A few things I wanted to post about, but haven't had time to work up into full-fledged posts:
Chez Cemetarian has the Butterick "Walk-Away" dress listed right now! It's B32, but even if that's not your size, click on the image above and go read up on the info she's tracked down about it.
This article from the LA Times talks about the rise in popularity of the dress. (Registration required; try bugmenot.com if you're not registered.) Best stat? "Market research firm NPD Group … recently reported that sales of dresses soared to $5 billion in the 12 months that ended April 30. Dress sales were up 30%, while sales for all women's apparel rose just 5%." Not that I'm taking any of the credit, mind you. (Thanks to Stacy for the link!)
I blogged about what I'm reading for the new site Writers Read — my entry is here.
And I don't usually post email folks send me (unless they ask me to), but lately I've been hearing from more and more men that they read this blog. They always say this sheepishly, as if they are the ONLY GUY IN THE WORLD to ever hit this URL. So, because I don't want them to feel alone, here's a recent email I received (posted with permission) from Joshua Ferguson:
Okay, so I’ll make it clear that I don’t really care about fashion.
First I’m a guy and as such I prefer function to fashion. I like cords, cargo pants and clothes that bring out the green/blue of my eyes and I prefer them all at the same time. That’s pretty much as deep as I go. If I can’t wear it with Vans shoes (unless in a formal setting) then it doesn’t need to be worn unless it has a specific function (read: hiking boots, gortex, et cetera).
Anyways, I was helping the girlfriend look for a dress to wear to her upcoming cosmetology graduation (something in a retro black/white polka-dot 50s style) that we could actually afford. I ran a Google Boolean search for [cute “black and white” “polka dot” god damn dress] and voila somehow I hit your site and landed squarely in the archives of October 2006 looking at a Chess Dress from way back when. It was awesome.
Awesome enough for me to read the description which was amusing enough for me to read more of the site. Finally I bookmarked it and have found myself reading about patterns and eyelets and whathaveyou and yet I don’t feel the need to renounce my manhood.
Truth be told I grew up around this stuff because my grandmother was a seamstress who worked for Chic Lingerie in Los Angeles but still. I find your site to be well written, fun and informative even if I have no intention of ever sewing another stitch in my life (it’s just not cost-effective to design my own clothes I reckon).
So, with all that said I end with a simple thank you. I have been amused and my scowl was turned upside down for the time being.
Cheers and keep it up as you would regardless of this email.
I have to say I enjoy the emails from people who say "I hate dresses, but I like your site," because that lets me know I'm not just preaching to the choir (note to choir: I love you guys, too). It's the same thing as when people come up to me and say "I thought a talk by a dictionary editor would be SO BORING, but I really enjoyed listening to you!" Hearts and minds, people, hearts and minds. Someday this will be a big ol' dictionary-usin', dress-wearin' world, and I can retire, my work done.
A Dress A Day 
This pattern has been re-issued as follows: http://www.butterick.com/item/B4790.htm?search=wrap%20around&page=1
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erin: i love your book choices, especially Scalzi’s “Last Colony”… john is a terrific writer and a heck of a nice guy to boot!when i was sick a year or so ago, when i was finally awake enough to read, but too tired to read anything new or demanding, i re-read a lot of my childhood favorites. i found particular comfort in “Gone Away Lake” and the Chronicles of Narnia.as for your dress-y influence, i am not a dress wearer (too long waisted to be comfortable) but i *love* your site. (i have you listed on my site under “The Passion of Others”.have a great 4th!
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Who could think a talk by a dictionary editor would be boring??But then, I work for a library . . .
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I haven’t been a dress wearer, but I started reading your blog about a year ago, and one of these days I am making a Duro. I think maybe I’ll even go fabric shopping this week! I have a trip to France coming up this September. A dress would be nice. Off dresses, on to books, I started reading Scalzi’s blog based on a mention in the U of C alumni magazine. You’re about the same age, did you know him then? I don’t really read much sci-fi, but I did read and enjoy The Android’s Dream.
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Knitgirl, in fact, Scalzi & I did overlap at the U of C. He was my gruff-but-genial editor at the Chicago Maroon for a while. Then I gave up journalism for the heady heights of College Bowl. 🙂
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It’s been years since I felt obliged to wear a dress (my sister’s wedding was one of the last times) but since I seem to ‘constantly mention’ your site to the husband, when talk about our 2nd anniversary started up, I usually torture him by asking “what should I wear?” and he writhes in pain (he has hideous taste and is color blind…)So now he felt comfortable in saying “You need to wear a dress!”I found a dress at Nordstrom which has a black jersey wrap top and a cotton full 50’s skirt which is black and white graphic.This is so I do not have to wear hose, or expose my whiter-than-white leg, or wear hose, which I detest.Another win for Dress-a-day! And I get to shop for shoes and another handbag!
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hey! i have the reprint of that pattern and made a great dress out of it. people always comment on it, and i love the way the skirt wraps around from the back.and your tips for dressing well on a budget were SO BRILLIANT, i should have commented on that too.
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Hi ErinI am so loving your blog. I had no hesitation blogrolling you …. I’ve read some of your delightful Secret Lives and saving the rest for other times. So many wonderful words to read.Now, can you help me…. but don’t worry if you have too much else on to respond to this. I am not yet a dressmaker – I made one or two items in my time and posses a sewing machine and have ambitions to make beautiful dresses to wear.This “Walk-Away” dress really caught my imagination and in buzzing round your site came across another dress: butterick6150 which forgive me but I thought had a similar construction with the wrap over but done the other way. What a fabulous looking idea. So my question is, are up to date patterns available for such styles or do I have to resort to buying an old original pattern?
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i love this dress!
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I read your blog every day that you post. I’m a shady-side-of-50, former-hippie-turned-CPA, jeans-and-t-shirt-all-the-time kind of person. No dresses, neither currently fashionable nor retro, for me. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy your blog, delight in the photos, and frequently learn something. (I copied and pasted into a Word doc yesterday’s entire post and comments about determining one’s own style.)Write on!
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Doris-Butterick has done a reprint of the one Erin has featured. It’s B4790. You can get it a Jo Annes or Hancock. (I usally buy mine when they are on sale for a$1.99)I ahve maide it. It’s very easy. I am busty and mine was big in the bust, so I will go down a size next time. The front- underskirt has a tendency to ride up a bit. I would reccommend making it. It’s very easy (and I am not that accomplished of a seamstress.Also, Repros are often availbe in more sizes. Most are near exact duplicates of the original. Vogue ahs the most, but Simplicity, Butteick and McCalls all have vintage lines. I would start with repros…and then as you confidence grows try vintage originals. The sources Erin has on the side are great. Some have vinatage patterns as low as $5.
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Oh – Erin — I think you should take some credit for the rise of dress buying/wearing.
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How timely! I just bought that Butterick reissue. Learning the history of it was very interesting!
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Thank you Theresa! I have just found it online in the UK …. but ours costs 7.25 which is some $14.62! However, it is a great pattern and well worth it. It is good to know that it really isn’t too difficult. Interesting what you say about the skirt at the front riding up – methinks that’s what the slips were for to help keep those details in place!Since I posted my message here earlier I’ve been looking at retro patterns new as well as original on ebay UK. Oh there are some fab patterns out there.And I reckon you are right about this blog of Erin’s single handedly encouraging more dressmaking. I’m inspired 🙂
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What a lovely e-mail from Joshua! And Erin – take the damn credit. Take it. 😀
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OMG! Not only do I have the re-issue of this pattern, but serendipitously I wore it today – Before reading the post. Talk about timely. I made it when it was first re-issued out of a red and white gingham print with black bias around the edges. So Fun! It was really easy to make and I would recommend it for everyone.
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Hi Erin, you can take credit for me sewing more and making more wearable dresses! I just never get pictures to post. I think of you and your blog when I’m browsing in fabric stores, collecting patterns, and while I’m sewing. I’m in the process of a blue and white polka dot dress to wear tomorrow with a red ribbon, that I hope would make you proud! I bought the fabric (along with a green gingham check with daisies) after your post on summer themed fabrics, I think you posed a challenge to us… (yes, March 14th.. you sort of did, and i took it literally though a bit behind schedule) I’ve bought duro patterns and fabrics that I aim to finish by the fall. Someday I’ll get to that retro wrap dress, it just takes so much fabric! You are an inspiration to me! (if not a mild obsession…!)
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I’m not that keen on dresses really, but I am keen on sewing so it relates. And some of the dresses you post I like and some I don’t and that’s fine. I do like reading something on the net where both the blog AND the comments are punctuated however. It’s so refreshing that all you people can actually construct sentences, spell and use punctuation. I happily forgive any minor errors and hurried typing because you’re hiding it from the boss at work and so on – but you know that other stuff I’m talking about, the unreadable “didn’t you go to school and why is everyone on this forum only 10 years old” kind of writing.I also enjoy the fact that there’s something new and interesting almost every day. I haven’t found any other sewing sites that are both engaging to me and regularly updated.Good work 🙂 My own blog languishes, so I commend you.
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I loved that innocuous last line: “Read Dictionary Evangelist, one of Erin’s blogs.” ONE of them. Ha.Anyway, I’m seeing a lot more dresses and I couldn’t be more thrilled! Though I find I’m leaning towards wearing skirts, myself. But I have two dresses going on my sewing machine right now – both a Butterick pattern that my mother SWEARS is the exact DVF wrap dress from the 70s. Can’t wait to wear them.
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I think that dress sales are up because dresses are now in stores. The last few years it has been very hard to find dresses at any time other than spring. Love to see the availability now.
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You know I can believe this. I saw so many women wearing dresses at my local grocery store that I was envious that I wasn’t wearing one. I am a skirt fiend, so dresses are not a huge leap. That dress has been reprinted like so many others have said. But I have a butterick vintage that buttons up the front instead of hanging open. I’ll post it to my blog in the next week for you to see. Ummm…that is if you have the time to read other blogs. You are one busy person!
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I FORBID you to retire. If you do, I will have to throw myself off a cliff.IHAVESPOKEN.
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Just wanted to let you know that my hubby is a manly guy who also LOVES your site. He doesn’t surf blogs as a rule – way too busy – but will often ask me ‘What is Dress a Day up to?’ He particularly loves your Secret Lives of Dresses, as do I.I am with that Forbid above. We’d be lost without you, Erin!Thanks for keeping the bar high!Kate Q:-)
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I just made that dress a couple months ago… LOVE IT!It wasn’t nearly as easy to put together as I thought it would be, but I’m unusually sized so mine required a lot of modification.I get so many compliments every time I wear it. A woman at work actually grabbed me by the arm and said “you won’t believe this, but my mom had the same kind of dress when I was a girl!”
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If anyone is interested, please be advised that the current issue of Threads magazine is all about vintage patterns: working with old patterns, learning old techniques and what not. I recommend it! I, too, have the Butterick reissue but haven’t tried it out. My waist is much lower than the marked waistline of patterns, so I may need to mess with it. I’m glad to hear other readers have had success with this pattern.
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I love this dress too! I bought the reissued pattern a couple years ago and it’s tacked up to my sewing room wall as a reminder to make it up. Just haven’t settled on which version to go with although I’m strongly leaning toward the black and white perhaps with polka dots. My sis in law was here a bit ago and saw it and wants one in brown and white polka dots.
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I also own the reissued pattern, but haven’t made it. (ah, the blessing of 99 cent pattern sales at JoAnn’s…)About the comment that dress sales are up this year–every adult male I know (husband, brothers, four grown sons, son-in-law) have commented on the JCPenney commercials and all the print ads in the Sunday paper: Wow, this is so cool–dresses are FEMININE again. (they love the knee-length, and the feminine stylings).
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My fianc loves it when I wear dresses. I don’t usually wear dresses or skirts to work because I have to walk outside a lot and it is often windy here, but I do wear a dress or a skirt to church every Sunday. I get a lot of compliments, some from other women, but mostly from men, especially older men. Things like, “It’s nice to see a young lady dressed so well,” or “You don’t often see ladies in pretty dresses like that anymore!” (Most of the young women at my church wear jeans.)
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Erin, I just love your site, and have this pattern as well as a lot of others that you feature. I’ve made this one from the original pattern out of a repro barkcloth, and it came out great!keep up the good work!
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I bought the reprint of this walk-away pattern a few months ago and made this dress – very cute, although the pattern is huge! I just blogged about it, which is funny, as I stumbled upon your site looking for something else! Anyway, fabulous blog!
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Ebay User “lubbockorleaveit” has Butterick 6015 up right now on “Buy It Now” for $75.
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NFqhrn Thanks to author.
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Nice Article.
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