I’m on vacation! That is, I’m in St. Augustine, Florida, with my mom, sister, and son (and two aunts who arrive today), and my brother and his fam this weekend. So far I have inhaled most of the Atlantic Ocean, neglected to pack sufficient contact lenses, been terrified by animatronic instructors, and answered far too many work emails! But still: vacation!
On vacation I tend to think that I will have TONS and TONS of time to do project-y stuff, forgetting that the whole point of vacation is to NOT do stuff. So far I have only done a couple baby projects, like finally transferring my iTunes library from an external drive to my new laptop, and tidying up my Pinterest boards a wee bit, and minor-league things like that. I’m also reading this fascinating book about the Mitfords.
Another thing I always do on vacation is think of new and exciting projects for when I get BACK, which so far include:
— making another 9929 and covering it in TINY MULTICOLORED BUTTONS (<– I will never do this, I actually dislike sewing on buttons, but it would make an amazing dress).
— deciding on a MAXIMUM NUMBER of patterns I can own, and culling the rest ruthlessly (any suggestions as to what’s a good number?). And, oh, by the way, I have purchased three patterns online since being on vacation …
— hiring someone on TaskRabbit to take pictures of everything I’ve sewn but don’t have pictures of yet, since this taking the darn pictures is something I always put off doing. I will justify this by calling it an “insurance record” for when my house ultimately burns down from me leaving the iron on.
— doing a tutorial video (probably with my son’s help, he’s very good at making videos) of each step involved in making a shirtdress. I know there are tons of things I do when I sew that aren’t in the pattern instructions … and probably more helpful things I could be doing, if only I knew about them (which the comments on the video would help with).
— figuring out how to make the Vintage Pattern Wiki have better category search, so you can search for “1960s” AND “Peter Pan collar” together.
I am now taking bets for when these projects actually happen. Anyone want to put their money on 2017?
A Dress A Day 
Here’s a project suggestion for you. Get off the internet and get drunk with your family. See if you can maintain that state for the remainder of the vacation.
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Since I don’t drink, that might be a bigger project than I can take on … 🙂
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Ahh, that’s so much fun! I went to college at Flagler and lived just north of St. Augustine for about seven years. Say hello to the city for me!
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Just enjoy your family. As to how many patterns you should own – as many as you want.
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Dude. A video on how to make a shirtdress would be awesome (or text, with just video for tricky bits).
But first some fun vacation!
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My recommendation for number of patters: However many fit in X place(s), where X is either the current number, or some fewer that makes sense in your life. I only own as many books as fit on my current bookshelves. When I add books, I have to remove some as well.
Have fun on vacation!
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Those Mitford sisters were unique, huh? I’m sure it would be too hard to make a movie of their story, no one would believe it! Each of them is a movie in themselves
…imagine costuming it though 🙂
Debo is still alive and in her late 80s I think.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3667674/Last-lady-of-letters.html
Have a great holiday!
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The eldest sister Nancy Mitford wrote two books Love in a Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love wherein many a family history detail is woven in an amusing style. BBC did a short miniseries Love in a Cold Climate (broadcast by PBS as well) based on these two novels – you can be sure to see lots of dresses! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwxf7oBQ3Rk&feature=related
Enjoy your leisure!
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Hi – hope you are getting some relaxing in as well as all this planning.
Just had a quick look at the wiki and you can search for multiple terms you just need to phrase it correctly – so you may just need to put up a note informing people how to do this. To search for two terms you simply state “1960”&”Peter Pan” for example. This worked for me unless you were thinking of a more detailed search function.
enjoy the rest of your break
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Awesome, thanks for sharing this!
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Thanks for the “Task Rabbit” tip–I had no idea. What a great (and obvious) idea for all concerned!
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Sewing on buttons: use the bar tack option on your machine, or in the case of my ancient Kenmore, the first step of the buttonhole process. A bit of paper or pelon on the reverse side prevents puckering, pull threads to the back and tie off. Ta-da.
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Cool! I’m up in JAX. We just ate at the Conch House last week. If you find an evening where it’s not raining, you may want to try having dinner in one of their tables over the wharf.
Have a lovely vacation!
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Thanks for taking time on vacation to keep your blog groupies content!
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I read that book about the Mitfords a couple of years ago. Each of the sisters lived interesting and unusual lives!
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Oh, we were in Florida this summer too… Sadly it was during Tropical Storm Debbie’s visit to the Tampa area. We did drive out to Horseshoe Beach on the way back north, and watched Debbie chasing us up the coast.
You cannot have enough patterns. Did you see how much people are charging for vintage patterns that my grandmother paid a dime for? Save them in a safe manner for future dressmakers. (Does everyone have a vision of a house packed floor to ceiling with patterns???) Seriously, keep only those that fit your lifestyle and space. Do you really need multiple copies of super simular styles? Only the ones you love should make the cut… (No pun intended!)
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Well, I hope the number of patterns you settle on is “less than can be crammed into 38 office paper cartons,” because that is how many I had to shift when I moved my sewing room out of my basement and into the spare room. I’ve given away scads, but fear I now verge on the low end of the Hoarder scale.
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