The very ordinariness of this pattern makes it special. So many patterns have Pictures! Of Exciting! Glamour! And! Hilarity! that finding one where the woman seems to be waiting for her husband to settle Saturday afternoon's golf foursome so that they can get back in time to run the babysitter home is somehow more of a coup. 

I hear her inner monologue as something like:

"Did I take the laundry in off the line? It looked like rain. I have to call Joanie's orthodonist tomorrow and reschedule her appointment. I bet I have spinach in my teeth; better keep my mouth closed until I can get to the bathroom. What's taking Angela so long in there? Oh, dear, Ted really is losing his hair, but I'll let his mother bring that up. I should ask Sheila for the recipe those stuffed mushroom canapés … I bet it's packaged salad dressing, that sauce. Someone's going to have to drive Keith home again; we should leave or else it will be us. Maybe I'll grab another one of those mushrooms before we go. "

(If you really want some excitement, maybe the fact that this dress is on sale (15% off! use coupon code SUMMER!) at Out of the Ashes will help. Sale starts now, runs all weekend!)

I kind of miss the days (not that I ever lived in them) where it was just NORMAL for a dress to have a matching coat. Or cape, as seen here. Where you would think "Oh, sure, I'll just wear my lavender dress-cape-purple styrofoam packing peanut-hat combo! I wonder if my incredibly long white gloves are clean?" 

Although, really, if you're going to match your hat, dress, and CAPE, wouldn't you go find some smoky lavender suede pumps, as well? It'd be worth the effort.

My favorite here though is the red dress — I love that neckline/midriff band combo. Such a sleek and oddly modern dress! It would be the world's best evening gown, slightly lengthened and in silver lamé, wouldn't it? It's so elegant, but you could throw a cardigan right over it (okay, not the silver lamé version) and go anywhere.

If it were one size bigger (it's a B34, anyone have it in a B36?), I would be buying this beauty … But as luck would have it, it's on sale at MOMSPatterns and for a good cause, too! Jen's very best friend in the world is visiting from England for a month, and she is a recent breast cancer survivor.. so in her honor, Jen is offering a 20% off sale with which 5% of the proceeds will be donated to Breast Cancer Research. The sale lasts until midnight EDT Sunday, August 1, 2010 — use coupon code 'sherri' to receive your discount.

Why is this a mullet dress? Because if you can look at this picture and NOT think "Business in front, party in the back," you are a better human being than I am.

This would be a great dress to wear on those uncomfortable folding chairs they use for school assemblies — you know which ones I mean, the ones that are always painted "cafe-au-rancid-milk" brown. Built-in padding!

And this pattern and the rest of the lovelies at the Vintage Fashion Library are 20% off through Wednesday 7/21 … use code "Christmas". (Christmas in July!)