PatternStash is having a sale March 20-22: She'll be offering a 15% discount in place of the usual 10% – just mention dressaday. (At Pattern Stash, shipping is just a flat $2.50 in the U.S. for all your patterns, no matter how many patterns you purchase.) (That's one of her patterns above, which I find both charming and disturbing in equal measure.)
www.GlamourSavvy.com is also having a Spring Sale. 25% off all items (including patterns) through the end of March. Just use code word "March" at checkout.
Also, I'm strangely tempted by this swimsuit:
Not that I think this cut would be especially flattering on me (or flattering AT ALL, mores the pity), but because I *LOVE* that color, and I had a swimsuit exactly that color when I was about eleven. I'm sure if I lie down for a little while this urge will go away, but if it doesn't for you, click on the image to visit the Popina Swimwear page — it's on sale for $40.
Also — all of you who've ever had a less-than-perfect dog? Need to read this blog. Go now, I'll wait.
Completely randomly: I like this t-shirt.
Less randomly: there is a giant button auction going on until March 22. (That's [giant][button auction], not [giant button][auction]. If there were a [giant button][auction], don't you think I'd post a picture?) Details here. (Thanks Brenda!)
A Dress A Day 
No (giant button)(auction)?! If you ever hear of one, please let us know!
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Why is it disturbing?
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Because I am CONVINCED that Girl the Younger is about to EAT that bird.
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Love the shirt, fear the swimsuit.
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Love the shirt the modern take of The Ravin
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must point out that another bonus of that swimsuit is that the cut of the legs obviates the need for any sort of bikini-area waxing, which is a plus… just sayin’
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I too had a yellow swimsuit when I was about that age. It had gathers at the bustline (what did I do with those gathers?) and I remember feeling pretty good in it. Those children on the pattern look a little evil-maybe they want that swinsuit?
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Every time I see one of these vintage girl dresses, I just swoon. How….CUTE! But the skirts always look a wee bit (okay, a lot) too short to me. That length makes them easy to play active games in, but these aren’t play dresses, are they? If I were a little girl (I mean in body, to match my existing Little Girl heart), I think I’d want a skirt to the tops of my knees, especially if it flared out. Is the mid-thigh length shown in the pattern the standard??? (You have to imagine those 2 girls standing up straight, of course.)
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I love that T-shirt and I can envision all kinds of variations on that theme…how about a tiger image out of the words to “Tyger, Tyger?” and so on.I read that dog blog. It is the sort of thing that makes me grateful for my own life and the biting/allergic/expensive pitbull that I do not own.
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Definitely scared of that swimsuit, but hey Erin, I just got back from Chicago (again), and made a point this time of going to the Chic Chicago exhibit (http://www.chicagohistory.org/planavisit/exhibitions/chic-chicago) after you blogged about the butterfly dress. What a FABULOUS exhibit! Thanks for pointing it out. Anyone going to Chicago needs to see it.
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the bad dog blog is fantastic. Thanks for the link, Erin! Also, the boy leg yellow suit is adorbs. I would never wear the color, but I bet you could pull it off.
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What a cool tshirt! I like the other links, especially the little girls (OK, I have three girls who have to be beaten into trousers), but I *really* want that tshirt…anon in Ire
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I’m not sure I see the point of the bad dog blog. That dog needs an intervention! The allergies and IBD are one thing–you can’t blame somebody for their allergies–but biting is a problem (and, no, not just because he’s a pit bull. I love pit bulls). The [non-pit bull] dog we had when I was a kid was aggressive and would have been a biter had we allowed anyone to get close enough, but it was *totally* our fault for failing to socialize or get behavioral help for him. We didn’t know any better at the time, but there’s no way I’d let that go on now, no matter how sorry I felt for a dog with health issues.
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Flapper, I think the point of the bad-dog blog is that sometimes, no matter how hard you work, your dog isnt good. If you read the posts comments, theyve had him in training classes, theyve owned pit bulls before, they use a muzzle, hes on drugs … the point is that sometimes its nobodys fault, and then you have to figure out: what do we do now?
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Just want to tell you — again! — how much I enjoy your blog. I haven’t made a dress in years but I always love your pattern picks. And the recent pattern stories were wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing.
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The older girl has that too good to be true look on her face like Patty McCormick in The Bad Seed.
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I love the color AND the cut on that swimsuit!! I know the color would never suit me (I don’t tan) so I am checking out the website now for alternative hues. Thanks for the tip :~)
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That swimsuit looks like it will require repeated tuggings to keep it in place around the legs/crotch area. The little girls are undoubtedly wearing little ruffled panties under those short little skirts, because when you are younger than six, it’s cute and girley to bend over and show your ruffles. Then you go to first grade, and BAM! suddenly it’s considered bad manners to show the world your panites. I’m nearly sixty years old, and I’m still a little stunned over that.
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I agree with Erin, and then you have to call the Dog whisperer.I saw that pattern before too and got totally creeped out.
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I wish the girls would scrunch their socks down a little, or fold them into a cuff at the very least. High socks are no good!!
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I think you might like *this* tshirt:http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PRODStore_Code=TOProduct_Code=BEAT-EXCITED-ASPHCategory_Code=BEATThe artist (Kate Beaton) also has a website with very funny and charming comics mostly about historical figures. cheers!
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Wow, you’re right, Cookie; that is a VERY short skirt. I think that was the style then but it certainly wouldn’t fly today. Not on MY daughters, at least ;-)But, I am strangely intrigued by the waist treatment (rickrack FTW!)… I bet I could duplicate that look on a modern (longer) pattern. I’m betting it’s not an integral piece but rather a triangle shaped overlay.
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Cookie, those short skirts scarred me for life. That was the style back in my little girlhood. Swinging, skinning the cat, running the bases,or jumping a fence brought those bad boys’ chant, “I see London…” I had an unhappy preoccupation with my underpants. To say nothing of the wind sweeping down the plain straight off the North Pole onto bare legs. Cute in a picture, yes; kind to little girls, most emphatically no.
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Re: dog whisperThen you agree with both of us, because calling the dog whisperer would be, in fact, an intervention.
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I loved the little girls’ dresses — I think I have the original pattern that my mother used to make me more than one dress like that. She made them just above the knee length and they had matching shorts underneath so when they showed they weren’t panties.
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I think you should buy the swimsuit. And wear it. And glory in the fact you’re wearing a colour you love. I have tights this colour that go with no other piece of clothing I own – but ah they’re glorious.- Ella (furrows nest)
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The younger girl looks like a watermelon with one slice cut out.
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That is a really cute little swimsuit, but I’m afraid from a distance it would give people the impression that I was actually naked.
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Thanks for the link to the I Love My Bad Dog Blog, Erin. I’m glad she started that blog.
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i’m afraid i have a dog very much like piney. She’s a pitbull rescue we named Banjo, and we love her very much–even though she has many issues and is very expensive.
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Anonymous, what on earth is the childhood pastime called “skinning the cat”? Please tell me it involves no cats – or at least, no skinning. Thank you!It’s my belief that putting little girls in short skirts and then telling them that they weren’t supposed to let their panties show was a way of controlling their behaviour: instant leash. At least by the time my little sister was in school, the girls were wearing shorts under their skirts as a matter of course – at least at lunchtime, when they were playing. They were all wearing skirts, since they were wearing uniforms. I still think some kind of attractive, OK-to-be-seen bifurcated nethergarment worn under skirts isn’t a bad idea for us bigger girls – I’ve read a lot of letters from women who write, “Well, I CAN’T wear a skirt, or a dress, during the day – I have children to take care of!!” Makes you wonder how on earth our mothers and grandmothers managed – not to mention all those centuries’ worth of foremothers in their long skirts. I lean towards dark tights under skirts and dresses, myself, but am also planning to experiment this summer with pettipants of some variety. Very probably with ruffles – even if I have to add the ruffles!
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That is simply one of the coolest t-shirts. Thanks for the link.
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I wear boxers under skirts in the summer. But I’ve contemplated some pretty ruffled short bloomers, too.
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