm going to take the days between Xmas and New Year's off from blogging -- a combo of not having a lot of internet access and not having a lot of leftover energy. But I'm planning to do some Serious Sewing in that time ... wish me luck.
Question: is it cheating to do a drabble from a pattern, and not from an actual dress? Or should it be in the voice of the pattern? Tell me in the comments, please, if you have an opinion either way.
Look, I know I'm itchy, but is that my fault? Can't you deal with it, suck it up, wear a slip? You can do something, I'm sure. Wash me again? That might work. I don't mean to be itchy – I'm not trying to drive you nuts. You cut out my tag – that should have helped, right? And maybe if you lost a few pounds, my seams wouldn't be stretched so tight. I'm just saying, okay? Don't get huffy with me. It's not my fault you're so sensitive, princess. Wait! Wait! Where are you going? What do you mean, "cotton"?
{ETA: thanks to Kayleen for the link!}
Oh, and a few linkety things before I forget:
Mina has posted instructions on how to make what looks like a really pretty and comfortable skirt.
Bernina announced their Diamond Odyssey winners! If you like wearable art ... you like wearable art, so you should check it out. The winners all got the kind of sewing machines that do everything but walk your dog ... and I think one of the creations was optioned as the plot for a fantasy movie. (Not sure about that last part.)
Oh, and in the "free stuff for bloggers" category, NARS sent me some makeup. (I know, I know, I had to have someone pinch me.) I'm not a huge makeup fiend, but NARS is soooo nice. I got the new Multiple (in Orgasm) and a lipgloss/stain combo in Sayonara/Turkish Delight. If I may channel my inner Jean Godfrey-June for a moment: wow. I had avoided the whole NARS Orgasm bandwagon when it was just a powder blush, since (due to many, many extremely messy experiences with shattered powder compacts) I only wear cream blush. But this stuff, well, it does what they say it does. With a teeny-tiny amount of glitter -- not so much that you really notice it, it's like a homeopathic dose of glitter -- almost subliminal. It even made me look healthy in the doldrums of the cold I had last week, and that was saying something. (I had to wash it off or else my husband would have thought I was malingering.) The lipstuff is also nice -- it goes on a bit thick (although that may be my inexpert application), but it wipes down well to a pretty color. I've kind of given up on real lipstick, and instead rely on the blind application of tinted lipbalm, but this may get trotted out for special occasions. They also sent me something called Monoï Body Glow, which is a "lightweight, multi-purpose beauty oil for daily moisture." It smells really nice, but not in a nice-for-me way, so I think perhaps someone I know who collects perfume (Hi A!) is going to get this. Also, it solidifies under 72 degrees, which would make it a solid block of congealment in my ill-insulated Chicago house until oh, April. But thanks, NARS! Your blush has changed my life, or at least my attitude towards products with "Orgasm" in their names!
I didn't think the rutabaga dress would get bought before me. The tomato dress, yes, everyone knew she'd go first, in all her sizes, and that's exactly what happened. The eggplant dress went next (in the smaller sizes first). Some people like purple. Then it was the carrot dress (in the bigger sizes). And then it was just me and the rutagbaga dress. Nobody knows what a rutabaga is! One girl who tried her on called it a "dirty turnip"! We hung on, pretending we didn't see the coats creeping closer. She got bought, finally, at $3. I'm still here.
[This is an actual deadstock dress, click on the image to visit the eBay auction. Thanks to Julie W for the link!]
Other Business Hey, does anyone know where to buy the Nancy Drew fabric? The web site of the original seller (www.nancydrewgirldetective.com) is down and their phone's out, and a couple of people have emailed me looking to buy some! Nothing on Etsy or eBay, either. Any help greatly appreciated ...
The total raised for homeless women veterans (including some off-widget donations through Paypal) is now $1692. You rock!
So, as promised, I have a new Secret Lives for you. This one has a twist -- there's no picture. Nope, nothing. Nada. Zilch. I "found" the story first and then couldn't find the dress -- either dress, any dress -- that's in the story. SO ... if you have the dress that this story's about, send me the link, and if I find The Right One, I will send the sender a couple of the Dress A Day measuring tapes as a thank-you! You can email the links or leave them in the comments. (It's better not to send images by email if at all possible, thanks!)
So here goes ...
I’ve never been one to step in, you know. I’m not a meddler, and I think it’s better when you leave folks to fight their own battles. Makes ‘em stronger. But there is one thing I won’t tolerate, never have, and that’s bullying. I just won’t have it in any closet I’m hanging in, and that’s a fact.
We’d been doing all right. Sure, the closet was crowded, and she didn’t use nice hangers, and we weren’t what you’d call organized, but that didn’t seem to matter. We all felt rescued, in a way. She was a collector, she didn’t really wear us very often, but we weren’t in a box or in some little girl’s dress-up chest, and that’s saying something. I personally didn’t mind not being carefully sectioned off — jackets and even pants can have real interesting opinions, you know. Once you get to know them you see they’re really just like you. I don’t hold with prejudice. And some of those evening gowns, well, they’re so fluffy and light, they’re just like kittens. You can’t be tired or mad with a kitten.
Well, as I said, she’s a collector, and she buys a lot. Every few days there’d be another bag on the floor of the closet, and then, unless it was something wool, she’d hang it right up. The wool stuff always went to the cleaners, in case they had the moth. We sure appreciated that. We didn’t really quiz the new ones as to where they came from; it was something we’d let them tell us themselves, in their own time. Some of them had been having difficulties, you know, and we’re not the prying kind. Lots of the new ones had hems hanging down, or a seam that had come undone, or lost buttons. Sometimes she’d get them fixed up right away, but sometimes she didn’t. If she didn’t we tried to be careful, not jostle them too much. Those undone seams can be painful, and nobody’s happy without all their buttons. I myself had been missing a few when I came, so she pulled the rest and gave me a whole new set. They’re not quite like my old ones but I get by all right. And they’re a good deal whiter and shinier than the ones I used to have, that’s for sure.
Now, some of us say they knew immediately that the new one was going to be trouble, right when they first set eyes on that bag, but I think they’re just trying to make themselves more important. If they had really known, wouldn’t they have done something? If just one of them had slipped off the hanger and covered the bag, it would have been weeks until they were hung up again and she was let loose — we all know that.
Me, I didn’t know a thing. I was talking with a suit about how she went to vote once—which sure was interesting, I can tell you—and I didn’t even look up until we got shoved a little more to the side to make room.
And, Lordy, did the new one need room. I’ve never seen so many ruffles. And red? Redder than fire. That was a dress, all right, and didn’t she know it. Not a seam out of place, or a hitch in her zipper, either. Coulda been new, except that she came in a flimsy plastic bag just like the rest of us had. New dresses like that come on their own hangers.
She didn’t set out to be trouble, I’ll give her that. Or if she did, she hid it until she knew there was no one around who could give her any back. Sweet as pie she was, the first couple days. Talked real nice to the dresses on either side of her, asked questions, giggled a don’t-mind-me, I’m-just-silly after every answer. It wasn’t until she’d done all her reconnaissance, I guess it’s called, that she really dug in. She’d been next to a good dress, been with us for years. Nothing red-ruffle fancy, just a solid, dependable office-y type shirt dress. Full skirt, all original buttons in good condition. Even her white collar hadn’t yellowed or frayed. So despite being unglamorous, she had a bit of her own glory, in that she got worn probably more often than any of the rest of us.
Well, ol’ Red started up whispering to her, from the first day. Playing her up, making her feel like it was her and Red that were special ones, and the rest of us little better’n rags. Once her head was well and turned, though, Red cooled it way off. Started talking more to the dress on the other side, paying that one special little attentions, until that poor shirtdress was about to go crazy, not knowing what had happened, or why.
And of course we saw what always happens, when folks set out to be deliberately cruel; the poor shirtdress, goaded too far, blew up, and there was an embarrassing scene. Red didn’t move a ruffle, just hung there patiently, with an air of waiting for a tantrum to be over. Then she was all “Are you done?” and when the shirtdress was “NO!” she just went on, cutting as a pair of shears. “Well, I am,” and turned back to the other dress.
Poor shirtdress, she was so miserable, she didn’t know what to do. She worked one of her own buttons loose and got herself off the hanger. I never saw a dress so crumpled on the floor. A couple days later she was borne away to the mending pile. Most of us tried to avoid the mending pile, as there was no guarantee we’d ever come back, but I could see her as she was carried away, and she didn’t look like she wanted to come back.
And of course this meant there was a new dress next to Red, again. Now this dress was fairly young, as dresses go. Cute, cute as a button, with her short skirt and big patch pockets, all covered in big flowers, big as plates. She was young, but she wasn’t dumb, and at first she didn’t want anything to do with Red. She and the shirtdress had been real good friends, at least until Red came. So she was smarting a bit at being ignored for Red, and mad at what Red had done to her friend.
I think Red took that as a challenge. And Red seemed to like a challenge. She started talking to that dress on her other side, the one she’d turned away from shirtdress for, a bit louder. Telling her stories of adventure, so that little miss miniskirt couldn’t but hear them. And we all know if there’s one thing young folks want, it’s adventure. Red got her pulled in deeper and deeper until of course she forgot she wasn’t speaking to Red, and squeaked out “What happened then? What did you do?” And Red just paused a tiny bit, hardly noticeable, just savoring having caught her fish, and finished the story.
Now that other dress — the one on Red’s other side, away from miss miniskirt — well, let’s just say she wasn’t well-liked, before Red came. She had a bit of chip on her shoulder (as well as a stain she always moaned about, wishing she had a brooch to hide it). She’d been a good solid dress, lots of faculty dinner cocktail parties and such; she’d always claimed to have met a Nobel Prize winner once, but since she couldn’t remember his name, that tended to diminish the tale. Not that we’d know the name, but it would have added something. Or added more than “he wore a corduroy jacket with leather elbow patches” did, which was all she could remember. But she had that way about her where you felt she was always counting up the breaths everyone was taking for fear they’d get more air than she did.
Faculty dress was a bit disdainful of flowered-miniskirt. She’d try to pull Red aside, to make a little quip or joke at her expense, to make some snide remark about miniskirt’s callow youth. But Red wouldn’t play; she was doing to faculty what she’d done to shirtdress, all over again. And faculty couldn’t see it. She just kept trying and trying, and that made Red happier and happier to ignore her.
Now, to give miniskirt credit, she didn’t like what Red was doing. She kept trying to bring faculty into the conversations, and asked her opinion about things and even listened to the answers. But she was young, and she was impressed by Red, and she couldn’t help but laugh when Red made poor stuffy faculty dress the butt of a joke or two. Or more.
You know that there’s nothing a stuffy person hates more than being laughed at, and nothing harder to fight against — fighting just makes you more ridiculous. So faculty tried to take it in good part, and pretend she wasn’t hurt by the jokes. She even made one or two herself. But Red couldn’t have that — she didn’t want to see faculty putting on a brave face. She wanted another breakdown, and she was scheming to get it.
At this point I made up my mind to do something. If shirtdress had her head turned, that was one thing, and you had to expect that in a crowded closet relationships were going to go wrong every once in a while. But from what I could see, Red was setting out to do it again, and that made it a different thing altogether.
Red and miniskirt were doing a lot of whispering and laughing, and I could see faculty was worried. It was obvious they were going to try some prank, at faculty’s expense. Maybe sticking her with a pin, if they could get one, to see her jump, or covering her with loose threads, or worse. Something hurtful to her dignity, which was really all she had left.
I know I look old and washed out and unfit for more than the rag bag myself, but I’ve been around a long time, since the closet was nigh empty, and I know things. I can do things I don’t brag about, which is how you manage to keep doing them. And one of the things I can do is get myself worn. It’s a knack, really, and I’d like to tell you I could teach you how, but I can’t. It’s like teaching someone how to wiggle their ears. You can either do it, or you can’t.
You can’t do it any old time, but I know how to pick my opportunities, and so it was the next Saturday that I got myself picked up off the hanger. All I really needed was to be tried on — I wasn’t angling to be worn all day. So once I was on I did just a little twist, and no matter what she did I wouldn’t hang straight. I can be quite uncomfortable when I try, for all that I’m washed and soft otherwise.
So she shoved me back on the hanger, and — just as I’d asked — back in the closet, the other dresses had shifted around some, and I was shoved right between faculty and Red.
As you can imagine, Red didn’t like that one little bit. But she tried not to let me see that; after all, I was just an old grandma dress. Making me upset wouldn’t be worth the trouble. She acted real pretty towards me, and I didn’t let on that I’d been watching her and knew her tricks.
I wasn’t sure if Red and miniskirt were still going to go through with their prank, with the shuffling around and me being their new neighbor and all, miniskirt seemed to have lost her taste for it. Planning a prank is all very well, but doing one needs a different level of interest, and miniskirt, being young, was a bit flighty. She had gotten into a game that came around every once in a while, where all the dresses had to talk about which shoes they’d like to be matched up with. That one was always good for quite a bit of laughing. If I ever need to get everyone in a good mood all I have to do is say “cowboy boots,” in a moony kind of way, and they’ll all be giggling for weeks. I don’t care — I do like myself a good cowboy boot. They make such a nice clomping sound, they do.
Red, though, wasn’t going to be thwarted. She kept signaling past me to faculty, little rustles and flutters that I pretended to be deaf to. I knew she was trying to bring faculty around again, starting with a pretty apology and building up to confidences, only to tear her down again first chance she got. Isn’t it a shame when folks who are so beautiful on the outside have their seams all unfinished and raveling inside?
I hadn’t been sure what I was going to do when I got close, but it was getting close that let me know what I should do. Red had been so loud about her adventures — the parties, and the people, and the dinners, and so on — but there wasn’t a mark on her. She didn’t have so much as a salad-dressing spot. She kept herself pretty well straight on the hanger, but you can always see what you need to if you try, and I saw what I needed to see.
Red was new.
I mean, she wasn’t new-new, in the sense of having just been sewn. No, she was deadstock, an old dress that had never sold, that had lived its whole life without ever taking off its tag. I could see the tag hanging down, right inside the armhole. She’d been expensive, but that didn’t matter. One word from me and all her celebrity would be over; her tales changed from anecdotes to flat-out lies. She’d be pitied, not envied.
I s’pose that’s why she was so mean — hanging in a store or a warehouse for years will do that to you, I’ve heard — but an explanation is not an excuse.
So I waited until late that night, and then I nudged Red. Woke her right up. She was mad, but she tried not to let me see.
“You can be mad,” I said. “You’re gonna be madder still when I’ve said what I’m going to say.”
“Oh, and what’s that, grandma?” Red could go from simper to sneer quick as a blink.
“I’ve been watching you. I don’t like what you’re doing. You’re going to stop.”
“And how are you going to make me?” Red fluttered her ruffles.
“Had any luck getting that tag off?”
She jumped a bit then. She knew that I knew, and she didn’t like it.
“What tag?” She was still trying to bluff her way out.
“$79.95. Before markdown. It’s a classy price but you’ve never been a classy dress, or you would have been worn, wouldn’t you?”
She was silent then, and I knew that she wouldn’t be messing about again. As I said, I don’t hold with bullies.
And of course hitting the goal also means drabbles every day from now until Christmas Eve! Thanks again!
It's not terrible not to be worn; it's disappointing, and it's boring, but it's not torture. It's not painful. It's just -- dispiriting. I miss feeling alive by being next to something alive. And what I really miss, more than anything, is laps. You can't have a lap without a body to give you one. And I miss having a lap, a lap full of sticky little boy holding an even stickier lollipop, or a lap anchored by fifteen pounds of purring cat, or a lap full of mending. I'd even take a lap full of dishtowels to fold right now ...
Thanks to Claire for the link ... click on the image to visit the eBay auction for this dress.
I cannot figure out what happened with that darn Paypal button from yesterday. Obviously Paypal hates me, but if you still want to donate via Paypal, you can use the email address on this page ... and because of an "off-widget" donation, we're really at $1320 (not $1220) right now! Less than $200 to go!
and here's the link directly to the ChangingThePresent page ... Thank you!
As promised, here's an "incentive drabble" to help push this year's donation campaign (for homeless women veterans) along ... once we hit $1500 in donations (and due to donations outside the widget, we're at $1250 right now, so there's not that far to go) there will be a full-length Secret Lives posted *and* drabbles every day from the day we reach the target to Christmas.
I thought she wasn't going to be bold enough, when she chose me. She should have chosen my sister, in red, or even had me dyed black. And the bows ... I've always been self-conscious about those bows. So when the time came, and they were at her door, I was surprised when she invited him in for "one more drink." And even more surprised when I was ditched for something "more comfortable." (I am comfortable!) So, no, I don't know what happened next, but, then again, even if I did, a lady never tells (and a gentleman never asks).
[Thanks to F.Baer for the image!]
In the meantime, if the widget below doesn't work for you, here's the Paypal button:
and here's the link directly to the ChangingThePresent page ... Thank you!
Remember last year, when y'all raised an enormous amount of money for Heifer International, and we sent sheep to a community overseas?
This year, I'm hoping you'll join me again in raising money for another good cause ... homeless women veterans.
Whether or not you support the war in Iraq (I don't); whether or not you believe women should serve in the armed forces (I do); whether or not you believe in Santa (I'm Santagnostic, actually) ... the truth is that many women veterans, who have made considerable sacrifices for our country, are not getting a fair shake now that they're home.
Women veterans seem to get the short end of the very short stick that returning soldiers are asked to hold. (For instance, of the some 1,400 V.A. hospitals and clinics, currently only 27 house inpatient PTSD programs, and of these, just 2 serve women exclusively. Almost one in three veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq confronts mental health problems. You do the math.) Approximately 4% of the homeless veterans in VA programs are women -- and that doubles to 8% in community-based (non-VA) programs. Women have special health care needs; many have dependent children.
With women making up 14% of the nation's combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of homeless women vets is rising every day. By donating to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, we can help develop programs to support women vets as they return home.
So this year I'm hoping we can raise $1500 for homeless women veterans, by Dec 24. (It may not sound like much, but every little bit helps.)
The day we hit the goal, I'll post a new full-length "Secret Lives of Dresses", and for every day between Reach-The-Goal Day and Dec 24, I'll post a Secret Lives drabble, just like last year.
To donate, just click on the widgety thingy below. It's all run by Changing The Present; I won't see who donated or how much. (Credit cards only; if you want to pay by Paypal, email me and we'll work something out.)
