The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Remember when Titanic was released? I was sixteen and I'd been waiting with baited breath for its release. Not because I thought Leo DiCaprio was some kind of dream boat because honestly, he's never done a thing for me (except for those five minutes in The Departed when he macked on Vera Farmiga anyway.) No, I've always known about the Titanic and its sad voyage to the bottom of the sea. One of my first memories was of the news reports on the day they found the wreck in 1985.

What I didn't know was how amazing and wonderful the fashions of the day were. It's enough to take your breath away, at least it was when I was all of sixteen and managed to get my mother to take me to see it three times in the theater. At the time, I wasn't really much of a sewist. I couldn't tell if I'd sewn anything just yet. If I had, it was only a handful of horrid dresses. Certainly I could never fathom recreating anything resembling Rose Dewitt Bukater's remarkable wardrobe. Upon subsequent viewings and as I progressed in my sewing knowledge, lingerie dresses and sequinned evening gowns became quite obtainable. However, I then had the problem of how exactly one would wear an afternoon tea dress with layers of floaty chiffon falling about one's ankles. After all, I don't have a boiler room to run through.

It doesn't help that all of the line drawings and magazine articles from the day don't give one much clue how they would look on a modern figure. Actually, it's a bit difficult to picture them on any figure. We aren't the first generation to give ourself an unattainable figure to copy. The S-curve corset could only do so much to thrust the female form into such an odd configuration.

Because this is realistic, right?

All of that awe and inspiration, however, came together in a way I could finally translate into my own wardrobe thanks to a working weekend for my husband and 48 hours with netflix in his absence.



Squee, right?

Cotton gauze, striped silk, sparse floral prints, oh the day gowns are enough to make you wish you could pay a visit. No, you probably can't wear such a gown any where but a costumed event but can you imagine those bodices tucked into a pencil skirt? That's exactly what I'm picturing and thanks to Past Patterns, I plan to make that happen next year sometime. 

But for something nearer, I was inspired by the ladies' evening gowns, just as I was by Rose's red and blue gowns back in 1997.

What could be prettier than lace and chiffon? And here I was, knitting away, contemplating what a dreadfully dull dress I'd be forced to wear for Christmas that would accomodate my pregnant belly when these beautiful gowns sauntered across the screen. With bodices like this, it wouldn't matter much what happened below, would it? I think I like Lady Sybill's gown on the right the best. The elbow length sheer sleeves, the bit of lace edging falling off center down the front of the skirt.

I've decided on navy for the under layers with a black lace trimmed chiffon for the overlay. And since we're dealing with a maternity dress I'll only wear again should I go through the effort to recut the skirt, I'm going to save up my Joann's coupons and shop from their Casa Collection. Past Patterns again will come to my rescue though I think I'll have to do up a few muslins to come up with the right look and fit.



Yes, without that batwing drapey part, I promise.



As it happens, my extensive stash will provide exactly the prefect fabric and pattern for pinky's dress. I picked up a few yards of a navy polyester taffeta for less than $5 a yard when I first discovered FabricMart fabrics about 18 months ago. I sewed up a quickie dress for pinkers that turned out so well that I bought five more yards when I saw it in their clearance bin a few months later. $1.99 a yard actually. I can't seem to find a picture right now so you'll have to wait until closer to Christmas.

I was thinking of a Simplicity pattern I've been holding onto for years. It's sized 3-6 so now is the perfect time to use it. It's not nearly a similar look or era but it will be cute nonetheless, especially for a little girl who is fond of big skirted dressed, puffed sleeves, and the slightest touch of lace. Go here for a better look. I'm thinking the white one but without the bottom scallops.

I'm going slightly mad

Remember that ADD problem I mentioned? It seems to have gotten worse with pregnancy. So I did what any good procrastinator does, I started a new project, one I found after meandering around Ravelry for far too many hours planning my unborn child's coming home outfit. My time loss is your reading gain as I have another topic for another post. But this has done nothing for my current projects.

I'm supposed to be sewing, not knitting.

Is this a sigh or a gaze of longing into the past? And yes, pretend I do dishes.

For days, I have been planning to sew. I even get up, collect my supplies, fiddle a wee bit here, turn on the sewing machine there, but to no end. I pick up on project only to find my mind wandering to another. This weekend, after an absent husband and nothing to show for it aside from a couple more episodes of Mad Men under my belt, I needed to have a come to Jesus meeting with my face.

It was time to make a list, three lists actually. For starters, it was time to return to the entire point of my blog, WWJCD? Honestly, she'd probably don her pearls and pull out the vaccuum but since my pearls are still packed somewhere and I don't own carpet, list number one will have to suffice.

For the record, my doggie is not forlorn and unloved. She plays nicely in the backyard after doing her business a number of times of day. But I need to get out of the house and walking her about the neighborhood seems as good an opportunity as any. Plus, if I take her with me, I'll be less tempted to gorge myself on salt and vinegar chips as some kind of award for, as Chris Rock so eloquently put it, doing what I'm supposed to do.

If you'll notice at the top of that list, I mentioned knitting. If there is one thing my snarky little ass can't manage to finish ever it's a knitting project. I take that back. I once finished a baby hat and a pair of socks. Hot pink and lime green. Very, very cute. I'm not sure it counts though as there was meant to be a pair of knitting lime green mary janes to match and those were never finished. And so the set sits in a box somewhere while the newborn baby I started the project for is a hale and hearty nine months old now.

And so, another list was in order.

Lucky for me, I have until the end of January to complete these projects. Socks and hats go quickly but I have a feeling I'm going to be working on that romper between contractions.

And now we are on our final list. List number three gives me the heeby jeebies if you want to know the truth. It's not because they are difficult or even that time consuming. In fact, each bullet point should only take me two to four days to complete, even with staying on the conservative end of my 3-4 hours a day sewing plants. The problem is that I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can complete everything on this list by November 15th.

Well, perhaps not fingers crossed. It's hard to trace patterns that way.

In any case, game, set, match.

It's time to get crafting.

Always something there to remind me

I have crafting ADD.

As you know, I'm supposed to be working on my Fall Palette Challenge. True to my nature, something else has taken up my attention, namely clothes that fit my fat belly. It seems everything I own is either increasingly tighter or increasingly shorter if not both. So I think I'm going to take a very short break from the challenge to sew up a couple quickies lest I be forced to wear H's band tees and my Flyers pajama shorts everywhere.

Not a good look, unless you love the Broad Street Bullies of course. Not that they've bullied anyone in ages mind you.

Thanks to the vast world of my fellow sewing bloggers, this project should only side track me for three days at most. What's not to love about an easy to use tutorial? I'm thinking this skirt from Sew, Mama, Sew in a linen looking navy blue and a few versions of Rae's Spring Ruffle Top using some of the fabrics I bought from Fabric.com's Everything's $1.75 section last spring.

While I'm doing that, I can finalize the details of my maternity alterations and find the swedish tracing paper I've misplaced.

Feel free to yell at me if I'm not back to the challenge by Thursday.

It's a cruel, cruel summer

Or at least it was. Sort of was anyway. The misery of southern living is that it's September and I'm still roasting as if it were the 4th of July.

Sigh.

So where have I been you wonder?

And thanks to the power of the internet and message board tickers I actually remember this go 'round exactly how pregnant I am. 19 weeks. Fun! Or it would be fun if contemporary maternity patterns weren't scarce and vintage patterns didn't all look like tents. As a bonus, I guess a home sewist circa 1958 didn't have to worry about proper sizing. Fitting is rather easy when everything is designed to envelop you in five yards of tacky. I'd look like a spinning top, a cranky, back acky spinning top.

Don't believe me?

I'm not doing this.

So like any good internet addicted girl, I decided to take a twirl around the internet. Luckily, plenty of sewing bloggers have tackled the issue and have given me numerous ideas for how to adapt regular patterns for maternity wear. Unluckily for me, the majority of vintage patterns I own won't exactly fit the burgeoning "sisters." And so, I find I will be vintaging up some existing patterns and kind of hodge podging something together from the stash. This is actually a good thing considering the weath of patterns and fabric I already own.

As if the prospect of outgrowning most of what I own wasn't enough of an impetus to sew my little heart out, a quick visit to Colette Patterns gave me yet another reason to break out my sewing machine and get to stitching. It's a good thing too because I have to admit I was incredibly depressed to find Sarai is set to release three new patterns in a few weeks and all of them answer the age old question of AMC fans everywhere, What Would Joan Holloway wear?

Aren't those cigarette pants just divine? And the cute little top, good gracious. Well, I know what I'll be sewing once I've evicted the the wiggly little worm I've got swimming around in here. These will be my first pair of pants ever and Sarai's patterns are just the thing to get started I think.

But I digress.

Sarai has issued a sewing challenge! It only went up a few days ago so I'm not behind. I'm not sure how fall my finished products will come out looking seeing as how I live in a land that doesn't really do autumn until very late in the year with a slight bit of winter at the end. But I'm willing to give it a go.

Wish me luck!

And yes, this post means I plan to return to my normal blogging schedule. Thanks to a rather energy sapping bout of morning sickness, I don't have much to update you with. However, this means all my previous projects are still on the table and I have plenty to do.

Tooodalooo!

Excuse me, miss

I know my posts have been few and far between of late but I promise you, I have not fallen off the wagon. I am still housewifing away, slowly but surely amending my habits as promised.

So what has kept me from posting?

Perhaps you guessed by the header picture but I'm moving.

Yay to a new place, a new cute place, mid-century little Tudor-y looking house nestled on a tiny plot downtown. Room for the woo woo, a garden, and an opportunity to start anew with a fresh place.

And yet, booo to the actual process of sorting, packing, dropping off clothes I haven't worn much less seen in years at the goodwill and all sorts of general irritation that comes with moving.

Despite my grumblings I am thrilled we found a place and one with a vintage flair. As a bonus, I'll be living in a two story house for the first time in more than fifteen years. I'm not sure why but two stories are my absolute favorite.

Oh! I almost forgot the best part.

There's a SEWING ROOM!!!

Ooooooooooooooooo!

You're My Obsession

For some of you, this post will hurt your brain. But I swear on the life of my vintage dressform that I will not rest until I'm able to sew up and wear one of these cute little playsuits, as they were called, preferably while wearing saddle shoes and tooling around on a very cute bike.

This bike actually.

What can I say? I watched both Pearl Harbor and A League of Their Own this weekend.

Speaking of Pearl Harbor, AMC it doing a 30 days of Oscar movie and they really did advertise PH as an Oscar movie. They also touted Ben Affleck as an Oscar winning actor. Now it may be true both have earned that award but somehow, I'm thinking Best Screenplay and Sound Edited respectively isn't exactly what comes to mind when you hear Oscar Winning Actor/movie, right?

Silly AMC.

Hot Like Wasabi When I Bust Rhymes

What shall I do this week?

Dinners:

• Crockpot BBQ pork, mashed potatoes, corn
• Potato soup with bacon
• Frito Pie for Movie Night
• Pork cutlets, rosemary roasted potatoes, green beans or asparagus
• Teriyaki chicken, rice, and broccoli
• Fajitas and Spanish rice

Sewing:

• finish Heather's bag
• cut 1937 Eva Dress
• win the battle over the 1920 Cloche
• look over the directions for V1160
• continue knitting shawl

Housewifery:

• clean out pinky's room
• bake banana muffins
• give roo roo a bath
• start going through master bedroom closets
• clean out refrigerator
• make next week's shopping list
• kitchen floor
• bathrooms

Movie Night

• Bedknobs and Broomsticks for the kids
• The Town for me