Sandritocat is having a Valentine's Day sale, ending Sat. 2/14. Anyone who purchases from her shop will be entered into a a giveaway of a $25 Gift Card to use in her store. Each pattern you purchase will give you one entry. (She is going to have her 7 year old draw the name, which should ensure total randomness!) The pattern above is available on her shop … click on it to visit!
If you're Chicagoland-local, Mary Beth is teaching a hat-making class this Sunday, and then again on the 22nd! The first Sunday class is almost full, so hurry-scurry! (Sadly, I'm booked solid both of those days, or I would be there …)
Oh, and one of the reasons things have been a little quiet around here lately is because I'm filling in for Jan Freeman at the Boston Globe for a few weeks. You can read my columns on correcting people (don't) and Twitter, if you like.
Other quickies:
Amy sent a link to Little Dresses for Africa.
Carol P. sent a link to this fantastic Garden of Eden dress. It won top design prize at the annual meeting of the International Textile and Apparel Association. I wish I'd know about them before, their last meeting was in Schaumburg (very close to Chicago).
A Dress A Day 
That dress pattern is gorgeous! It’s to bad I’m on a pattern fast.
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I love your correcting people column. I’m afraid I was a repeat offender when I was younger and stupider in the ways of the world! If anyone else checked out that Little Dresses for Africa link and wants to get involved, I’m working on getting a group started in Denver. Given, the dresses won’t be as pretty as Erin’s creations, but there will be warm fuzzies galore!
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The column was great. I was in a Hancock’s fabric store’s bathroom recently, where the toilet bears the note: “Hold handel down for 15 seconds to flush.”Some smug toileter had scrawled in the margin “Like Handel’s ‘Messiah?'” Ugh. You just cringe to read such scribbled smarminess.I hope it was a teenager; surely an adult wouldn’t indulge in both sign-correcting AND boasting about “classical music knowledge” in a fabric-store bathroom. Probably it’s the only thing by Handel this girl has ever heard of. On a happier note, that’s a cute pattern. That bodice would never in a million years stay put on me, but the illustration with the stripes is pretty cute.
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The column was great. I was in a Hancock’s fabric store’s bathroom recently, where the toilet bears the note: “Hold handel down for 15 seconds to flush.”Some smug toileter had scrawled in the margin “Like Handel’s ‘Messiah?'” Ugh. You just cringe to read such scribbled smarminess.I hope it was a teenager; surely an adult wouldn’t indulge in both sign-correcting AND boasting about “classical music knowledge” in a fabric-store bathroom. Probably it’s the only thing by Handel this girl has ever heard of. On a happier note, that’s a cute pattern. That bodice would never in a million years stay put on me, but the illustration with the stripes is pretty cute.
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I wish I could attend this hat class! Those hats are so gorgeous!
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Erin, on a totally unrelated note, what’s your advice about empire-waist dresses? Are they on the way out? Will they stick around for another year or two? Love them or hate them? (I’m holding in my hand Vogue 8108, an empire-waist pattern I bought three years ago, and haven’t made because of getting pregnant twice since then, which prompts this question. The dress looked so original and intriguing then… and it still has potential now, but I’m thinking this trend is apt to die any minute now.)
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The link to the Little Dresses was very interesting. I love knowing that sewing can make a difference. If I can I’ll see if any of my friends are interested in making some(I found that a couple of my friends can at least hand sew and I have a machine).
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I love Twitter. Sigh.
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Thanks for the terrific link to sandritocat. Love her logo. Congrats on getting the guest columns! They are both fascinating.
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How come their waists are smaller than their heads?? (scene from GWTW)Mammy “Twenty inches.”Scarlett’s jaw drops.Scarlett “I’ve grown as big as Aunt Pitty! You’ve simply got to make it eighteen and a half again!”Mammy(shakes her head) “You done had a baby, Miss Scarlett, an’ you ain’ never goin’ to be no eighteen an’ a half inchesagain – never. An’ dar ain’ nothin’ to do ’bout it.”
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Sigh….really wish I could go to the Hat class…but…I’m in California…SIGH!!!!
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Hmmm…if you made the Advance pattern top and belt in black velvet or jersey and the skirt of white chiffon, that could pass for Grace Kelly’s opening costume in To Catch a Thief. (Well, without the embroidery. But I like simpler things, anyway.)
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SORRY! Damn it, I hate that there’s no edit button!I mean Rear Window ! ! !
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http://www.juanalbuerne.com/GraceKellyRW.html Sadly, can’t find many good pics of that Rear Window dress, but this one’s fun.
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I love that Garden of Eden dress. Gorgeous colors, and I really want to touch that fabric. When I win the lottery I am hiring Ms. Fair to design ALL my clothes.
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I really enjoyed both your articles. The “Correctiquette” one a bit more, as I really don’t have a clue about twitter. And somehow I get the feeling that’s a good thing…
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Loved all the things in your post today. That Eden dress is wonderful!!! Thanks also for the link to Little Dresses for Africa. I really would like to participate in some way. If there is anyone in Anchorage Alaska that would like to join me please contact me. ok. I have tons of fabric and notions that we could use. k
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Hi Erin,I am also doing a project to send T-shirt dresses to Sierra Leone. I am collecting up new and used cute T-shirts or knit shirts, cut them off empire style, and then putting a gathered bottom portion using remnants and such. I have contact with a missionary going there in late summer and she is shipping them with her supplies. The needs are many, and I feel so blessed to be able to sew and help with a few of those needs.Blessings,Patti
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Thanks so much for the little dresses link, I’ve recently started looking for some charity sewing possibilities, which seem a little on the scant side. There are tons for knitters, but I wouldn’t want to punish anyone in need with something I knit.Thanks also for the link to the oh-so-gorgeous Garden of Eden dress. I think it’s going to have to go into my visual inspiration file right this moment! Hooray for Human Ecology departments!
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I’m scared of the hat model, I think she’d kick my arse!
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I love the Correctiquette article. My husband loves to correct my pronunciation of a few words. I hear myself saying them correctly and he insists I do not. And he doesn’t even take out the garbage!I am so excited to see such a positive response to the Little dresses for Africa project! Thank you to everyone who chooses to participate!
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Ahn – peer – who cares if they are still in style! Personally an Empire waist really works on me, so that’s what I like to make. I don’t make billowy empire bur more strctured ones – I have a thick wiast and big boobs, broad shoulder and i am short. An empire shows off the smallest part of me and makes my legs look longer. If it looks good on you and makes you happy -it’s never out of style.
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Fabulous pieces in the Globe!
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I’m with Theresa on the empire waists. That’s the only waist I can ever hope to have.They may ‘go out’, but somehow I think fashion has changed. Trends are getting so much more superficial. There is much more variety in the cut of the garments.
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I’m with Theresa and Nommh, too, Ahm-Peer. The whole point to being able to sew is to make what you like, and that which suits YOU – regardless of what’s in style. If you’re looking to make something a bit trendy, make the dress in a colour which is popular this season – one which also happens to suit you, that is. If you keep a limited number of colours in your wardrobe, go right on ahead and make that dress up in one of them! Note: don’t forget to at least pin-fit the paper pattern on yourself; I’m in favor of making muslins, myself – but it’s partly because I’m made out of spare parts, and need to fiddle with patterns. I believe I actually have something pretty darned similar to this one in my stash; it’s a nice compromise between a high and a standard waist, if it’s cut the way it’s shown, and not just illustrated with a wide sash.
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