Have we actually HAD a linktastic Thursday yet? Nevermind, this will still be the largest one. I have to keep you guys going over the (for US-ians) holiday weekend, since there's no way I'm blogging tomorrow, my FIFTEENTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!
The present for the fifteenth anniversary is "crystal," and so DH and I have been joking about what to give each other: "A DVD of The Dark Crystal
Anway: on to the links!
I sorta bought this pattern last week, even though I still have no idea where to put the pockets. It's so Lilly-Pulitzery, isn't it? I think it's the scarf-ponytail combo. I see this in a Liberty twill with contrast binding, natch … or maybe a bright pique. Yellow with pink binding? Ooh! Anyway, Michelle at Patterns from the Past has one more, in a slightly bigger size (B38-40); click on the image to go snap it up! And tell me where to put the pockets, please.
Oh, and speaking of patterns: Jen has started a special section on her site, where almost 200 patterns are on sale for $1-4. And her coupon code for July is FIREWORKS15, for 15% off. Use it over and over again all month …
The nice folks (Hi Trudy!) at Hotpatterns are running a Choose 3, Pay for 2 sale … I think it's automatic, no code required.
Sheila at Out of the Ashes Collectibles is also doing a sale: 15% off all weekend, code AMERICA.
PashaPlum just put up some larger-sized patterns in her Etsy shop. I like this one best.
Remember that Sew U wiki contest? Birgit and Jace won!
Mary Beth sent a link to this bib at PurlBee. It's not a dress, but they've got this gorgeous linen bias tape in from Japan that is well worth seeing …
Kay sent a link to another toilet-paper wedding dress contest, this one for design students (sponsored by Cashmere tissue, which I think is a Canadian brand). Some "I can't believe that's made of toilet paper" moments there, for sure.
Several people (including Margaret and India and Jen) sent a link to the great felt-tip marker pocket dress:
I love all the little pockets, but couldn't at least one of them been big enough for my cell phone?
Lisa sent a link to a kerfuffle over at the NYT about jackets-required restaurants. Needless to say, I'm firmly on the side of the snooty restaurant. I'm not saying you can't eat fancy food in flip-flops; I'm saying why would you WANT to? There are few enough opportunities to get all dolled up these days, so let us have our fun!
Nora sent a wonderful link to the naughtiness that was the tea gown.
Eirlys sent a link to this Michael Miller fabric called That's Sewing Wrong. It made me laugh …
And Dilly sent a link to this wool with little Es on it. I think it would make an incredibly elaborate Halloween costume. You sew it on the bias to make a businessy suit and then claim to be an Enron executive. NOBODY would get it, which would be wonderful.
Did you know The Blue Gardenia is blogging about learning to sew? She's hilarious. And she certainly has enough patterns to choose from. (But I don't think she should do this one.)
Rita at Cemetarian sent me this in response to my I-love-tucks post. Soooo nice.
I saw Jeffrey Beebe's paintings last week and fell in love with them. I now need to become moderately-to-ridiculously rich so I can afford his work. But a girl can dream … about clock-watching bristle-block guys.
And too-many-people-to-list sent me the link to the letter scarf. And pretty much everyone apologized for sending it, to which I say: "Don't apologize! Keep sending!" I mean, it's not like your links pile up in drifts around my office … and each one is a lovely reminder that people actually read this blog, internalize my obscure tastes, recognize excellent items elsewhere on the interwibble and then are motivated enough to hit SEND. Which, quite frankly, is a power medieval kings would (and often did) kill for. So keep sending! I love links!
But that's all I have for today. Check back next week for more of As the Links Churn. Will Erin ever find orange bandanna-print fabric? Or clean up her sewing room? Or get to Trader Joe's for more 100-calorie milk chocolate bars? Tune in and find out!
A Dress A Day 
Happy Anniversary!Enjoy your lovely long weekend. It’s so nice of the whole country to celebrate with you.I can’t help you with the pockets on that dress, but that is just another variation of the wraparound/walkaway dress, isn’t it? You could probably put small patch pockets on the side front sections. Or, redesign the piece and give it side seams and put the pockets there. That’s what I plan to do, if I ever get around to making a “walkaway” dress.BTW, The link to the bib is malformed/broken.
LikeLike
Heartiest congratulations to you and your love. Fifteen years together is awesome! Have a great weekend together!
LikeLike
Hello and congratulations. The dogs and I are sending warmest wishes to you and your whosband (that’s the word I like for husband) on your anniversary! Have you thought about watching old episodes of Dynasty? You could toast with Cristal every time they say “Krystal Carrington.” Better still, you could toast when Joan and Lynda have a cat fight which would be…what?…at least a twelve times per episode. Have fun and thanks for the linkylinks!
LikeLike
I’d vote for the Dark Crystal DVD…but that’s just because the price range and the humor factor seem to even things out.Like the rest of the world, I thought of you when I saw the letter scarf. However, I also thought of you when I received a recent custom necklace from http://www.prettysillythings.com ; she makes glass pendants with pictures or excerpts from old dictionaries. Though I am, as a rule, against the destruction of books, I’m all for recycling things. Yay for things with words!
LikeLike
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! Have a lovely weekend FULL of fireworks! *wink wink*
LikeLike
I think that little dress is begging for a pocket over the chest, in the style of a pair of childrens overalls. Have a great anniversary, stay out of the meth!
LikeLike
Happy happy Anniversary……..and here’s to 21 more then you can play catch-up with me…….LOL…but by then you will be celebrating an entirely different thing…..endurance, patience, just lots of things. Hope the weekend is a Great one for you both.Rita
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary!Here’s my gift of ‘crystal’…http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=crystal+maze&search_type=
LikeLike
A viewing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Drinking Cristal from the Waterford while listening to the Crystal Skulls?Congrats on 15 years!!
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary! I think you should make some matching outfits (perhaps caftans?) for the day, decorated with Austrian crystals.Interesting to read about tea gowns! They look refreshingly comfy. Someone who specialized in making these was the fashion designer Lucile, the sister of scandalous novelist Elinor Glyn. Lucile would name the sexiest version in each collection after her sister. They sold well.
LikeLike
A very Happy Anniversary to you and your lucky husband!And a very safe and happy Fourth of July to you and all your readers!*My vote is for crystal jewelry, but it WOULD be …
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary to you and your husband! …and thank you for the wonderful linktastic Thursday! [click, click, follow-up search, click] As a chemist by training, my contribution to the crystal gifts has to be a protein crystal structure. Here is the “top view” of one of the prettiest proteins I know: a channel protein (unfortunately, the link expires two weeks from now). The symmetry always reminds me of a Spirograph drawing. Now if someone made a dress with this as a repeat on the fabric….
LikeLike
wow! You have fast readers. I’m sorry to say the sewing pattern shown above is sold and off to it’s new home. I have another walk-away wanna-bee on that same page. I look forward to seeing what you do with the pattern, Erin. regards,Michelle @ oldpatterns.com
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary and Happy Independence Day! Just remind your sweetie that many semi-precious stones are crystals ;), if he’s in a semi-precious mood.Love the sewing fabric;wouldn’t it make a cute apron?Kathleenhttp://littlehuntingcreek.blogspot.com/
LikeLike
redesign the front wrap to come a little further toward the center and put patch pockets on left front and right front. Small, rounded corners, trimmed to match the dress.
LikeLike
Erin, I have that same slim walkaway dress pattern from ebay several months back. I have not made it yet, not sure how it would look on me. Most of my pattern purchases are would love to make it, but what if it looks terrible and it sits in the filebox. Post a picture when you make it. Happy anniversary!
LikeLike
I think you could put a secret pocket (the best kind) on the inside of the wraparound just before the belt.I am trying to figure out how to overdye the clock fabric: it’s bright white, and I think a soft blue-grey would be better, if only I can find one that won’t cover up the print. Problems, problems.
LikeLike
I am link-sated–I think it might carry me through till Monday.
LikeLike
15 years – you go girl!
LikeLike
Happy anniversary! 😀
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary! My hubby and I are celebrating 5 years tomorrow. It’s a nice day to have married, isn’t it?I’m all in for the crystal jewelry. Or really bright Blenko glass, which is kind of “crystal” (it also really reminds me of the 50s aesthetics, which reminds me of some of the dresses you’ve liked and posted.)Cheers!
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary! Thank you for including my link.
LikeLike
Erin, you’re so gracious! Thanks for encouraging people to keep on sending you links. If only more medieval kings were that thoughtful, history would have been much more boring. Happy anniversary!
LikeLike
Put welt pockets under the skirt flaps (I’m assuming they are flaps of course.
LikeLike
Congratulations on your anniversary, Erin! We’ve just celebrated 17 years, by which point the special significance appears to have petered out (from 16 on) and resumes from 20. Still, I’m grateful to have made it to marital No Man’s Land.Here’s something to add to your collection of things with “E” on: http://www.mortonshouse.co.uk/It's a lovely Elizabethan hotel in Dorset UK, built in the shape of a letter E in honour of Queen Elizabeth I (or, at least, that’s what they told her). My man and I spent our honeymoon night here. [Cue: “Ahhh!”]. Went back with our baby son a few years later, which was considerably lest restful, and the baby monitor wouldn’t work between restaurant and room (thick stone walls). Enjoy your Independence Day weekends, everyone!
LikeLike
The front of this dress would be too cluttered if you added pockets. The back has more room. Try big rounded patch pockets on the back of the dress, edge them in the same binding as the dress. Then this walkaway dress will have a cute rear view.Anonymous because I can’t figure out how else to post, but my name’s Colleen.
LikeLike
Congratulations to you and the Mister! Best wishes for the next 15! (My sweetie and I are coming up on 7 years together; we’ve joked about taking a sabbatical. Instead we’re moving together to Detroit, from California; if we survive that I think we can make it to 15…!)
LikeLike
First, Erin, congratulations to your lucky hub for the 15th anny! Have a lovefest. Secondly, thanks so much for the link. Many Dressaday devotees dropped by (how’s that for unintended alliteration?!) and made my day! Keep coming back, dress divas!
LikeLike
Can anyone tell me in which issue of Threads Erin has an article? I have the July issue, and can’t find one. Perhaps we have a different version in Canada – or am I looking in wrong month? (mentioned by a couple of people in June 30 comments)Thanks!
LikeLike
Patch pockets on the back, like the pockets on a pair of jeans, only made in nice rounded shapes and edged with the same binding as the dress? Make them a feature!
LikeLike
anybody know what a pattern means when it says to cut a peice out of stiffening? Would that be interfacing, lining? Any ideas? I would appreciate it.
LikeLike
Theresa — what pattern piece is it? I think stiffening is different if it’s a belt rather than a collar, etc.
LikeLike
Theresa,A piece of stiffening would be interfacing. There are many kinds, and many weights, from horsehair (for tailoring), to light weights just to give some body under light -weight, like a chiffon that you want to put buttonhole in. Fusible & non-fusible. It is totally up to you what effect you want to create, and the reason you want an area stabilized – you can even leave it out if that suits you. Good luck,Flagon Donaldson of the Conspiracy
LikeLike
It’s the back yoke and kimono sleeves of a dress
LikeLike
so rude of me —Thank you Erin and happy anniversary. And thank you kathleen
LikeLike