I Maded You a Widget But I Forgotted It

I made a widget over on Widgetbox months ago, but because this blog is older than dirt and I never upgraded to the Blogger "Layouts" feature instead of the regular ol' "Templates", worrying that doing the conversion would eat up a Saturday better spent sewing, I have not told you about it. Until now.

It looks like this:




Click on that image and it will take you to the Widgetbox page for installation instructions. Unfortunately, because of the "older than dirt" restriction as mentioned above, I have no idea how normal people would install this widget on *their* blogs. Supposedly it "just works," but Steve Jobs didn't harm anyone in the construction of this widget, so take that with a grain of salt.

If you want to make your own random dress widget from your own pattern images, let me know -- I'm happy to share the code, such as it is! You'll need to be able to create a new directory & ftp into to rename files for it to work.

ONE WEEK ONLY

For ONE WEEK ONLY the Commercial Pattern Archive at the University of Rhode Island is offering free online access! Login with the username "guest" and the password "pattern".

COPA has about 48,000 vintage patterns (including the small scale pattern piece images!) dating from 1868—2000. Believe me when I say you can be there ALL DAY. (Instructions for searching their archive are here.)

The cost for a full subscription, for individuals, is $120/year -- a bit pricey. But think of what you can find out in a week!

Fontana Attempts the Difficult and Dangerous Reverse Bolero!

Fontana of Italy, in a feat never before attempted in pongee, novelty cottons, shantung, or faille, is performing the incredibly difficult REVERSE BOLERO with this pattern.

Previous attempts have ended in weird stomach wrinkles, odd tan lines, intermittent choking sensations, and having to ask strangers in the ladies' room to unbutton you when you get too hot.

Fontana, however, remains confident that this pattern will be the one to pull it off. "It will take a special kind of woman to help me complete my dream. Preferably, one who never sits down. That would be ideal."

Independent observers are skeptical. "Even if he does pull it off," said one Austrian judge who preferred to remain anonymous, "Everyone knows the Russian judge will give him lower marks on principle. As will Chanel."


Thanks to Lisa for sending me the link to this eBay auction ...

"What's the Story" week, part 2

Today's story comes to us courtesy of Out of the Ashes and this pattern:




Two editors from Mademoiselle have trapped a hapless, unknowing reader in a block of clear lucite, where they will subject her to countless literary and sartorial experiments (until the demise of the magazine in 2001).

You can tell the woman in beige is a senior editor because her eyes are completely dead. (Also because, look, beige!) The woman in red is a market editor. Also, the editor in beige is on the verge of tearing a button off her jacket and hurling it at the poor trapped reader. Just because she can.

"What's the Story?" week, part 1

So all this week I think I'll be posting pattern images that evoke (at least for me) elaborate and possibly impossible backstories. This one is from Your Pattern Shop -- check it out:




Is it just me, or is Anjelica Huston about THIS CLOSE from punching out Joan Crawford in this picture? Or maybe she's hiding a gun behind her back? I think they are rivals in the same nail salon (thus the smocks), fighting for the affections of the head masseuse, Sven, who isn't away at the front because he's 4F. (Yes, I know that AH and JC aren't really contemporaries, but this is the World of Pattern Envelopes, where anything goes.)

Later, it turns out that Sven is NOT 4F, but a German spy! JC and AH band together to expose his perfidy (he was hypnotizing his subjects during massages to extract secrets VITAL TO THE WAR EFFORT) and they each get a medal.

They don't wear these dresses to the medal ceremony, just so we're clear.

What do you think is going on in this illustration?

Oh, Oh, Oh ... Merry Christmas!

Birgit at Stitches and Loops sent me these, and only my sense of bloggish responsibility kept me from buying all of these myself and not posting them:










Christine at Alley Cats has these for some lucky Jazz Age babe:










Hotpatterns is doing a sale: buy any two of their three bestselling dresses and get the bag pattern of your choice free! (You have to email in your choice of bag pattern to sales@hotpatterns.com and they will add it to the order -- Offer ends Dec 31st! One of their three bestsellers is this one, which I love and plan to make Real Soon Now:

A Guest Rant on "Why Are Vintage Patterns So Expensive?"

I got this great "guest rant" from a pattern seller (who will remain anonymous) and I thought it was worth posting.

[Although] I will note that no one's raised the issue of "How much did they pay people for the valuable vintage they are offering us" or "I bet they paid $5.00 for 20 patterns, how can they charge us $15.00 each for them??" (or significantly more, in some cases).

[It's] a very valid point and I don't want to ruin your comment section by addressing it ... I have a good answer for how and why I price my offerings:

Yes I often buy boxes of old patterns for very little cost for the box. But I got up at 4:00AM to be first in line at the estate sale that I thought might possibly have vintage patterns. I stood in line for 2 hours and tried to be first in the door. When I got in the door I started pushing past people and heading for the garage or shed where the patterns usually are and lo and behold there are 2 boxes, rat pellets, roach carcasses and all ...

I make my best deal and tote the smelly mess to my car. When I get them home I sit down and go through them to see if there are any beautiful finds that need my immediate attention. I sort by priority which goes first and which gets stored for another day. Then I start with the high priority ones and spread out and check to make sure all the pieces are there and cry when they aren't. I remove old pins (usually unless I miss one), I iron the envelope and the instructions so they are nice and readable.

Then I scan (or rather the DH scans) the envelope and sends it to me. I size it and clarify it a bit so it is readable. If I'm feeling creative I "clean" the front just for my files and cause I like 'em that way. Then it's time to write the listing. Gotta hold that pattern so I know the proper size and measurements ... 'cause they're mostly different through the years.

Then I package the little beauty in a plastic bag and file it away until it goes to its new owner ... by this time I've spent an average of 1-2 manhours, gasoline (at $4 a gallon) and we don't even count the time spent in line at the estate sale ...

Now it's listing time ... we all know that eBay doesn't do anything for free (and even website space costs) so I've got 1-2 hours time, a plastic bag, gas money, and then we add FEES. Take away everything else and the fees alone eat into the profit. If I manage to get $9.99 for a pattern and it better be a special one ... I get to put $8.00 of that in my pocket. Take away a few cents for packaging and equipment (scanner, computer, iron) maintenance and we're down to $7.50 ... O yeah, the 25 cents I paid for the pattern ... we're at $7.25. IF THE PATTERN SELLS! Considering the 1-2 manhours involved ... That's below minimum wage.

I thought this was worth posting because so many of us forget about the overhead and just plain TIME that's involved in running a small business, especially when you're doing everything yourself (or with the help of your spouse, who may or may not have another full-time job). Sure, I hear people say "I could buy that at the Salvation Army for a dollar," but I always want to ask them "Really? That exact pattern? You're sure it's there? When do they close, by the way?"

You're really paying for everything above, plus the luxury of choice -- being able to select from the range of patterns in the seller's web store. And (at least for my advertisers) reassurance that all the pieces are there, and a good chance of a refund if they're not (try that with the Salvation Army ...).

One last thing: if you do think vintage patterns are too expensive, you have a lot of options. You can not buy them, for one. Modern patterns are much, much cheaper (if you wait for the $1.99 pattern sales at the major fabric chains). You can set up a wait-for-it search on eBay and hope someone who doesn't know what they have will list it. And, of course, you can always draft your own.

That pattern up above? It's $75 (at The Blue Gardenia, sorry, there's not direct link to the pattern page). Unused, an in-demand bust size, a fancy pattern, and a great illustration. Is it worth $75? It is to somebody!

Etsy's loss is your gain

Jace (at Gremly Girl) recently let me know of a change to Etsy's search that I wasn't aware of ... the new default Etsy search is for handmade items only:




So if you search, say, "fauxlero" on Etsy, without changing the default to "Vintage" ... well, you wouldn't get much. Then you would believe there are no fake boleros on Etsy, and, considering how many fake-bolero links I've been sent in the past 24 hours, that's un-possible.

In order to make it worth your while to change the little drop-down in the search box from "handmade" to "vintage" (see below)




a bunch of Etsy sellers have banded together to offer a special "Buried Treasure" promotion. They're offering 10% off through the end of May to Dressaday readers who put "dressaday" in the message to sellers. The site won't input the discount automatically, so buyers will get a revised Paypal invoice from the seller. (Some pattern sellers offer additional shipping and quantity discounts, which they'll combine with the dressaday discount.)

Here's the list of participating Etsy sellers, in alphabetical order:

Bamabelle -- vintage clothing
Enigma Vintage -- vintage clothing
Gremly Girl -- vintage patterns
Joules -- vintage clothing and patterns
Just Picked Vintage -- vintage patterns & notions
Pattern Mania -- vintage patterns
Pattern Shop -- vintage patterns
Pattern Stash -- vintage patterns
Sandritocat -- vintage patterns

I suggest you take advantage of the discount by perhaps snapping up something like this:




Or this:




It'd be a shame to let those dresses languish, undiscovered and almost undiscoverable, just because Etsy changed their search ...

For your little lost lambs who have lost their way

Julie sent me a link to the Pattern Rescue site, and I'm so happy she did.

Their site seems amazing; there you can, according to their home page:

Restore your damaged or incomplete vintage sewing patterns from the spare bits and pieces others have donated. Search our inventory of incomplete sewing patterns for the pieces you need. Replacement pieces are free; eligiblity restrictions apply.

Preserve a vintage sewing pattern and build Pattern Points by providing scans or copies of small pattern pieces, or by lending your pattern to duplicate larger pieces.

Recycle unwanted patterns that are not particularly collectible. Browse through the donations and pick out a few to add to your pattern stash -- or send us the ones you no longer want but can't bear to throw away. Recycled patterns are free; quantity limits apply.

Trade collectible vintage patterns that you don't want for one that you'll treasure. Wander through the special collection of vintage patterns and embroidery transfers in need of a new home. Collectible patterns require a trade of Pattern Points you've earned.

Post a pattern request so we can help you find that elusive sewing or embroidery pattern you've been looking for, or for a pattern piece or two to patch up your incomplete pattern. Check the posts and see if you can help. Free service; moderated.

Have any of y'all used this service or sent patterns (I have dozens I could probably send and never, ever miss)? If not, what do you do with patterns that are missing pieces? (I swear at mine, it doesn't help to get the dress made but it does make me feel better.)

I should probably get them hooked up with the Vintage Sewing Patterns wiki, no?

Busy, Day Dress (or Busy-Day Dress)

Okay, so for the last day of this incarnation of fabric week, I thought I'd show something made up ... I bought this fabric on eBay, I'm pretty sure, a decision based solely on that color green. I love that shade of green.

Of course, as with all fabric I bought in 2006, it was supposed to be part of a Duro dress. I could never find anything to match that raisin-y brown, though, and I thought matching the pink or the green would be too Lilly Pulitzer. So it sat in my fabric closet (which is not of Tardis-like proportions, despite rampant speculation in the comments, but is pretty darn close) for a while.

Then I needed some fabric to "test" a new pattern -- this is in fact the bodice from one pattern and the skirt from another; I'd show the images but I can't find them, arrgh -- and thought of this stuff. The idea was the pattern would be SO BUSY that any bobbles in the construction wouldn't show.

Of course, I wasn't able to match the large medallions right on the bodice:



But the pockets turned out okay (they're curved!):



Despite the many flaws of this dress (the facings like to turn out, despite practically supergluing them down, and for some reason I got a bad spool of thread so the seams are weak and constantly need repair) it's actually incredibly wearable. The pockets are just the right size and the bodice is very comfortable (it's the same bodice as this dress). In fact, I'm thinking of making this again but in red with white polka dots ...

How Not to Sell Your Patterns Online

Afraid of hard currency? Have a strict 225-characters-per-day typing limit? Listing your patterns only to make your significant other believe you are trying to sell them, but don't actually want to give them up? Here's some handy tips to make sure your eBay auctions end without bids!

-- have FIVE lots of FIFTY patterns each, but take only ONE picture. Make the sure the picture prominently features two of the same pattern, both of which are nightgowns. (No joke; take another look at the image above.)

-- give no sizing information. At all.

-- give dating information that is vague (1950s-1960s -- well, WHICH IS IT? That's TWENTY YEARS, people!)

-- if possible, give incorrect information (label a pattern LUCY DRESS!!! when it's a 1960s shift)

-- affect either a manic ("OMGWTFBBQ!!!! BEST A+++ PATTERNS!!!") or completely flat ("Patterns. For sale.") affect. Normal range of expression is discouraged.

-- give a list of buyer requirements that would be too onerous even for SELLING A HOUSE ("I only accept Paypal, and your payment must be timestamped between 2-3 AM GMT. Put your SSN and shoe size in the comments, IN THAT ORDER. DO NOT BID if you CANNOT FOLLOW these INSTRUCTIONS!")

Hannah sent me this UK pattern listing (click on the image to visit the listing). But think carefully: do you want to encourage this kind of eBay-havior? Or do you just want to get a grab bag of 50 patterns for £1 (plus shipping)? If the answer to the second question is "yes," I sympathize, I was almost ready to bid myself. Then I realized I don't need fifty mystery patterns, especially as I will probably never, ever, sew myself a nightgown.

Whatta dress!

This dress is actually made of awesome, is it not? It's from Jen, at MOMSPatterns -- you know Jen, her ad's right there on the right (your right, my left, as I face you through the computer).

If this weren't a B32, you'd never see it here, as I would be jealously guarding the auction like some kind of medieval guardy thing, waiting for my bid to go through at the very last second. But since it's on the small side, I'm happy to share it with you. Go! And if you win it, make it IMMEDIATELY, and send me a picture, please.

Of course, if you're not on the small side, Jen has something for you too -- in fact, she's running a special sale! MOMSPatterns is having a Weekend Spring Cleaning Sale and A Dress A Day readers get 1st dibs on more than 1,000 vintage sewing patterns ...

The sale starts today [Thursday] and ENDS at midnight Sunday, April 29, 2007. Use coupon code 'springcleaning30' to save 30% off of ANY sized order. Don't forget that Jen ships for free to the US & Canada with the purchase of 5 or more patterns ...

That panel-ly thing on the side of the skirt, up there? Actually BUTTONS ON. For extra swoosh. Man, I wish this was in my size!

Again with the Summer

I know, I know, there's still snow outside (at least there is in Chicago) and I'm jumping ahead again to the summer dresses. What is wrong with me? Can't I live in the now? Stay in the moment?

Well, no, not when the weather in the now sucks so badly. In general, too, I much prefer the future to the past, but vintage sewing gives me the best of both worlds. I can rummage around in the so-called dustbin of history for aesthetic flotsam like sewing patterns, and then wear them in front of my computer. I can't imagine that the makers of this pattern, for instance, ever even touched a computer. Maybe they never even saw a punch card! And yet the only way I could really find their work now is through one. It kind of gives you hope for all sorts of other things assumed to be ephemeral. Perhaps our work will live on in ways we never intended or imagined?

I love the brown version here -- I love brown for summer, especially brown and yellow -- although the border print is really cute, too. Although right now, with the snow and the cold and the having to wait yet one more week for Daylight Savings, I'd probably like anything that promised summer!

As you can see from the image, it's B32. Click on the image to visit the eBay auction ... I think this is at about $12 right now.

The Culture of Sewing, edited by Barbara Burman

In my prowls through the library I came across this title, and I have to say I learned an enormous number of things from it, including:

• Vogue, Butterick, and McCalls produced more than 600 patterns a year each in the 1930s and early 1940s, dropping to an average of 500 patterns a year thereafter. (And when you put it that way, I hardly have any patterns at all! Let's see, the 10 years of the 1950s times three pattern companies times 500 ... and that doesn't even count Advance or the newspaper pattern companies ... or modern patterns ... )
  


• McCalls were the first printed patterns, patenting them in 1919. When the patent expired in 1938, most of the other pattern companies started using them, except for Vogue, which continued to use hand-cut patterns until 1956. McCalls was also the first company to produce patterns that were licensed copies of Paris designs.


• The price of a Singer sewing machine in the 1860s was $100 -- $50 if you were the wife of a minister (which should tickle the writer of this funny and useful blog; thanks to Sendhil for the link!).

The Culture of Sewing also led me to this book (which I'll have to try to get from interlibrary loan), and this one, which I can't believe I didn't have, and will now have to buy.

All in all a successful read ... although some of the essays (it's a collection) were much too theoretical for my enjoyment, most of them were very good reads. One even had a word I can't find anything else about: humby, in this context:

Household duties -- worried over new poplin dress, bought last winter which is a perfect humby -- looking as if it were rough dried. Pressed it.

This is from the diary of a Susan McManus, in Philadelphia, in 1869. There was an actress named Humby about that time (it's a commonish surname) but I can't make any links or find evidence of other uses like this. Yet.

Is there anything more pleasurable than reading a good book about a subject you're fascinated by? (If there is, don't tell me, I have enough trouble keeping up with all I have to do already.)

[No cover image, as it's NSFW. It's an arresting and beautiful image, but I have to say that one of the New Laws of the Internet should be that if you want people to blog about your book, it helps to not put nekkid people on the cover.]