I'm going to be in Las Vegas for about 36 hours early next week … and since I don't drink, don't gamble, and can only eat two or three pounds of shrimp cocktail before feeling like a beached gray whale, I was wondering if anyone had any leads on fabric stores convenient to the Strip?

I dimly remember being pointed to a fabric store in Vegas before, but of course neither my actual brain or the distributed brain I've cobbled together through OS X and Google have turned up anything …

Reader of the blog Kris would like to know, too, so if have suggestions, would you leave them in the comments?

Thanks!

Hélose sent me a link to this eBay auction — the picture is not of the best, but really, do you need to know any more than "1950's crossword-themed dress?" before you start mousing around for the "Bid" button?

It's 36-26(ulp)-39, and the bidding right now is about $25.

As you know, I already am the proud possessor of a crossword-themed dress, but I'm keeping an eye out for more crossword fabric — the tournament does last three days, after all.

I can't tell if the buttons are little squares or not, but it looks as if they are. And it has pockets, to hold your pencils! What more could you ask?

Click on the image to visit the auction, as usual.

Julie at Damn Good Vintage sent me this link, to a pattern at MOMSpatterns. Isn't it cute? Wait, let me rephrase that. Isn't it CUUUUUUTE?

However, I can tell you from many tries at sewing necklines with a hard square edge that you are going to have to either add piping or interface the heck out of that sucker. Seriously. Ignore my weirding prophecy at your peril. Otherwise it WILL curl up, and you will either have to accept the curling as an aleatoric design element, or you will be sneaking off to the ladies' room to wet it down so that it lies flat. Either way, it requires a fair amount of dedication.

But if you have a dozen buttons and some interfacing (or piping), WHAT a cute dress! I love the green version with the red belt, which surprisingly doesn't look Christmassy at ALL. Perhaps because it's a sundress? I know I'd love to make a green version with flower-shaped buttons, and put the red buttons and belt on the mustardy-colored back view version. (And why is she pouting all by herself in the corner?) What combinations would you make? (Click on the image to visit the pattern listing, as usual.)

Wendy has sent this link from the New York Times, a pdf of an article from 1910 about dresses for summer. (The picture is the image from the article.)

My favorite part was this:

Women are obstinate and persistent. If they like a fashion they have a tenacious way of hanging on to it, despite the fact that dressmakers and the shops insist upon telling them that the style is out.

I also liked the treatment of the "aeroplane skirt," which the author says the "majority of women" rebel against. It's not this airplane skirt, of course (which I also believe the majority of women rebel against); it seems to be an earlier term for a hobble skirt. Another NYT article says (about the aeroplane skirt):

If women want to run for Governor they ought to be able to run for a car. If they want to step into a President's chair they ought to be able to step into a motor. If they want to be legally free they shouldn't be sartorially shackled … they have chosen a trammeled figure and shackled ankles when they need most to have them free in the strenuous race for equality with the trousered sex.

Wendy reminds me that since the NYT has loosed its archive from the pay wall that there are many, many interesting fashion articles to be found therein … if you start looking around and find some good ones, feel free to send them to me! It's only pure force of will that keeps me from spending the next four hours looking for articles about Lily Daché and Ceil Chapman.

I get questions, oh boy do I get questions, and I should really answer more of them here. Maybe not the ones that read "i need that fabric 4 my prom dress and its saturday can u help me pleeeeeeze !!!?!", but more of the ones that are thoughtful, such as this one from Lynn:

Your blog is fun to read – am totally obsessed with vintage and quirky attire, patterns, fabrics and such as you publish each day. And so I want to make something to wear more than once for Halloween. Yet, my 40 hour per week day job is working among engineering types who are usually the most dismally, drably dressed humans on the planet. (Exception: a few bridge geeks who love local thrift stores – and keeping their money!)

Yet, since I work here one could successfully argue that my tendencies are also towards introversion and I have plenty of drab-colored basics in my closet. I don’t want to stick out very much. And since I work I have time constraints.

How would you select sewing projects (I can do about 6 or 8 projects per year) that would not stick too far out from the baggy denim and jersey uniforms that surround me? A drab jersey wiggle dress? Or perhaps a brightly patterned skirt with a drab denim jacket?

Your assistance is hugely appreciated! Probably lots more sewing wannabes are in the same predicament.

First off, thank you, Lynn, for the kind words …

Secondly, I wouldn't underestimate your co-workers. Even if they don't want to wear bright colors and interesting prints themselves, they may certainly appreciate them on others — much in the same way that I wear completely boring jewelry myself, but am always drawn to people who are wearing interesting pieces. Remember also, that if they're men, their clothing choices are artificially constrained — not everyone is as dedicated to finding fun shirts as Francis.

But to answer your question, I can't answer your question. Only you can answer your question. And this is how you do it. Spend some time online on one of the sewing pattern sites — BurdaStyle, or Sewingpatterns.com — or in the fabric store, looking through the patterns. Make a list of EVERY pattern that catches your eye, everything that you like. Don't do any editing. If you like a wedding dress and you've been married for twenty years, still put it down. If you like some elaborate Issey Miyake outfit where the difficulty level is marked as 'For Issey Miyake Only', put it down. If you like a pair of gauchos, even, put it down. (I think this is better done online, because you can bookmark the pages or even save the images you like to your desktop.)

Once you've made your looooong list, then you can go through it. If you're a beginner, put aside the complicated tailored suits — just for now. Maybe put aside that wedding dress. (DEFINITELY put aside the gauchos.) But try to look for commonalities in the patterns you chose. Do they all have raglan sleeves? Do they all have full skirts? Did all the illustrations you really show the garment in purple fabric? Try to jot down any similarities you see in the patterns you liked. (My list would look something like 'midriff band, full skirt, kimono sleeve, yellow, gingham, peter pan collar', etc.) Look for patterns on your list that have most of the features that you like, and that are at your sewing level. (Then go check Pattern Review to see if other people liked it!)

Then go look at your closet. You can't make a whole new wardrobe in 6-8 pieces a year (and you should assume a 10% failure rate, so one piece will just flat-out not work, and one will only mostly work). What can you sew that will go with clothes you already love? (If you don't love any of your clothes, you might want to read this post.) If you have lots of print skirts and plain tops, maybe a coordinating easy jacket in a solid color? If you have lots of plain trousers, why not try a tailored skirt or a print blouse? If you can't figure out what will "fit" — try a stand-alone dress.

I feel sewing is the most rewarding when you're making something you love AND will wear, so your goal is to find that sweet spot where a pattern calls to you AND it will fit into your wardrobe.

And Lynn, I know you said you don't want to 'stand out,' but take a minute to decide what you want more: anonymity, or happiness. If you really love bright green and want to make a bright green dress, just do it! I think you'll be surprised at how positive people's reactions will be. I wear the craziest stuff — you've all seen it — and the worst reaction I've gotten has been something like "I'm glad you wore that, dear … so few people would." Mostly people say things like "I wish I could wear that." (To which I always reply, "Of course you can!")

If you really don't want to stand out, pick drab colors but patterns with interesting details — pockets, nifty collars, fun seam lines — most people will only see the color, not the design elements. Or try some stealth fun with color: bright pocket linings or hem facings. (Even my plain skirts have print pocket linings. Life's too short to not have pockets full of fun.)

I know I gave lip service to separates up above, but really — try a dress. I think you'll be surprised at how fun they are to wear (especially the Duro) and the sense of accomplishment you'll get from finishing one.

So, to sum up: figure out what really really appeals to YOU, and then make it. Then you can make it work, I promise. Happiness in your clothes is the best accessory.

And good luck!

[picture is one of my Flickr favorites, by alexanderdrachmann]

"Hmm," I bet many of you were thinking. "Erin hasn't posted about fabric for a while. Is she perhaps sewing from her stash, or even (gasp) on the fabric wagon?"

Well, of course, the answer to that is No, and No. Part of this is not my fault: fabric -enabler Heather sent me this awesome collection from South Africa:

I really love the border print:

That's crying out to be a skirt with patch pockets, right?

There was also a moment of indulgence recently that resulted in this:

I should have put something in the picture for scale. Say, something like MY HEAD, which is how big those roses are. Seriously. I really want to make a gorgeous evening dress out of this, something with brown velvet piping at the neck, and then I think: when do I have any good excuses to wear evening dresses? So maybe I'll make something very prim, a button-up shirtdress, very severe, so that I can have more chances to wear it. It's this gorgeous cotton sateen, just so heavy and silky …

I also am still waiting on the postal-strike catchup to give me some more Liberty babycord. Sigh.

So on Monday, about lunchtime, my sister Kate sent me a link to the awesome Diana Eng's supercool Lego costume.

I desperately needed a costume for my son's school Halloween party THAT SAME NIGHT, so I went ahead and put one together … with a few modifications for the lazy.

First of all, you can't buy spray paint in Chicago (and I didn't have time to wait for it to dry anyway) so I ran to Home Depot and bought a roll of the widest blue painter's masking tape they had (cost me about $11). Then I hopped across the street to Party City and bought a package of plastic bowls in the same blue ($4). I taped the box completely, then I cut the holes for my head and arms. (I use an old serrated steak knife to cut cardboard.)

After trying it on to gauge proper placement, I stapled the bowls to the front of the box with an ordinary Swingline stapler (not a red one). I used a stapler because I'm sure I have a glue gun around here somewhere, but bless me if I can find it. I asked my son to bring me a real Lego block for reference, grabbed a Sharpie, and wrote LEGO on all the bowls.

The whole costume, not counting driving to the store or the time it took me to move some bikes in the garage so I could get to the right-size box, was done in about twenty minutes. Sweet! No sewing required, even!

I have to say that it was really fun to be a giant Lego. Lots of kids came up to me and said "ARE YOU A … LEGO?" (I was good and said "Yes" and not "No, I'm a banana.") I also joked that Legos are very scary to parents. They multiply and always end up underfoot …

Thanks very much to Kate for the link and to Diana (and the folks at CRAFT) for the idea!

And in unrelated news, if you want to see me wearing the yellow-bird dress, there's a picture up here.

Amanda at the Etsy store butterflyblue is making these dress-patterned-themed cards and offering them to people who buy patterns from her shop (and use the code "Dressaday" when doing so).

Getting sweet handmade bonuses like this is one of my favorite things about buying from Etsy shops or on Ebay or from small websites. I love it when the packing slip is an old postcard, or a piece of construction paper rubber-stamped with the name of the store, or a cut-up magazine page, and not something printed from a laser printer straight out of Microsoft Office's "Invoice" template.

If you're looking for something to buy to get the card, may I suggest this?

Isn't this the dress the über-competent 1950s mom would wear? I think so … casual, yet trim and neat, and with that lovely collar. It would make a great summer office dress in pique — cool for the street, but easy to throw a cardigan over in the Land of Air-Conditioning. And when someone wearing this calls your full name (first, last AND middle) out across the neighborhood, you know she means business.

This is a floral voile dress I'm pretty sure I made in the summer of 1996 or possibly 1997. I made it to wear to the wedding of a friend — he's Orthodox, so the dress originally had long sleeves, and I trimmed a cream straw hat with a pink flower and brown ribbon to wear with it. (Although I cut off the sleeves after the wedding, I left the skirt very long — nearly ankle length.) I suppose I could just email and ASK "Hey, when did you guys get married?" but that would take all the fun out of trying to place the date from memory.

Here's an almost-closeup of the buttons, which are vintage pink glass:

I think I bought this fabric at Vogue Fabrics here in Chicago, and the buttons at a much-missed vintage button shop that used to exist on Armitage, near Halsted. The pattern is, I'm fairly sure, either a New Look or a Style pattern, and if you're desperate, I could probably dig up the number without too much trouble.

I know I made this dress at least twice — the other time in a white-and-yellow daisy print quilting cotton with large green-and-white dotted dome-shaped plastic buttons. I still have the daisy dress, too … I found both of these while trying to switch my closet from summer to winter.

If you're ever called upon to date any Erin creations, you should recognize that this is firmly in my middle period: the early period (jr high/high school) was nearly exclusively cotton dresses with kimono-sleeved minimally-darted boatneck bodices attached to full gathered skirts, with inseam pockets and little, if any, waist shaping, often in shades of blue and green, and A-line long skirts with a zipper and attached waistband. I think I occasionally indulged in the heady thrills of the McCalls NYNY patterns, but not often. The middle period (of which this is a prime example) involved trying to find retro-ish current patterns to make with vintage-y details (thus the glass buttons here). Late middle period involved my first forays into vintage patterns (such as the cherry dress).

One of the quirks and/or hallmarks of middle-period Erin sewing is an abundance of collars — and making the collar in this voile was very tricky. It's so thin (and yes I wore it with a full-coverage slip that could have been a dress all by its lonesome) that the seam allowances looked far too bulky on the first go-round. I think I ended up doing three rows of very tiny machine stitches, very close together, and cutting the allowances off at the outermost row. There was probably a better way to do it, but I was also, I'm sure, pressed for time.

Late-period Erin … well, I think you can all identify late-period Erin at this point. I firmly intend for my 'late period' to last about forty more years (if I'm lucky).

I'm getting slammed with stupid pharmacy comment spam (would anyone buying your possibly-contaminated drugs from scummy web pages stop please right now? You only encourage them!) so I've turned on the captcha for a day or so until they go pick on someone else.

I'm sorry to inconvenience you all, but it's hideously boring to go and delete all the spammy comments!

With any luck I can turn it off in a few days. Thanks for understanding.