At Liberty to Say

Peoples! Did you know there's a new book out about Liberty in the 1950s and 1960s?



To say that I want it would be an understatement. Luckily, I've pre-ordered it on Amazon (Amazon.uk also had it, but has sold out) and soon, soon, a copy will be on the way to me. (I can't believe they didn't find me and offer to send a review copy; somebody at that publisher needs a quick refresher course in online marketing, if you ask me.)

And in other fantastic Liberty news, Anna Buruma, the archivist for Liberty has kindly agreed to answer some questions for you, dear readers. I've put in the first batch below ...

What do you think has been the most popular Liberty design of all
time?
The most popular design is impossible to say, but there are some very long-lived designs.

Hera, the Peacock Feather design, first appears (not at Liberty) in the 1870s; Ianthe (the art nouveau design) was picked up by the Liberty designers in the 1960s and has been identified with Liberty ever since; I think perhaps the most typical of all the Liberty classics is Poppy & Daisy which was designed for Liberty in the 1910s and has been in the fabric range on and off ever since.

Liberty has made Tana lawn, Kingly cord, Jubilee wool/cotton, silk (does it have a name?) and jersey, that I know of ... were there other fabrics, too? Flannel? Oilcloth? Some polyester in the 1970s that nobody speaks of now? Hemp, during the war?

Liberty has always experimented with different cloth bases: many different cottons from very loosely woven ones to coarse to tana lawn; different wools of which the most famous one is probably varuna wool; lots of different silks, we have three different ones at the moment; velvets, and certainly man-mades, from rayon in earlier times to nylon in the 1960s and polyester and viscose in the 70s, 80s and 90s. We don't have any man-mades at present, but never rule out any good bases.

Are there plans to put little biographies of any of the Liberty
fabric designers on the new Liberty blog?

There are no plans to put biographies of Liberty designers on our web site at the moment. Many of the earlier designers are in fact unknown as Liberty wanted to promote their own name rather than that of others.

What is the oddest thing that has ever been made from Liberty?

Lots of odd things: someone made a teapot that was sold in the shop; there was a Cacharel/Liberty sailing boat in a race in the 70s with a Liberty sail; there have been various marketing campaigns for Liberty fabric, for example one where Elvis's blue suede shoes were substituted by tana lawn ones.

Can you think of other questions you'd like to ask of Ms. Buruma? Let me know, and I'll pass them along ...

Anna Buruma! Paging Anna Buruma!

Dilly recently posted a comment to the effect that the V&A had recently hosted Liberty archivist Anna Buruma, who spoke about the history of that company and their designs.

Needless to say, I was just shattered to have missed this (leaving aside that taking a trip from Chicago to London for a two-hour event would not have been very ecologically responsible of me). But it got me to thinking -- someone who reads this blog must have contact info for Ms. Buruma, yes? And if we asked very nicely, don't you think she'd like to do a Q&A with us?

Massive amounts of searching have failed to turn up a contact email (I suppose I *could* just CALL THE STORE, but that seems so twentieth-century). If, in fact, anyone does know Ms. Buruma and could effect an introduction, I'd be very, very grateful. And in the meantime, you could leave the questions you'd want asked in the comments, just in case ...

[Fabric is Liberty Mauverina, from eBay seller laluthan.]

UPDATE: I have exchanged emails with Ms. Buruma and she is willing to be interviewed ... please leave any questions you'd like me to ask in the comments! Thanks so much to LondonGirl for getting us in touch!

In Which I Answer Some Random Questions

It's been some time since I answered in a general way some of the common questions that are emailed to me, so maybe it's time to do so again ...

The #1 question I seem to get lately is not so much a question, but a request for me to make people stuff. I wish I could, really, but being able to sew well for other people is a special gift and requires vast reserves of time and patience, neither of which I have. At all. So, while I sympathize with your desire for the prom dress, wedding gown, or shirtwaist of your dreams, you must make those dreams a reality in some other way.

Probably question #2 is "How big is your closet?" to which the answer is, "Not big enough!" Heh. I do make a LOT of dresses, but I tend to rotate them in and out of service and keep the things I can't POSSIBLY give away (fewer than you'd think) in big plastic tubs. Also, I'm a klutz so it's the rare dress that avoids life-ending ketchup or ink stains for more than a year or so.

Question #3 tends to be "Will you link to me?" I'd like to, I'd really like to (okay, not the skeevy spam-farming fake-watch-selling people, you KNOW who you ARE) but right now I'm idly contemplating a site redesign and waiting on that to mess with my links, since changing all that is going to be a huge horrible PITA. Any suggestions for the redesign would not be taken amiss. (Oh, and if you are asking me to link to your latest me-too "fashionista"-type site that has NOTHING to do with dresses or vintage but is instead all crappy overpriced handbags, celebrity sunglasses, and embellished jeans: who do you think you're fooling? Either you've never read this site AT ALL, or your reading comprehension has been adversely affected by the Giant Freakin' Logos unevenly distributed about your person. Ahem.)

Question #4 seems to be "Would you like to participate in our banner ad campaign?" to which the answer is also "No, thank you." I only want to run ads on this site that are for small businesses who support home sewing or sell vintage fashion. This means I've turned down dunnohowmany jeans companies (Again: what is it with the jeans people and READING COMPREHENSION?), major diet companies, financial services companies, etc.

Question #5 is "Will there be more Secret Lives?" Answer: yes. Soon. I promise.

I'm assuming the question that will be most often asked in the comments on this post is "WHERE can I get that pattern up at the top of the entry?", so I'm heading it off at the pass by saying that it's on eBay right now (from Rita at Chez Cemetarian). Feel free to click through and visit it!

Q&A for Dress A Day

I get questions, oh boy do I get questions, and I should really answer more of them here. Maybe not the ones that read "i need that fabric 4 my prom dress and its saturday can u help me pleeeeeeze !!!?!", but more of the ones that are thoughtful, such as this one from Lynn:

Your blog is fun to read – am totally obsessed with vintage and quirky attire, patterns, fabrics and such as you publish each day. And so I want to make something to wear more than once for Halloween. Yet, my 40 hour per week day job is working among engineering types who are usually the most dismally, drably dressed humans on the planet. (Exception: a few bridge geeks who love local thrift stores – and keeping their money!)

Yet, since I work here one could successfully argue that my tendencies are also towards introversion and I have plenty of drab-colored basics in my closet. I don’t want to stick out very much. And since I work I have time constraints.

How would you select sewing projects (I can do about 6 or 8 projects per year) that would not stick too far out from the baggy denim and jersey uniforms that surround me? A drab jersey wiggle dress? Or perhaps a brightly patterned skirt with a drab denim jacket?

Your assistance is hugely appreciated! Probably lots more sewing wannabes are in the same predicament.

First off, thank you, Lynn, for the kind words ...

Secondly, I wouldn't underestimate your co-workers. Even if they don't want to wear bright colors and interesting prints themselves, they may certainly appreciate them on others -- much in the same way that I wear completely boring jewelry myself, but am always drawn to people who are wearing interesting pieces. Remember also, that if they're men, their clothing choices are artificially constrained -- not everyone is as dedicated to finding fun shirts as Francis.

But to answer your question, I can't answer your question. Only you can answer your question. And this is how you do it. Spend some time online on one of the sewing pattern sites -- BurdaStyle, or Sewingpatterns.com -- or in the fabric store, looking through the patterns. Make a list of EVERY pattern that catches your eye, everything that you like. Don't do any editing. If you like a wedding dress and you've been married for twenty years, still put it down. If you like some elaborate Issey Miyake outfit where the difficulty level is marked as 'For Issey Miyake Only', put it down. If you like a pair of gauchos, even, put it down. (I think this is better done online, because you can bookmark the pages or even save the images you like to your desktop.)

Once you've made your looooong list, then you can go through it. If you're a beginner, put aside the complicated tailored suits -- just for now. Maybe put aside that wedding dress. (DEFINITELY put aside the gauchos.) But try to look for commonalities in the patterns you chose. Do they all have raglan sleeves? Do they all have full skirts? Did all the illustrations you really show the garment in purple fabric? Try to jot down any similarities you see in the patterns you liked. (My list would look something like 'midriff band, full skirt, kimono sleeve, yellow, gingham, peter pan collar', etc.) Look for patterns on your list that have most of the features that you like, and that are at your sewing level. (Then go check Pattern Review to see if other people liked it!)

Then go look at your closet. You can't make a whole new wardrobe in 6-8 pieces a year (and you should assume a 10% failure rate, so one piece will just flat-out not work, and one will only mostly work). What can you sew that will go with clothes you already love? (If you don't love any of your clothes, you might want to read this post.) If you have lots of print skirts and plain tops, maybe a coordinating easy jacket in a solid color? If you have lots of plain trousers, why not try a tailored skirt or a print blouse? If you can't figure out what will "fit" -- try a stand-alone dress.

I feel sewing is the most rewarding when you're making something you love AND will wear, so your goal is to find that sweet spot where a pattern calls to you AND it will fit into your wardrobe.

And Lynn, I know you said you don't want to 'stand out,' but take a minute to decide what you want more: anonymity, or happiness. If you really love bright green and want to make a bright green dress, just do it! I think you'll be surprised at how positive people's reactions will be. I wear the craziest stuff -- you've all seen it -- and the worst reaction I've gotten has been something like "I'm glad you wore that, dear ... so few people would." Mostly people say things like "I wish I could wear that." (To which I always reply, "Of course you can!")

If you really don't want to stand out, pick drab colors but patterns with interesting details -- pockets, nifty collars, fun seam lines -- most people will only see the color, not the design elements. Or try some stealth fun with color: bright pocket linings or hem facings. (Even my plain skirts have print pocket linings. Life's too short to not have pockets full of fun.)

I know I gave lip service to separates up above, but really -- try a dress. I think you'll be surprised at how fun they are to wear (especially the Duro) and the sense of accomplishment you'll get from finishing one.

So, to sum up: figure out what really really appeals to YOU, and then make it. Then you can make it work, I promise. Happiness in your clothes is the best accessory.

And good luck!

[picture is one of my Flickr favorites, by alexanderdrachmann]