Thanks to Julie, who sent this to me, overcoming her own natural modesty (it's her listing). She knew I wouldn't be able to resist a dress like this.

I know from the picture above you can't tell, exactly, why I like this so much, so here's a fabric closeup:

See it now? The little pink birds hatching from the eggs? So adorable. This is, in fact, the best bird-themed novelty fabric I've seen since the crows with megaphones.

In fact, I live in hope that as the Internet-era allows us spread out across the plain of available information, we'll make more and more links between things. Before I die I imagine that I'll be able to google up someone's lovingly-constructed webpage that is nothing but links to samples of bird-themed novelty print fabric. And each of those samples will be linked to some instant-fab that will produce yards and yards for you, on demand, in any colorway. Oh, can you tell that I am a firm believer in the coming culture of fab(rication) and the long, long, long, long tail?

Well. Until that day, this dress is your best chance for a hatching-bird novelty print, so go to it. It's B38/W28 and $75.95. (As always, click the picture up above to visit the vendor's site.)

In my continuing reign as "Luckiest Woman in North America," last night I found THREE issues of Flair Magazine, for $1/each. Why am I so excited about some old magazines from the 1950s? Well, everyone (especially the magazine cognoscenti) agrees that Flair was something special. The die-cut covers! The offbeat contributors! The crazy layouts! I managed to find April, May, and August 1950, and I'm sure I'll be posting some stuff from these issues. The College Issue, for example, tells HOW MANY SWEATERS one of their co-eds has. (That would be eleven.)

I love old magazines (I also bought an issue of Life for some nefarious purpose that I will not yet reveal). I also got a SIGNED copy of Mitford Mathews' Dictionary of Americanisms, a book for my little boy, and something from 1891 that seemed hilarious, so I bought it.

Where did I find all this glory? Well, the Regenstein Library, of course. (It was book sale time!) I love the Regenstein. I don't know exactly why, but I think it has something to do with the idea that every time I go in there I learn, not just something I didn't already know, but something I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I didn't know. That, to me, is what a library is. And the Chicago libraries, I think, are better than most [disclaimer: I am on a U of C library committee, which is kind of what being a football booster would be at any other school], in that they think beyond (as it was described to me) the "cathedral of books" model. A cathedral of books is very beautiful and inspiring, but if you are going to have a knowledge religion you probably also want to go out and minister to the information-downtrodden, the information-hungry, and the information-poor, and that's what they do. Every time I go there I come out refreshed, which, come to think of it, is exactly what going to church is supposed to make you feel, right?

One of those issues of Flair has a white, fake-fur, strapless evening gown in it. Too bad it's only an illustration … there was also a $250 HarperCollins/Rizzoli book of The Best of Flair a couple years back. It's still going for about $125!

Isn't this a lovely pattern? I love the stripes, obviously, and I love the weird football theme of this particular pattern line (I saw a couple others online, all with the 'four yard line' slogan.) Sarah sent this one to me, along with several other gorgeous and/or funny ones. Why? Just because. She had them, wasn't going to use them, thought I would like them, so she sent them along. Just like that.

I am continually surprised and gratified by the enormous generosity of Dress A Day readers. Not just in the comments, where you help me and each other with links and information; or in the links that you send me to share; but also in the packages you send me!

Anyway, a little something will wend its way in the mail back to Sarah (who foolishly included a return address, ha ha!) but — would all of you help me thank her? I figure the best way to thank someone for performing some random act of kindness is to encourage others to do the same. So, today, if you could, would you do something nice for some random person? Maybe hold a door or an elevator, or pay someone a compliment, or even just give a sincere "thank you" to someone who never gets one? Nothing huge or extravagant or elaborate, but just a little push-back against entropy? I'd appreciate it …

Lately I have been dissatisfied with my underwear. Well, actually, just with the slips. They have been uncooperative, to say the least, and occasionally downright recalcitrant. Not the gorgeous vintage full slips (like this one, click on the pic to visit the eBay auction), the ones I found a whole mint new-with-tags lot of a couple years ago — those are fine, content to be used as nightgowns and to occasionally have a day out under a dress. It's the half slips that are giving me trouble. Well, the half slips and the tights, who together are having a little static electricity festival that Must Be Stopped. Not to mention that the half slips are deciding, en masse, either to revolt against the tyranny of elastic or to join the low-rise movement, and so their waistbands are getting saggier and saggier.

I keep hunting around online for nice heavy nylon slips, but they seem to have gone the way of the dodo — there are only a few specimens left, and they're all very expensive, or fugly, or both. (I should have paid more attention when The Sewist did her poll on slips.)

So I think I'm going to make some half slips. Heavy silk (from Thai Silks and Dharma Trading Company) are surprisingly cheap, especially in the quantities you'd need for a slip. I can find some nice lace trim, too, that will help weight down the bottom of the slip, and, not incidentally, look nice.

In fact, I think (since I have more than a month before I have to travel again) that I will spend this next little bit of sewing time making a few slips, and also sorting through the Large Plastic Bin of Tights to separate the holey goats from the whole sheep, and also arranging them by color, so that I don't spend the night before my next departure turning things upside down looking for the one pair of thick lycra tights that I *know* I had in teal …

Anyone have any slip-sewing tips, or sources for really nice lingerie elastic? I will make a followup sources and tips from the comments … and, with any luck, a picture of the slips I've made!

Every time I think I've seen every damn pattern ever made between 1948 and 1963, I'm surprised by another one — and this one is quite surprising. I love the collar that wraps around like a tentacle — of COURSE it must be buttoned down, else it would throttle the wearer without the slightest provocation. In fact, you can see that there's just a faux button closure (with no buttonhole) to prevent any kind of escape plot.

This one is on eBay (as always, click the pic to hit the link) and B30. Bidding starts at $9.99. I was thinking of buying it (just to keep it out of circulation and you all safe, you understand, as it's not my size), but the more I look at this one the more it (no pun intended) grows on me. I'd love to see someone (someone ELSE) figure a way to sew it in stripes. Bias stripes. Anyone up for the challenge? Send pictures and/or cries for help to the address on the right.

We have Welmoed to thank for today's post … or to shake our tiny fists at. Why? Because those guys up there? They're from Adaptive Textiles, and they're printing CUSTOM FABRIC. But they only do it for "the trade". Aaaaaaah!

Now, I did actually incorporate A Dress A Day, Inc. (so just in case if someone sued me for saying their dress was fugly, I wouldn't necessarily lose the farm) so I have a Tax ID number, and I'm not afraid to use it. So perhaps I can convince them blogs are "trade"? And then I can get fabric with little pink robots on it, like so?

Or gingko leaves? Or yesterday's turnips? Or any of the dozens of things I want to find as fabric but never, ever have?

I think I might call them next week. Then we'll see. So, thanks, Welmoed! I think.

Okay, so the backstory on this fabric is fairly complicated. First, I noticed in checking the referrals that A Dress A Day was found by someone searching on "I love turnips". Which I thought was hysterically funny (A Dress A Day: Your Home for Turnip-Loving), and which motivated me to try to find some turnip fabric. Which I did not, in fact, find. (Anyone have some? With just big turnips? I don't want to clutter up the turnip dress with other vegetables, root or no.)

But I did find the fabric above, at Harts Fabrics, which I've never (afaik) browsed before. Cute, isn't it? I love those gray/slate/yellow combinations.

I also found this — I'm a sucker for bias patterns. All the glory of the diagonal, with none of the heartache and stretchiness!

As Lydia remarked in the comments a couple of days ago (I hope you all read the comments, they're usually better than the content, frankly) I am also so over winter fabrics already. I made one crepe dress, and I have some luscious turquoise wool flannel that will become a circle skirt (and I think I will do some crewel on it, nothing too fancy as I cannot actually embroider; a pickstitch of some kind) and that's it. Then I start thinking of lightweight cottons for endless summer dresses … like this one:

This is some Liberty of London fabric from eBay seller Little Shop of Treasures (whom I've purchased from all too many times before).

This is actually Liberty twill, which is what I recommend for folks just starting to sew with Liberty. The drape of the lawn can be tricky (it's very lightweight), and the wool can ravel fast, so start with the twill to avoid tears. Liberty twill makes GREAT skirts. And so does the babycord:

If you don't want to order from the UK, Purl in Soho has some of the lawns …

This one above is sooooooo 1930s, to me. Right?

I've actually worn dresses or skirts made with Liberty four days of the past five. That's how much I love their fabric! Which reminds me, I really need to post some more Duro pictures next week. Nag me if I don't, okay?

One of the great side benefits of declaring a Fabric Week here at A Dress A Day is that I had an excuse — nay, a mandate! — to trawl through eQuilter.com. And this is what I found. Lotus blossoms! (Or, if you're feeling especially Tennysonian, Lotos-Blossoms!) This combination of green and teal and rust evokes a feeling of deep fondness in me; I have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps there was a wallpaper with this design in one of the dozen or so houses I lived in as a child … I don't care, wallpaper or no, it would still make a kickass shirtdress — with rust-colored piping, yes?

My quick dip into eQuilter (man! you could spend ALL NIGHT click-click-clicking around over there!) also brought me this:

About which I am also thinking "shirtdress!" I love the muted stripes; so very fall and jewel-tony. The best part of making this fabric into a shirtdress would be the pleasure of coordinating the cardigan and tights; one day the chocolate brown cardigan with green or blue tights, the next time the pale blue cardigan with the brown or the orange tights … I don't think I'd ever get tired of spinning the color wheel for a dress in this fabric.

I have purchased dozens of yards from eQuilter over the years … never a problem.

In addition to giant polka dots, I'm also (slightly) obsessed with alphabet-print fabrics. This is one of my favorites, from Michael Miller. I'm really tempted to buy some more of this (I already have a GIANT circle skirt made from this fabric) but I fear I would then gradually buy more and more until ultimately I would never wear anything but black and white letters.

What do folks think of a Duro made with the above as the body and this Alexander Henry fabric below as the banding?

I'd be worried that I'd have to redraft the bands to make them exactly as wide as the numbers, but it might be worth it …

Click on the images to buy yardage from the eBay seller, Fabric Connection. (If you want more than one yard read her description for instructions as to how to go about it.)