For an announcement — I'll be reading at the New York Public Library tonight as part of the Literary Magazine marathon, so if you're in the city and would enjoy hearing me read from "The Simpsons: Embiggening Our Language With Cromulent Words," by Mark Peters, come on by. (I'm last on the bill, btw.) Details: New York Public Library's DeWitt Wallace Periodicals Room, 5th Ave. at 42nd St., Saturday, June 10th from 4–6:30 PM.

I'll also be hanging out at Housing Works all afternoon tomorrow, for the Lit Mag Fair (do you sense a theme developing here?) — Housing Works Used Book Café, 126 Crosby Street in Soho Sunday, June 11th from 12–5PM. Remember, come to the Fair wearing a dress and I will give you a free pen. (While supplies last.)

Many thanks to Joy, who sent this in from a July 1960 issue of Katy Keene.

I admit to more than a sneaking suspicion that I am a Bertha! I mean, the polka dots alone are a dead giveaway! Oh, well, if everyone were always tasteful how boring the world would be.

So last night, as is my wont on a Wednesday in NYC, I went skating at the Roxy. And, after going around in circles for a couple of hours, I thought posting a crappy picture of my favorite skating skirt (after having worn it for said couple of hours), taken in a badly-lit hotel room in Midtown, would be an excellent idea. So here it is!

I bought this fabric a year and a half or so ago, on eBay, and originally made a plain circle skirt out of it. I was a little scant of fabric, though, so it was a bit short for my taste. So a few weeks ago I added the waistband, and voila! The Twister Skirt.

I got several compliments on it at the Roxy, usually by people who had just narrowly missed involving us both in a sixteen-wheel tangle on the floor. (Well, they had to say SOMETHING!) Hoo-boy, was the Roxy crowded last night. Think Times Square, at rush hour, on wheels. It was fun, though. The bass was turned up to "defibrillate," and the DJ somehow had a shunt straight from my iPod's "guilty dance-y pleasures" mix to the turntable. He played "Get Into the Groove" and "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Best of My Love"! I may have to send him a thank-you note.

I was surprised that the Long Island Concussion Enthusiasts' Society was out in such force last night, but they all thoughtfully skated carrying their baguette handbags clenched tightly under their arms, so that when they hit the floor skull-first and forgot their own names, the responding EMT could just pull their IDs right then and there. They also pair up, so that if one skater looks in danger of staying upright for more than thirty or forty seconds, her spotter can squeal and haul her down to the floor where the concussions are more readily available. Because nothing says "Missy's 23rd birthday party!" like a traumatic head injury.

There was also a meeting of the Human Spirograph League — these are the guys (they're almost always guys) who cannot skate in the tame and banal oval that the rest of skate in; they must perform elaborate loops around the floor in highly elliptical orbits. Often backwards. They're like stray planets haplessly interrupted by the sun at a really, really bad time, and so they won't ever have a nice neat orbit. Also, they tend to wear inline skates, instead of quads. One of them nearly took me down, but nicely hauled me along with him for a stride or two so that I didn't suffer the indignity of an official butt-to-the-floor fall. All I can say is, the Human Spirographs? Have tremendous upper body strength. Go figure.

I had a really good time (I always do) and, as usual, left right before I got tempted to get too fancy. I'm a great mediocre skater. I don't run into folks; I don't do the Wile E. Coyote leg-shuffle to keep my balance; I can stop several different ways, none of which involve finding a large immobile object to run into at top speed. I also don't skate backwards, do spins, or too much tricky footwork, because I think the pleasure I would get from doing that stuff (especially when it's so crowded) would not be enough to overcome how just plain stupid I would feel if I seriously injured myself on a business trip 800 miles from home.

So. This is my skating skirt, and that was my night at the Roxy, and sometime in the next six weeks or so I'll get another chance to skate wearing polka dots, and happiness will abound. Can't ask for more than that.

No clicky picture here; I already bought this. Which I'm a bit worried about. Two scarf dresses in the space of a week? That seems suspiciously obsession-y.

Although this one I might actually make (well, considering I didn't buy the other pattern, it will be much easier to make this one). Both views. I love the kicky side pleats on the straight skirt, and the scarf-y version has me thinking maybe, just maybe, I will finally be able to use the car-print Liberty before I die. I swear, I must check that fabric on a monthly basis, on the off chance it's had a growth spurt in the fabric pile when I wasn't looking. I don't know why I don't just label my fabric with the yardage when I buy it; although, since I have sworn never to buy pieces under three yards ever again (with God as my witness, I will never buy blouse lengths again!) it's only these weird outliers from the four-yard average that have me measuring and re-measuring.

The car print isn't the only player in the "Did it Grow?" game. There's a piece of cherry-print rayon that likes to re-wrinkle itself when I'm not looking, so it has to be pressed before it gets measured and comes up short. There's ONE YARD of a gorgeous Matisse-print silk (and by Matisse-print, I mean it has figures from his "Jazz" paper cut series on it, in those brilliant colors) that I must have laid out a dozen blouse patterns on and never made a single cut into. (Maybe someday I'll have a brain injury that changes my entire personality and turn into someone who wears halter tops. Who knows?) There's a pile of shantung remnants in jewel colors that someday will have to be the world's least practical crazy quilt, or a jester outfit, because there's not a garment's worth of any single one of them. (Hmmm. Duro? In shantung? For winter?) Plus many other bits and bobs too pretty to throw away, too small to use, & that I'm too lazy to cut quilt blocks from … it's a puzzlement.

Caroline in LA sends in her interpretation of McCalls 5137, taking the picture outside in her back yard, in accordance with tradition. Doesn't it look fab? She's unsure how much she'll wear it, since her silk turned out to be polyester (I hate it when that happens, but occasionally a store clerk will get huffy about me trying to set their fabric on fire — strictly to test fabric content, I assure you — so I've been taken in by the poly masquerading as silk before). I love the necklace, too — I think it's the perfect length for this neckline. I made one just that length, only in orange (I know, the orange thing is getting out of hand) to wear with mine.

I know a lot of you have asked to see this on a Real Life Person (and Caroline certainly is, or else AI has advanced TREMENDOUSLY in recent months) and so I hope this helps. I'll still try to get someone to take a picture of me on one of the days that I'll be wearing my versions this week … like today. So if you see someone in this dress, wandering around Midtown today, that's probably me, or someone who committed an act of violence to obtain said dress. Either way, stop that person and say "hi," okay?

I admit it. This dress pushed all my buttons, right to the point where I pushed the "Buy It Now" button (from Stellablue Vintage Sewing). Collar? Check. Sleeves other than set-in? Check. Hip pockets? Insouciant hat on the pattern envelope? Check and check.

The kicker? Showing it in that green tweed. Do they even make nice green tweed anymore? I never see any. Which is a shame, because I have some buttons that would go really well with it … might even have a matching belt buckle, too.

This below is one that I didn't buy, although — see? the green? — it was very tempting. I just know that I've reached my quota for a while on interesting neckline patterns. The sad truth is that a lot of them I'm just too lazy to sew … but if you have a bit more gumption, go to it! It's only $7.50!

I threatened to do one that was mostly orange, and here it is. How wrong is it that all my "what shoes go with these dresses?" problems could be solved if only I could find a pair of orange espadrilles? Quite wrong.

Also wrong is me not matching the stripes on the front band, but, you know, with clashing prints this busy I expect not very many people will even notice. (As the saying goes, "If they're nice they won't notice, and if they notice they're not nice.") The stripes were not on the grain — they are printed on the bias, so even though the band looks cut on the bias, it's not. Does that make sense? I hope so. It's a very lightweight voile from Hancock's — I thought it was on sale over Memorial Day but it was in fact just hanging out next to the sale fabric, hoping to have some of the sale frenzy rub off on it. Which is of course exactly what happened; by the time I got to the cutting table I was already too deeply invested to mind that it wasn't forty percent off. These two fabrics were designed to coordinate, or at least they were in the same "collection," which, I have to say, feels more than a little bit like cheating, considering the last dresses either had fabrics created more than a couple decades apart, or that were sourced, by hand, from different countries. (It was nice not to have to look at the colors under every light bulb in the house, though, to make sure they really matched. Which I do even though I have full-spectrum fluorescents in the sewing room.)

Here is a closer view of the bodice:

And here, for those who requested it, the back view:

The skirt is a bit hung up on the dressform on the right side.

I think this is the last one, even though I have some red, turquoise, and dark blue paisley that matches EXACTLY with a turquoise scribble print … we'll just have to see.

Just a reminder that NEXT Sunday I will be at the Housing Works Bookstore all afternoon for the Literary Magazine Fair. All literary magazines $2, proceeds support Housing Works! Come by in a dress and I will give you a pen (while supplies last). And if anyone has made any sightings of orange wedge espadrilles in the NYC area, would you let me know?

I'm a big fan of the dress that is its own accessory. Not just because I'm scarf-impaired (which, sadly, is the case), but because it's impossible to forget to pack the scarf if it's part of the dress.

(Of course, if I always remembered to pack everything I needed for a trip, the lingerie department of Lord & Taylor would miss their monthly quota on a regular basis, and I would have roughly 200 fewer half-slips than I actually do.)

I love the check shown here, but I think I'd make this in (what else) a scarf print, just to really rub it in. I'd draw the line at trimming the edges of the scarf-part with fringe, though.

Robin sent me a link to this pattern on eBay. The dress is certainly cute, but the stole is really something else. Something that I'm not sure needs to actually exist … look closely; the ends of the stole are joined by what looks like bamboo rings to two dangling purse-pouches. With pockets on the outside. I suppose they're technicallly reticules, but they remind me of nothing so much as this:

I know there's a lot of clothing that lets you conceal weapons but I'm not aware of a lot of clothing that can be USED as a weapon. I mean, directly as a weapon, not like this:

I suppose it could be worse. The stole-purse-weapon-thing could be knitted …

I know, I know, I set the deadline for the book cover contest for a MONTH ago (more, actually) but, you know, my life got in the way. And I had to figure out how to do a cgi form with my webhost. Which wasn't difficult, but it was a hurdle …

Anyway, of all the submissions, here are the finalists. Now it's your turn to vote! Fill out the form below, and choose which cover you like best. The criteria? Whether it's a good dress and whether it makes you want to pick up the book. The person who submitted the cover AND one person selected at random from all the voters will win their choice of one of these titles (so you can vote for a book you don't actually want to have).

Mommy Dressing — Isn't this dress SWANK?

Rosie Dunne — Cute. Plaid. Irish.

Technique of the Love Affair — The dress alone would make you an expert at flirtation …

The Cinnamon Peeler — I love the embellishment and the silhouette.

Agatha Christie 1950s Omnibus — Even if she had to kill for this dress, it was worth it.

[Form removed; entry deadline has passed.]

I will use your email address ONLY to tell you if you have won the contest. I will not send you spam! Please vote ONLY ONCE — I fear for my inbox if there's ballot-stuffing.

Voting ends at 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning June 3rd! I'll try to have everything tallied up by the end of the following week.