I know, I know, this pattern doesn't look like me AT ALL. And if you were only looking at the halter-topped version, definitely, you would be right. (I'll wear a halter top only after the coming apocalypse, when we're all shuffling around in rags. And even then I'll bitch about it.)
But I'm intrigued by the colorblock dress, and I have this idea … what if I took that pattern and "merged" it with the bodice of a 50s pattern I already have, so that I could change it from a sheath to a bodice for a full-skirted dress? I think it would look really cute with a skirt that had a contrast band around the bottom, and I know I have a pattern for that.
I could probably alter a 50s bodice to be colorblocked more easily (cut it apart, add seam allowances) but I don't think I have any that are exactly that shape, and I'd be leery of trying to get that nice curve over the bustline without help.
It would be SO CUTE (I think) to do it in stripes, with the top and bottom being horizontally or bias-striped and the main body being vertical. Or in two different sizes of polka dots. Or maybe, for once, I'd go elegant and do it in shades of gray.
Sigh. Not that I'll have time to try this marvelous idea in the foreseeable future — I've had a simple waistband replacement sitting on the sewing table for weeks, frozen six inches into a seam. It's like those eerie mysteries, my own personal Mary Celeste — "What could have happened to Erin? She left with this skirt nearly finished!"
One thing I have had time for (as Benchley said, "Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he's supposed to be doing at the moment") is writing about roller-skating for LOST Magazine. Go check it out if you're so inclined.
A Dress A Day 
I am picturing black, textured white, and teeny b/w houndstooth.
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Erin, get out of my brain! I was thinking the same thoughts about the exact same pattern. The only thing that kept me from the $1.99 Simplicity sale at Hancock’s this weekend was the wretched weather. Next sale, though, that baby is mine!–Lydia
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Well at least it has pockets.
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I had never heard of the Mary Celeste! Fascinating.
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Oh, Erin. Did you actually use “random” in its slang sense in the fourth paragraph of that story?Just my particular bete noir.I love the idea of that colorblock dress in black or gray with a small houndstooth contrast.
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Andrea — wait, wait, tell me more! Do you mean you don’t like ‘random’ in the sense of ‘chosen randomly’? Even Garner doesn’t have anything on that so I’m interested!
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black rayon velvet trimming dark gray taffeta…
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Um, I’m sorry, but that looks like a hospital gown to me.
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Enjoyed the roller-skating article. Thanks!
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” I’d be leery of trying to get that nice curve over the bustline without help”Wait! You mean, the pattern would actually fit you… like, without alterations? WOW! You are so lucky! No wonder you make so many beautiful dresses…
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Lovely essay on rollerskating! Thanks. And I adored and will now pass around the Benchley quote, forever more.
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I don’t want to sound completly illiterate but how was random used incorrectly? Please Please let me know.Cass
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I’m not fond of “random” as slang, but it seems to me that it could be either proper or slang as used in the article. Since the rest of the article is not slangy, I don’t think “random” is either.By the way, Erin, we have a wooden-floor roller rink a few miles away. I went there all the time as a kid for parties, and only occasionally now to chaperone high school socials. GREAT memories which you captured beautifully in writing.
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Wondering the same thing about “random,” I went and OEDed it, and now I’m delighted to know that “random” has been used as a verb. There’s something I’d like to introduce into my daily vocabulary.”What are you up to?””Oh, just randoming.”It would be fantastic!
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I LOOOOOOOOVE that two-sizes-of-polka-dots idea!
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I, too, loved the roller-skating story.
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Had to have this pattern. It looks so much like a dress I made in College that I wore to shreds. It had positive/negative colorblocking–black background with white splotches on the lower part, and the reverse on the yoke. Loved it and hope to re-create it for the 21st century. Thanks for enabling!
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(I could probably alter a 50s bodice to be colorblocked more easily (cut it apart, add seam allowances) but I don’t think I have any that are exactly that shape, and I’d be leery of trying to get that nice curve over the bustline without help.) Erin check out the peach dress way down in the lower right corner of this page. http://www.sensibility.com/samples/titanicsamples.htmWhile you’re at it, take a look at the swing dress!http://www.sensibility.com/pattern/swing.htm
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