Spoiled for Choice

I'm so sorry I didn't post yesterday -- there were some internet-connectivity issues, and then there were some "I have to give a talk downtown" issues (compounded by the snow issues), and then there were the "back from a long weekend" issues. I guess I "have issues." (Except for issues of the magazine, which are the only issues I want to have. THOSE are still at the printer!)

Of course, any day on which I don't post is NOT a day in which I have NOTHING to post -- I usually have the OPPOSITE problem, as in, I could post so much every day that I would do nothing else. For instance, just in the last 36 hours or so, I was sent links to:

-- this incredibly cute squirrel-print sundress (sent by Julie)
-- a reminder that PurlSoho has new Liberty cottons in stock (from Rebecca)
-- a link to a wedding-perfect satin dress WITH POCKET (from Kai, and let's just see a picture of that pocket, okay?)




-- some paper art dresses (sent by Theresa)
-- an Anne Fogarty polka-dot midriff-emphasizing dress on eBay (sent by Robin, and let's just peek at that one, too, shall we?)





And there were several more links that I will save for another day. Aren't I the luckiest blogger in Blogdom? Thank you (and keep 'em comin')!

The Polka-Dot Motherland

... is, as Mary Fran tells me, in Seville (that's Spain, not Ohio.) Turns out flamenco dancers need/wear/love polka dots. Another reason, as if you needed a reason to 1) go to Spain 2) take up the heartbreak and passion that is ... FLAMENCO! 3) wear polka dots.

I am in high-covetousness-gear right now. I want, in no particular order, the coffee-colored dots the third shelf down on the left; the multi-sized green on the bottom right (and oddly, that horrible dotless pea green right next to it——I always latch on to the runt of any litter); and the orange and chartreuse on the third shelf down in the middle.

So, if anyone's going to Spain ... in my head, of course, these are all lovely fine cottons, but I'm betting they're actually poly, so as to wear longer.

Also, I just found out I will have less than 24 hours in Tokyo in late July, probably Monday the 30th. Does anyone have fabric-store recs for Tokyo? Preferably near Narita airport?

Sorry I missed yesterday -- I don't know where the day went. Although I assume that the occasional postless day just adds to my general air of intrigue and mystery.

Never Enough Dots

Lisa sent me the link to this one, another eBay glory listed by Capricorn Vintage.

Look at those dots! And the shelf bust, and the big ol' ruffle. I'm really obsessed with the big ol' hem ruffle right now -- I must have four or five patterns that are featuring it. Not the 1970s prairie hem ruffle, but this exuberant, can't-help-myself 1950s hem ruffle. The kind where just sitting down in a chair turns into some kind of effervescent event.

Of course all those patterns are waiting until I get a ruffling foot for my sewing machine. (I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid.)

In fact, most of my sewing is waiting for one reason or another, with the 'one reason' in particular being that I'm coordinating the Dictionary Society of North America meeting in Chicago in June. And since June is like, next week, there's SO MUCH TO DO, none of which can be accomplished with a sewing machine. Gah. But if you're near Hyde Park on Saturday, June 16, you should come see the New Word Open Mic, which is (as you might imagine from the name) open to the public. Come hear people pitch their new words to dictionary editors! Or come pitch one yourself!

(Also, I seem to developed the dreaded summer head cold. Arrrrrrrrgh.)

Anyway, back to the dress -- it's B36, and in great shape -- take a look! (Click on the image to visit the listing.)

Holy Grail, check. Next stop, Atlantis!

Do you see that fabric? (And yes, it's draped over a dictionary stand, but never mind that for now.) I've been looking for that fabric for at least eight years. Not just black-and-white polka dots, mind you, but HUGE black-and-white polka dots. Offensive, flamboyant, elephantiasic black-and-white polka dots. The glasses are there to give you an idea of the scale, so you don't think they're just puny neurasthenic polka dots in extreme closeup.

[Of course, after searching for this for years, I found it when I wasn't looking: I stopped at Vogue for just TWO MINUTES -- seriously, I put a nickel in the parking meter -- to get some baby-blue denim for a quick skirt, and there it was, hanging with the remnant silks. Three yards! Less than $20 total! I was so happy, I even forgot that I had a headache and a pesky persistent sore throat and two hundred emails to answer.]

Why would I want such polka dots, you ask? Am I trying out for the artiest clown troupe ever? Am I trying to win a bet by getting someone to say to me "My, what big ... polka dots ... you have"? Did I want the "I'm a mime" version of this skirt? (Well, now that I think about it, yes, but that's not why.)

I want this fabric because somewhere (I know it's in the house, but I haven't seen it since we moved, otherwise I would scan it for you, you know I would) I have a picture of my mother, at my parents' engagement party. She's looking soignée and chic and happy, with a bouffantish blonde bob and a drink in one hand, and she's wearing a black-and-white polka-dot dress. It's got an empire waist and a square neck and HUGE dots, and I have to admit that this is a dress that I think about probably more than is healthy.

It's not that my mom's not happy now (c'mon, she has the world's best grandbabies) or that I'm fetishizing my parents' marriage (they're now genially divorced) -- it's just, when I look at my mom, I still see the girl in that picture, who was younger than I am now, and I still admire her sense of style. My mom is someone who can wear polka dots THAT BIG, dammit, and make it look good. And if I've inherited anything from her, that's what it is, and that's what I want to emphasize.

So the reification of the totemic dress can commence, now that I have the fabric!