This is from Out of the Ashes, Sheila's store, and I don't think you can tell that this pattern is B40. Except, of course, from the Mrs. Robinson stare of Print Dress, and the downright predatory gaze of Gray Dress behind her.
I don't think all the "Women's" dress patterns from the 1960s are this … overt, but this one sure is.
Blue-Green View is totally checking out the woman in black's butt, isn't she? She's cleverly distracted Pink View with flowers sent by a "secret admirer" so she can put the moves on Black View. Her next stratagem? To find a "smudge" on Black View's backside so she can casually brush it off.
Too bad Black View is looking out into the middle distance, thinking about cake.
I really, really want this pattern — anyone got one in this size (or one down) that is for sale? Birgit at Stitches and Loops had one, but darnit, I was Too Late. Although you should really check out this shirtdress she has now, and this pocketed beauty …
So the pattern I bought a couple weeks ago from Janet at Zimmer's Army came with a little bonus:
How excellent is this? Truly excellent.
There's also a little "wow, times have changed" moment in the back:
It's a bit hard to read, but it's the "in case of emergency, please notify" … Mrs. Phil and Mr. Phil. Mrs. Phil! Because if you're lying bleeding under a bus, heaven forbid someone should address your respectably married mother by her first name!
I didn't realize Laura Ashley still made dresses (I was still thinking of them as your go-to for floral tissue-box covers) but hey, here's one, and it's lovely. Big pockets! Cap sleeves! Blue flowers!
I didn't check if they ship to the US, and it's on the expensive side in pounds anyway (I always want to write "pounds sterling" — I'm sure there's a difference, but I've never been enlightened as to what that difference is).
Someone very nice sent me this link. I can't find the email now. Take credit in the comments, please!
But — why do you think she's holding an egg?
Thanks to Nancy for the link …
The wireless lapel mike had a short in it, so Agent Gladiolus always had to hold it at an unnatural angle to make her report. Good thing Agent Daffodil's hair served as a makeshift antenna.
You can find this pattern here, along with some grab-bag offers …
Do you have a black eyelet dress?
Like, say, this one, from Holly at LuciteBox?
I don't set myself up to be a "dictator of taste", and I don't think I've ever done one of those "Ten Items Every Woman Must Own" lists, but if I did, a black eyelet dress would be on the list. ("Trench coat" would not be on the list. Has there ever been a fashmag printed that didn't tell you to run out and buy a trench coat? "Trench coat" is like the "free square" in Bingo.)
This is why you need a black eyelet dress: they're perfect. (Okay, okay, I'll elaborate.) Black eyelet has a natural tension between sweet and sultry, between looking (and staying) cool and looking hot. It's easy to dress up or down, and easier still to accessorize. (Black pique is *almost* as good, it's just slightly more casual.)
I've seen black eyelet like this (elegant, restrained) and black eyelet wild (in some 1980s fashion spread — I wish I'd kept it — a black eyelet A-line dress with eyepopping neon bra & briefs under it, possibly a swimsuit, but hey, it was the 1980s, everything was neon).
I've got one black eyelet dress that I've worn nearly to rags, so I'm definitely planning a black broderie anglaise dress for this summer, lined in black batiste (or unlined, if I choose to go the neon underthings route … UNLIKELY).
This one is 38/28/40, and trust me, you will wear it until it gets rusty and falls off you.
Hi folks, you might notice a little "rewards" tab on the side of the page — I'm helping a friend test out a new blog service, so any and all feedback welcome. (That's what happens out here in the Silicon Valley, everything's on the bleeeeeding edge.)
While you're here, enjoy this 1970's pattern:
[from HouseofGlassCards, on eBay]
Just looking at this pattern gets me so earwormed with "Hey Nineteen". But I kinda want to make the sailor collar version …
… this fabric, at the Oakland White Elephant sale (Suzette! Sorry I missed you! Leah! Nice running into you!):
Yep, polished cotton, with polka-dots the way the good Lord intended them to be: fist-sized.
What should I make? Did I mention that there was SEVEN and SEVEN-EIGHTHS yards of it? Which I bought for $23? (Some days I'm so darn lucky that it's a wonder I'm not killed by angry bystanders on the spot.)
I got some other stuff too, including as much vintage bias tape as I could carry. Pics to come.
A Dress A Day 