There is absolutely no chance of me wearing this dress before, optimistically, April 1 (no foolin') but I saw it at Toinette's at Ruby Lane and could not stop myself from hitting the "BUY" button. Really. And you can see why, can't you? (And yes, I'm seriously considering the ruffly version hanging ghostlike there on the right. Wouldn't this be lovely in black, with white organza ruffles?)

This came a few days ago and it's been hovering on my desk ever since. I keep picking it up and sighing, while listening to the scrape of snow shovels on ice outside my window. If I hold this pattern up to my ear, I can hear — faintly, how faintly! — the song of the ice-cream truck and far-off illegal fireworks, instead. All summer in a few pieces of yellowing paper.

A commenter yesterday suggested that I goose the charity campaign along by posting some drabbles BEFORE we hit the goal, and I'm game. In fact, I will WRITE SOME TO ORDER. Here's how to play: send me a link (a LINK ONLY PLEASE, please do not attach the actual picture) to a vintage dress and I will choose three from all the ones that are sent to me by midnight Central time tonight, and write drabbles for those for tomorrow through Friday. Sound good?

I'll also try to set up that Paypal button later today.

In the meantime, if the widget below doesn't work for you, here's the link directly to the ChangingThePresent page …we're up to $1060! Thank you!

http://www.changingthepresent.org/flash/banners/drives/horizontal_banner.swf?env=production&drive_id=821

(image from The Beloved Woman)

Google Books (and Project Gutenberg, too) now has quite a few novels from one of my favorite guilty pleasures, Kathleen Norris. (Not the Kathleen Norris who is a poet and essayist, and who is still alive, but the Kathleen Norris who was the most popular women's novelist of the 1930s and 1940s (selling 10,000,000 books), peace activist, and early woman journalist.)

All her novels revolve around the same romantic linchpin: that marriage is sacred (she was a devout Catholic). I may snort at the plots that seem to tie up neatly with the convenient death of the bounder who is making the heroine unhappy (or, conversely, with the heroine's selfless realization that the bounder is her burden to bear and that her happiness will come, masochistically, from cooking that same burden hot dinners) but I really read them for her wonderful descriptions of the clothes and food of California society from the turn of the last century to the 1940s.

Ella thought her handsome, in a rather bold, savage way. Victoria was dark and rosy, with flashing eyes and [a] vivacious, almost nervous manner. She wore a dress of dark blue cloth trimmed about the high collar and wide cuffs and about the thick panniers of the skirt with scallops of gray silk, and a high straw turban turned back sharply from the face with two triangles of brim and massed with roses. This somewhat elaborate dress was snugly fitted into a narrow waist line; Victoria wore tan kid gloves, and high scalloped boots of tan kid. Her forehead, like her mother's, was covered with curled hair, and bangles jangled on her wrists, about her neck was a long gold chain that held the little watch that was thrust into her bosom. She was twenty-one.

from Certain People of Importance

"'Cucumbers, olives, salted nuts, currant jelly'", Mrs. Carew was
reading her list, "'ginger chutney, saltines, bar-le-duc, cream
cheese', those are for the salad, you know, 'dinner rolls, sandwich
bread, fancy cakes, Maraschino cherries, maple sugar,' that's to go
hot on the ice, I'm going to serve it in melons, and 'candy'–just
pink and green wafers, I think. All that before it comes to the
actual dinner at all, and it's all so fussy!"

from The Rich Mrs Burgoyne

Norris has a way of writing about dimity ruffles and oyster stew and silk "Chinese" pajamas that engender such a longing for you in those articles that it's hard not to book the first seat on the next train (not plane, mind you) to San Francisco, where, in her books, all these things are in such oversupply that it's the rare young woman who doesn't have at least two, if not all three, in her possession. If you have a little time (and don't mind reading on-screen) go ahead and click.

And, in fundraising news, a couple of folks have asked me to set up a Paypal button to donate; I don't mind doing so — are there other people interested? If the widget below doesn't work for you, here's the link directly to the ChangingThePresent page …we're up to $1000! Thank you!

http://www.changingthepresent.org/flash/banners/drives/horizontal_banner.swf?env=production&drive_id=821

There are two things I really like about this pattern (from Michelle, at Patterns from the Past). The first is the implication that by making this dress you, too, will be first cloned, then admitted to the all-girl replicant-cyborg-robot pastel army (as an NCO).

The second is the scribbling all over the pattern. I really do love buying patterns that show evidence of use. Some folks might like factory folds, but I like tape, pencilled notes, and random newspaper cuttings in MY patterns (bonus if the newspaper cutting is a recipe for Jell-O "salad" or any kind of waist-reducing calisthenics).

The markings on this one seem to show that the original owner was DETERMINED to make six identical dresses, don't they? Maybe she was a chorine? Maybe she needed to make dresses for her synchronized-swimming team's awards banquet? Or maybe she was a sextuplet! I don't know, obviously, but I love to speculate (even more obviously).

What do you think these markings mean? Extra points for dragging in any of the following: The Knights Templar, the NBA, the gold standard, and colony collapse disorder. Have fun!

Here's today's widget … and just to encourage you further to donate, I have that Secret Lives all ready and waiting for us to hit $1500 ….

http://www.changingthepresent.org/flash/banners/drives/horizontal_banner.swf?env=production&drive_id=821

Did I mention that I picked up this pattern last week, from MOMSPatterns? No? Well, I did. I couldn't resist. (It was, in fact, chanting "Resistance is FUTILE" in a tinny voice through my laptop speakers; I actually had to mute the darn thing. But it was too late.)

I have absolutely, positively no idea what fabric I'm going to make this in, but it will come to me. I'm sure of it. Probably right around the time that it's still SLIGHTLY too cold to wear it. (It's majorly too-cold here in Chicago right now. Snow, you were pretty at first, but, bored now …)

The attitudes of the women in the illustration here are just precious. Obviously stripey-dress woman is a huge drama queen: "Why, oh why, will no one come on my picnic with me? Do I OFF-end? Am I so re-PUL-sive?" Green dress and taupe dress, who are twins, of course, are studiously ignoring her (and communicating silently in their secret twin-language, which no one else understands). They are looking into the distance, hoping the bus will come soon so they can escape. (Don't you think that's the most plausible scenario for this illustration? I do.)

Wait — I lied. I would really like to make this dress in two coordinating prints, a darker one for the "T" middle and a lighter one for the sides and collar. That would be awesome. Maybe even light-on-dark stripes for the middle, and dark-on-light stripes for the sides … like I'm going to be able to find that easily. Or at all.

(Talking about finding easily, or at all, this is traditionally the time of year where I look in vain for a reasonably-priced [under $50] vintage short wool coat. I'd love something in a crazy plaid and low-hip length … which doesn't seem to exist, other than some Pendleton stuff I'm not crazy about. Any suggestions?)

And … while I'm stretching this blog post to ridiculous lengths, here's today's charity drive widget:

http://www.changingthepresent.org/flash/banners/drives/horizontal_banner.swf?env=production&drive_id=821

I can't believe we're over halfway there already … I better get to writin' them drabbles! (Remember, I post a full-length Secret Lives of Dresses the day we hit the goal, and a drabble every day post goal-hit until Christmas!)

A couple people have asked if there was anything else they could do (because of limited funds, or because they can't pay with a credit card, or whatever), and if that's you, you could also do this: send books to soldiers …

Check out this pattern at Born Too Late Vintage; It's quite like the pattern I used for this dress (the jellybean dress) only with buttons. (If I had found this pattern first, I probably would have used it. Big *pink* buttons, yum!) AND it's a B41. (Marge at Born Too late seems to have a nice stock of size 20 and up vintage patterns right now …)

I'm really liking those six-gore skirts, since it's fairly easy to add pockets to them. I have really determined that, unless I grow some kind of marsupial pouch, I'm never leaving the house without at least one pocket in whatever I'm wearing. And preferably TWO. (Bilateral symmetry: it's all the rage.)

In other pressing news: a couple of folks have said that this widget:

http://www.changingthepresent.org/flash/banners/drives/horizontal_banner.swf?env=production&drive_id=821

Isn't working for them … so here's a link to the web page. We're nearly 1/3 of the way towards the goal after ONE DAY. You all rock, seriously.

Also: new wiki contest update today. The prizes keep pouring in!

A couple-three things:

As per Tracy's suggestion, there's a permanent link to the wiki contest and how-to in the right hand side now, underneath the ads. Click there whenever you need reassurance.

Also, in addition to the $100 gift certificate from Janet at Lanetz Living, Rita at Chez Cemetarian has offered a $50 gift certificate for 2nd place! Thanks! UPDATE! Michelle from Patterns from the Past *and* Tina at What-I-Found *and* Jen at MOMSPatterns have all offered additional prizes! There will be much to be won, oh, yes!

Several people have emailed me asking for tips on photographing patterns rather than scanning them … anyone got any? Please leave them in the comments …

One more thing: lots of people on Flickr have posted pictures of their vintage patterns under a CC (Creative Commons) license … as long as you give attribution (a link back to the Flickr page) it should be kosher to add these pattern images to the wiki! Try this search to see what you find … or you may want to leave comments on people's Flickr images encouraging them to contribute to the wiki!

Happy wiki-ing!

Remember last year, when y'all raised an enormous amount of money for Heifer International, and we sent sheep to a community overseas?

This year, I'm hoping you'll join me again in raising money for another good cause … homeless women veterans.

Whether or not you support the war in Iraq (I don't); whether or not you believe women should serve in the armed forces (I do); whether or not you believe in Santa (I'm Santagnostic, actually) … the truth is that many women veterans, who have made considerable sacrifices for our country, are not getting a fair shake now that they're home.

Women veterans seem to get the short end of the very short stick that returning soldiers are asked to hold. (For instance, of the some 1,400 V.A. hospitals and clinics, currently only 27 house inpatient PTSD programs, and of these, just 2 serve women exclusively. Almost one in three veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq confronts mental health problems. You do the math.) Approximately 4% of the homeless veterans in VA programs are women — and that doubles to 8% in community-based (non-VA) programs. Women have special health care needs; many have dependent children.

With women making up 14% of the nation's combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of homeless women vets is rising every day. By donating to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, we can help develop programs to support women vets as they return home.

So this year I'm hoping we can raise $1500 for homeless women veterans, by Dec 24. (It may not sound like much, but every little bit helps.)

The day we hit the goal, I'll post a new full-length "Secret Lives of Dresses", and for every day between Reach-The-Goal Day and Dec 24, I'll post a Secret Lives drabble, just like last year.

To donate, just click on the widgety thingy below. It's all run by Changing The Present; I won't see who donated or how much. (Credit cards only; if you want to pay by Paypal, email me and we'll work something out.)

http://www.changingthepresent.org/flash/banners/drives/horizontal_banner.swf?env=production&drive_id=821

So, while I wasn't really paying attention, you all have added nearly SEVEN HUNDRED patterns to the Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki! That is, frankly, awesome.

Even more awesome is that Janet at Lanetz Living has offered a $100 gift certificate for a wiki contest! (UPDATE: Rita at Cemetarian has offered a $50 gift certificate for 2nd place!)

So here's how the wiki contest is going to work — I'd love to get EVEN MORE PATTERNS into the wiki, because the bigger it is, the more useful it will be. So let's aim for 3000 patterns by midnight, Central Time, Jan 1, 2008. If we hit that goal, I'll select ONE pattern page randomly from all those created and reward the creator with that spiffy Lanetz Living gift certificate!

Obviously, the more patterns you upload, the greater your chances of winning …

Quite a few people have emailed me, saying that they have a lot of patterns they'd like to add to the wiki, but they don't know how and they're worried about messing things up. To which I say: it's a wiki! Don't worry too much about messing things up. Wikis are both fluid and resilient; anything you "break" can be fixed in a matter of moments. But if you're still worried (or if you're not a "let's go in and mess around and see what happens" kind of person), here's a little quick how-to on adding pages and patterns to the wiki.

The first thing you should do, if at all possible, is log in. (It's okay to edit anonymously, but for practical reasons, I can't award the prize to Anonymous. You're in it for purely altruistic reasons if you edit anonymously.)

After you login in, create a page! A page starts with a pattern, and a pattern starts with a number. To start a new page for a new pattern, use this box:

This is the box on the Home page, on the lower left. If you use this box, then the page headers/dividers (Links to reviews/blog posts, Sources/Vendors, Gallery, and Wishlist) will show up on the page automatically.

Type your pattern name and number (e.g., Vogue 5380) into the box. That will start a new page called "Vogue 5380". If there is ANOTHER pattern already entered that has the same manufacturer and number, and yours is different, call it "Vogue 5380 A" (B, C, etc.).

Don't put extra information into the page name, like a date or a description. Just the pattern maker and number. Some early patterns didn't list makers, so you can just use a number (or call them Newspaper Pattern).

Now your new page should open! Then you can add an image. Look for the link that says "Insert Image". If you don't see the link, you're probably not logged in. Only logged-in users can upload an image. On my page it looks like this:

Clicking this will give you a "Browse" box — find the pattern image on your computer and click on it. Then upload it.

You will then get an option box to choose whether to upload a thumbnail (small) image, or a full-size. Unless your image is HUGE, off the screen huge, please upload the full-size. Caption it with the pattern name and number:

Your page should reload and you'll see these tags inserted on the page for the pattern image:

[[Image:Vogue5380.jpg|Vogue 5380]]

If you are linking to a page on your blog or your site, you can paste that link in under the "= Links to reviews/blog posts =" or "= Sources/Vendors =" lines. (If you are so inclined, you can link to any page where I've written about a pattern — to find it, Google ["Pattern Number" site:dressaday.com], which should turn up any pages on my site where that pattern is referenced.)

Now you're nearly done! All that's left is to add any notes or categories. If you feel like typing in the notes from the pattern ("Simplicity Pattern 1732 … This includes; 3 variations of this smart slim skirt. View 1 has high rise, shaped waistline and suspenders. View 2 boasts top-stitching and tab detailed pleat at left front. View 3 features a back kick pleat and tab trim at hipline.") go ahead!

You can also add categories: Some good ones for any pattern include the pattern manufacturer (Vogue), the year or decade if known (1950s, 1954), what kind of garment it is (dresses, jackets), any design features (pockets, collars), etc. Remember that the point of categories is to make "buckets" to sort patterns with. So if you'd like to be able to see a list of all patterns in the wiki that have french cuffs, you have to TAG all the patterns in the wiki that have french cuffs! [Not all categories are worthwhile: some bad categories would be "date of upload" (because it's in the history of the page), your name (ditto), "I like this" (not a useful category for OTHER people), etc.]

Then just hit SAVE and you're done! You made a pattern page! Right now uploading a new pattern takes me about three minutes. Depending on your internet connection, size of your pattern image files, and how many other people are uploading, you might take a teeny bit longer.

You might be asking "I'd love to help, but I don't really have a lot of pattern images … what can I do?" Lots! You can add categories, you can 'tidy' pages that don't have the right headers, and you can visit the list of sellers on the home page and upload their images! (If you do that, download the images to your hard drive first — otherwise you can't find them when you Browse — and be sure to link the seller's page to the wiki page.)

Go upload patterns, have fun, and figure out how you're going to spend that $100 at Lanetz Living. I'm not eligible to win, of course, but if I were, I'd probably start with this one (the one on the left)!