Anthropologie actually calls this the Great Heights Shift, so they are to blame for the instant earworm I just gave you, not me. Honest. (Anyone earwormed with the Iron & Wine version? Raise your hand in the comments.)
Eirlys sent me the link to this dress (I'm pretty sure — Eirlys, was that you?) and I've been a-thinkin' about it something fierce. Not that I will buy this dress, because (given the reviews) it probably wouldn't fit me very well, but because I love this fabric. Love. It. So I keep thinking of ways to get me some. Like, "calling Anthropologie headquarters, tracking down stalking the manufacturer, and begging" ways. None of which will work, because, given the way modern retailing works, this dress was made months ago and there's probably, like, a yard of this fabric left (and it's being used to re-cover an ottoman, or make a cat-bed). Sigh. Anyway, that little picture up there doesn't do the fabric justice, click on the link and do the mouse-y close-up thing. (You know. That thing.) THEN you'll see. This would make the cutest A-line skirt with pockets … or another Heidi, of course.
Completely unrelated: I found an awesome new (old) word for "someone who sews": sewster. You're welcome.
A Dress A Day 
OK first off, this suggestion necessitates several prerequirements that may or may not seem completely whackadoodle to you but:could you reproduce this fabric (or close to this) yourself and have it printed ala Spoonflowering it? Obviously this would require an ability (and willingness) to draw. Its possible stalking- er- begging the manufacturer would be more feasable.
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Sorry but my earworm is of the Postal Service variety – for me its Ben Gibbard or nothing, but YMMV.This dress reminds me of that book that was, like, a cross-country drive and you read it and its a day landscape and then you turn it upside down and its the night landscape. The drawings were all black-and-white like this and it was a very popular book when I was in elementary school in the 80s. Anyone remember what that book was called?
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While its certainly not exactly the same, I have a fat quarter of a print called City Limits seen here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/15539359@N03/2219623774from a shop in Toronto called The Workroom. Its all black background and is a little more whimsical than the Anthropologie one, but at least its fabric available for sale to the general public!And yes, Iron and Wine, in my head all day now… 🙂
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IMMEDIATELY with the Iron Wine.
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I love sewster!! Much better than sewist. And anything is better than sewer. As for the fabric — I wonder if theres any way to find out where their remnants go? Otherwise, yeah spoonflower…
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I absolutely love skyscraper/ city fabrics and must admit to owning quite a few. eQuilter have a slightly abstract one which I really like (although for some reason, havent succumbed to yet), sadly it doesnt have the great border – http://equilter.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=111693sid=93LKiA2Sa2aP0MF-28110380368.37 –
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Erin, isnt this similar to that fab CityQuilter.com fabric you showed us a few months ago, in their Olde New York and NYC series? Heres the link (sorry its so long — I still stink at that HTML thing):http://secure.netsolhost.com/191487.194242/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGYStore_Code=CQOCategory_Code=FQNY
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I love the fabric up close! However, from afar, its kinda creepy. Does anyone else feel like they are looking at a giant snaggle toothed mouth when viewing the dress from afar? Then again, maybe thats due to the dinosaur related homework I was helping my DD with last night.
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Sewster?Do they were fedoras, black pinstriped suits and two-tone wing tips when they sew?
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I loved this dress, too, when I saw it on anthros site — good luck with the great fabric search!And I wanted to say thanks for the non-earworm, since I dont think Id heard the song before (but its — well, *theyre* — great, so Im glad I have now)!
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Postal Service for me, though I have the Iron Wine version on my iPod too.
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Oh wow! This dress makes me wish I knew how to screen print. Actually, a lot of clothing I see make me wish I could create prints.@Lisa Simeone:Holy cow I LOVE the NYC subway fabrics! Theyre fabulous. I dont even live in NYC and Id love to make something from them. Too cool.
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I love this dress! Makes me wanna spoonflower the fabric!As for the Iron Wine version of Such Great Heights, I walked down the aisle at my wedding to that version as played by my nephew.
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If youre in the LA area, you can go to the garment disctrict and probably find a bolt of that fabric. Ive found stuff there that was the previous seasons retail remnants.
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Dress is gorgeous! And..*raises hand* Such Great Heights Iron Wine cover since 2006. 🙂 LOVE IT.
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At thefind.com, on elkabee fabric paradise, theres some fabric thats awful darn close. Sometimes close isnt good enuf, but it was fun to look for it anyway. We dont have buildings that high in Kansas.:o)
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Awesome word…I think I like sewster better than sewist too! I hope you put it in Wordnik!
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I was browsing the comments on the Anthropologie site. I couldnt understand why someone would buy this dress (with a cityscape print!) and write this: CONS: design looks like a city lanscape While I like the fit of this dress, I cant move beyond feeling like Im wearing a black/white picture of buildings. Felt like I was advertising the San Francisco skyline or something. Aesthically Im going to pass on this one.It sounds like the fit and the quality is not so great. Im on the fence with this print and believe me, I love novelty prints.
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I was browsing the comments on the Anthropologie site. I couldnt understand why someone would buy this dress (with a cityscape print!) and write this: CONS: design looks like a city lanscape While I like the fit of this dress, I cant move beyond feeling like Im wearing a black/white picture of buildings. Felt like I was advertising the San Francisco skyline or something. Aesthically Im going to pass on this one.It sounds like the fit and the quality is not so great. Im on the fence with this print and believe me, I love novelty prints.
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strange, I would think one would buy the dress BECAUSE of the city scape feel… love love. Sewster! Awesome!
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You can always make your own here:http://www.visionbedding.com/Fabric/Cityscape.php
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I thought the same thing Joni! I have that book in my classroom (I think) but I dont remember the title either. darn!JenL
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This dress is part of Anthropologies Vera Neumann collection. Maybe the Vera Company would have the info about the fabric. I think we ought to bug them about producing Vera fabrics anyway!http://www.theveracompany.com/index.php
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You could stalk the Anthropologie sale page and try to get it in a ginormous size, then you could size it to fit your dimensions. Ive done that with Thrift Store dresses… when you just know youll never come across that fabric again and cant live without it even though there is no way that 22W muu-mu is going to work.
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umm there is a store in Harrisonburg Va, Ragtime Fabrics that buys remnants of fabric from the NY Fashion district. You can google them.
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Iron and Wine.Though it didnt come up until you said earworm and I had to go back and figure out what you were referring to
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such an awesome print! Im sure you already know about this, but I found your blog through the book Breakfast at Bloomingdales, where it was mentioned. Just figured Id pass that on in case you somehow hadnt heard about it.-indigo
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I didnt even realize there was anything other than the Postal Service version of Such Great Heights.OMG, love the City Limits print. I must have it! Hee.AEBL, you are not the only one, I see giant creepy teeth, too. In my case, I see Venom from Spiderman and not dinosaur teeth.
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Reminds me of a New York City skyline circle skirt I passed up at the Miami Vintage Show. Boo 😦 What was I thinking??
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Iron Wine is the version I know.
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Very, very cool.
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Definitely Iron and Wine. I LOVE that version. Theyre a great band. Love, love, love. 🙂
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In CBSs magazine (is it called Watch?), a few months ago, they had a blond starlet — maybe Kaley Cuoco — in a black and white dress with a cityscape on it, and she had a matching cape in basically the reverse of the pattern. I liked the picture enough to clip it out, but I cant find the picture online.
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Okay the book is called Round Trip by Ann Jonas and I did have it in my classroom library :)JenL
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hand=raised. eye=caught. wallet=empty? There must be fabric similar to this out there….
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the iron wine version of ANYTHING is complete love.
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Ah, yes, it was me, Erin. Sorry to be so slow replying – Ive been snoozing at the back of the auditorium. Love the fabric and hope youve located a secret stash of it at a bargain price. Agree with the commenter who said this pattern really makes you want to learn screen-printing. Yes, sewster is a great epithet. At the risk of being a sewster-boaster, Ive been using it for a year or so (proof: hhtp://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=5793post=62420uid=30565087588#post62420). Particularly adorable that it rhymes with toaster. Word freaks and limerick fans may also like to know that theres a homonym location in Northamptonshire, UK: Towcester. Any sewsters from Towcester want to step forward?
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Just saw someone wearing this dress at OUP, Oxford and it is indeed fabulous (and I made sure to tell her that)!
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Theresa’s probably onto something – find out where they send their remnants. My favourite (Australian) design house dumps their end-of-bolt remnants at a fabric store a few hours away, and once a month I scrounge the remnants bin for Cue fabrics to be MINE ALL MINE. They’re often 2m+ pieces, always wide fabrics – awesome! This is mostly so I can pretend that I’d still fit in anything they make.
…yeah, that hasn’t been the case since I was sixteen, before my figure got all womanly on me.
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If a sewster is one who sews, and a spinster is one who spins, an a webster is one who weaves, what do you call someone who hams or lobs?
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Iron and Wine version is me and my hubby’s song. Aww…. tenda’.
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