A couple-three things:

As per Tracy's suggestion, there's a permanent link to the wiki contest and how-to in the right hand side now, underneath the ads. Click there whenever you need reassurance.

Also, in addition to the $100 gift certificate from Janet at Lanetz Living, Rita at Chez Cemetarian has offered a $50 gift certificate for 2nd place! Thanks! UPDATE! Michelle from Patterns from the Past *and* Tina at What-I-Found *and* Jen at MOMSPatterns have all offered additional prizes! There will be much to be won, oh, yes!

Several people have emailed me asking for tips on photographing patterns rather than scanning them … anyone got any? Please leave them in the comments …

One more thing: lots of people on Flickr have posted pictures of their vintage patterns under a CC (Creative Commons) license … as long as you give attribution (a link back to the Flickr page) it should be kosher to add these pattern images to the wiki! Try this search to see what you find … or you may want to leave comments on people's Flickr images encouraging them to contribute to the wiki!

Happy wiki-ing!

Remember last year, when y'all raised an enormous amount of money for Heifer International, and we sent sheep to a community overseas?

This year, I'm hoping you'll join me again in raising money for another good cause … homeless women veterans.

Whether or not you support the war in Iraq (I don't); whether or not you believe women should serve in the armed forces (I do); whether or not you believe in Santa (I'm Santagnostic, actually) … the truth is that many women veterans, who have made considerable sacrifices for our country, are not getting a fair shake now that they're home.

Women veterans seem to get the short end of the very short stick that returning soldiers are asked to hold. (For instance, of the some 1,400 V.A. hospitals and clinics, currently only 27 house inpatient PTSD programs, and of these, just 2 serve women exclusively. Almost one in three veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq confronts mental health problems. You do the math.) Approximately 4% of the homeless veterans in VA programs are women — and that doubles to 8% in community-based (non-VA) programs. Women have special health care needs; many have dependent children.

With women making up 14% of the nation's combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of homeless women vets is rising every day. By donating to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, we can help develop programs to support women vets as they return home.

So this year I'm hoping we can raise $1500 for homeless women veterans, by Dec 24. (It may not sound like much, but every little bit helps.)

The day we hit the goal, I'll post a new full-length "Secret Lives of Dresses", and for every day between Reach-The-Goal Day and Dec 24, I'll post a Secret Lives drabble, just like last year.

To donate, just click on the widgety thingy below. It's all run by Changing The Present; I won't see who donated or how much. (Credit cards only; if you want to pay by Paypal, email me and we'll work something out.)

http://www.changingthepresent.org/flash/banners/drives/horizontal_banner.swf?env=production&drive_id=821

So, while I wasn't really paying attention, you all have added nearly SEVEN HUNDRED patterns to the Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki! That is, frankly, awesome.

Even more awesome is that Janet at Lanetz Living has offered a $100 gift certificate for a wiki contest! (UPDATE: Rita at Cemetarian has offered a $50 gift certificate for 2nd place!)

So here's how the wiki contest is going to work — I'd love to get EVEN MORE PATTERNS into the wiki, because the bigger it is, the more useful it will be. So let's aim for 3000 patterns by midnight, Central Time, Jan 1, 2008. If we hit that goal, I'll select ONE pattern page randomly from all those created and reward the creator with that spiffy Lanetz Living gift certificate!

Obviously, the more patterns you upload, the greater your chances of winning …

Quite a few people have emailed me, saying that they have a lot of patterns they'd like to add to the wiki, but they don't know how and they're worried about messing things up. To which I say: it's a wiki! Don't worry too much about messing things up. Wikis are both fluid and resilient; anything you "break" can be fixed in a matter of moments. But if you're still worried (or if you're not a "let's go in and mess around and see what happens" kind of person), here's a little quick how-to on adding pages and patterns to the wiki.

The first thing you should do, if at all possible, is log in. (It's okay to edit anonymously, but for practical reasons, I can't award the prize to Anonymous. You're in it for purely altruistic reasons if you edit anonymously.)

After you login in, create a page! A page starts with a pattern, and a pattern starts with a number. To start a new page for a new pattern, use this box:

This is the box on the Home page, on the lower left. If you use this box, then the page headers/dividers (Links to reviews/blog posts, Sources/Vendors, Gallery, and Wishlist) will show up on the page automatically.

Type your pattern name and number (e.g., Vogue 5380) into the box. That will start a new page called "Vogue 5380". If there is ANOTHER pattern already entered that has the same manufacturer and number, and yours is different, call it "Vogue 5380 A" (B, C, etc.).

Don't put extra information into the page name, like a date or a description. Just the pattern maker and number. Some early patterns didn't list makers, so you can just use a number (or call them Newspaper Pattern).

Now your new page should open! Then you can add an image. Look for the link that says "Insert Image". If you don't see the link, you're probably not logged in. Only logged-in users can upload an image. On my page it looks like this:

Clicking this will give you a "Browse" box — find the pattern image on your computer and click on it. Then upload it.

You will then get an option box to choose whether to upload a thumbnail (small) image, or a full-size. Unless your image is HUGE, off the screen huge, please upload the full-size. Caption it with the pattern name and number:

Your page should reload and you'll see these tags inserted on the page for the pattern image:

[[Image:Vogue5380.jpg|Vogue 5380]]

If you are linking to a page on your blog or your site, you can paste that link in under the "= Links to reviews/blog posts =" or "= Sources/Vendors =" lines. (If you are so inclined, you can link to any page where I've written about a pattern — to find it, Google ["Pattern Number" site:dressaday.com], which should turn up any pages on my site where that pattern is referenced.)

Now you're nearly done! All that's left is to add any notes or categories. If you feel like typing in the notes from the pattern ("Simplicity Pattern 1732 … This includes; 3 variations of this smart slim skirt. View 1 has high rise, shaped waistline and suspenders. View 2 boasts top-stitching and tab detailed pleat at left front. View 3 features a back kick pleat and tab trim at hipline.") go ahead!

You can also add categories: Some good ones for any pattern include the pattern manufacturer (Vogue), the year or decade if known (1950s, 1954), what kind of garment it is (dresses, jackets), any design features (pockets, collars), etc. Remember that the point of categories is to make "buckets" to sort patterns with. So if you'd like to be able to see a list of all patterns in the wiki that have french cuffs, you have to TAG all the patterns in the wiki that have french cuffs! [Not all categories are worthwhile: some bad categories would be "date of upload" (because it's in the history of the page), your name (ditto), "I like this" (not a useful category for OTHER people), etc.]

Then just hit SAVE and you're done! You made a pattern page! Right now uploading a new pattern takes me about three minutes. Depending on your internet connection, size of your pattern image files, and how many other people are uploading, you might take a teeny bit longer.

You might be asking "I'd love to help, but I don't really have a lot of pattern images … what can I do?" Lots! You can add categories, you can 'tidy' pages that don't have the right headers, and you can visit the list of sellers on the home page and upload their images! (If you do that, download the images to your hard drive first — otherwise you can't find them when you Browse — and be sure to link the seller's page to the wiki page.)

Go upload patterns, have fun, and figure out how you're going to spend that $100 at Lanetz Living. I'm not eligible to win, of course, but if I were, I'd probably start with this one (the one on the left)!

Flight back was fine; empty plane, plenty with me to read, and my only disappointment was that the in-flight movie, advertised as "Ocean's Thirteen" (I love a good — or even a bad — heist movie) was, in fact, "Hairspray" — which, fine, nice dresses. But. Whoa. I am sooooo jetlagged — woke up at 5 this morning, feeling as if it were noon. Ulp.

But I have managed, at least, to open my mail to find this pattern, which I ordered before I left (from eBay seller Treasure from Galilee Shore):

If you look at view D you can see those are FRENCH CUFFS. And on view A, yes, that is a bias placket. This is a serious dress, requiring much contemplation and selfless dedication. And serious interfacing, which I'm not much for using, but this needs it, the good stuff.

Needless to say, if I can master this pattern I might make this one over and over, forever. This dress never goes out of style (not that 'going out of style' is something I usually consider, but …) and it fits with my cardigan-and-penny-loafer lifestyle.

I'm pretty set on the full-skirted version (for better inclusion of pockets) but the perfectly coordinated woman in fuchsia is very, very tempting. She has fuchsia shoes; *I* have fuchsia shoes (and four yards of fuchsia shantung) … I don't have the hat, although I do have pink eyeglasses. Think that will do?

So I'm heading home from London today, but I had half an hour last night to go to Goldhawk Road — and all you Londoners who told me to go there? You were right. I owe you all a drink.

I went to Classic Textiles (44 Goldhawk Road) where they had Liberty (in a very, very snug basement) for £5/yard! (Or possibly £5/meter, not sure.) They also had some limited Varuna wool and some £10/y-or-m Liberty as well, upstairs. Mostly florals, to be sure, but plenty of the abstract and figural prints, as well.

Sadly, though, I was The Difficult Customer, because I saw a roll of the pattern above (Splash) which I've wanted FOR-ever …. behind every other roll of Liberty. And so the poor guy, at closing time, had to shift about twenty rolls of fabric to get and cut me my four meters-or-yards. But he was nice about it, possibly because an even More Difficult Customer was in the shop, trying to get swatches of about fifteen different shirting cottons. (Him: "Now, y'see, I need to you cut me bits of all these, and make me a list, so I can call you up and say "I need 11 meters of #2," right?" Shopman: Nodding uncomprehendingly. Him: "Now, y'see, I need you …")

The woman at the register also confirmed for me that Liberty wasn't making any more twill. "And their prices are silly," she said. I nodded sagely.

I did some brief poking around in some of the other shops (as they were vacuuming and rolling down grates) and saw this incredible flocked linen wallpapery print, but at £9 a yard-or-meter I couldn't justify it. I didn't have my camera with me so I took some not-so-great camera phone pictures … remind me and I'll post them when I get home.

Home. As much as I love London, I'm looking forward to being in THAT place again!

I finally got over to Liberty, and … well, it was disappointing, to say the least. They've reduced the space given over to dressmaking fabrics again, to about 3/4 of what it was the last time I was there, which was itself about 3/4 of what I saw on the visit before that!

Look at how anemic (or, as I'm over here, anaemic) the shelves are:

And when I asked about twill, the clerk (who I recognized from previous visits) told me that Liberty isn't making twill any longer — "no one was buying it," she said. Well!

So, being in the UK, I've decided to write a sternly-worded letter to Liberty, in the hopes that they will reconsider their decision to essentially abandon the home dressmaker …

Dear Mr Williams:

I visited the dressmaking fabrics department of Liberty in Regent Street this week. Liberty is usually the highlight of any trip I make to London, and the fabrics department is the highlight of any trip to Liberty.

However, I was tremendously disappointed. Not only did I walk away without having made a fabric purchase (which has never happened before!) I was also greeted with the dispiriting news that Liberty has decided to stop producing their designs in twill.

Although I have lately seen Liberty prints available through partnerships with other manufacturers (Lands' End, Converse) and I think that is a lovely development, I would hate to see Liberty abandon the home dressmaker, especially as interest in sewing and dressmaking has been surging recently, on both sides of the Atlantic.

I was told that people haven't been buying the twill, and that's the reason for stopping production. Might I suggest that people aren't buying it because it is so difficult to obtain? Liberty does not sell online, and I have been hearing from independent shops in the US and Australia that Liberty is also reducing the number of patterns available to them. If you want to sell your fabric, you ought to be making it more available, not less! I buy at least twenty yards of Liberty lawn, twill, and wool fabrics a year (and I buy at least sixty yards of fabric total in a year, and often more, mostly online), and I would buy more Liberty if more patterns and weights were available to me. If I could, I'd sew with nothing BUT Liberty!

Liberty is by far my favorite fabric. The prints are outstanding and the quality of the weave is unmatched. I, and many other home dressmakers, will be heartbroken if this downward trend in the number and availability of patterns continues.

Sincerely,

etc., etc.

I'll print this out and mail it on real paper (more likely to be taken seriously) when I return to Chicago. So suggestions welcome in the meantime. I wanted to start it with the very British "Sirs:" but since the name of the head of customer service is available, it didn't make sense not to use it. If you'd like to write or email as well, details are here …

Okay — by popular demand (pie-ular demand?) — here's the women's t-shirt (click on the image to follow the link). Here's the men's shirt. Available in a range of colors. If you don't like pie, please don't buy one. (Truth in t-shirts is a pet peeve of mine.)

Have fun!

Except for The Boy (who is getting a lot of Wiigames and Wiicessories, because the Wii is something we like to play as much as he does — unlike, say, Marvel X-Men Checkers, which even pictures of Wolverine can't redeem — and you can get a CROSSBOW for it), I'm trying to make this a books-and-Etsy-and-maybe-CafePress Christmas, present-wise.

And there is SO MUCH on Etsy, it's not even close to manageable. I had to narrow my jewelry search down to "jewelry necklace pendant red" to even get to FIFTY-TWO pages. That's a lot to choose from!

This one was one of my absolute favorites:

Isn't that lovely?

I also went through SEVENTEEN pages of stuff tagged "dictionary", of which I liked this, especially:

This made me laugh out loud:

And then there's this handy tote bag from We Are BANG (they have other letters, if your name doesn't begin with E, but if your name doesn't begin with E I suggest changing it, as all the cool kids have chosen to come right after D in the alphabet):

And this scarf, which is a bit pricey, but worth it — handmade and so beautiful:

In addition to some Etsy shopping, I'm also going to make some custom t-shirts for people — this one is for my little boy. He asked me to make him an "I like pie" t-shirt, so, voilà:

(Don't worry, he doesn't read the blog, this won't ruin Santa for him.)

(I know, I know, we haven't done the Dress A Day t-shirts yet; I got caught up in researching alternate t-shirt suppliers and then got overwhelmed. But soon. And there might be a special Dress A Day holiday-type thingamajig this week, if I'm lucky. Or if you're lucky. Somebody's gonna be lucky. Just you wait.)

Any other suggestions for doing a smaller-and-indie-er Christmas (or great games for the Wii)? Please leave 'em in the comments … and remember, you can click on any of the images above to visit the sellers' pages.

Through no actual planning on my part, my hotel here in London is an easy twenty minutes' walk from the amazing Shaukat Fabrics, so guess where I ended up fairly soon-like after arriving in London? That above is a picture of ONE of the Liberty Tana lawn walls; please to be clicking here and here for other views.

I bought half as much as I did on my last trip, but, considering that 1) the dollar has sunk quite a bit since then and 2) I haven't exactly sewn up all I bought last time, I don't feel as if I wasted my opportunities.

I bought a nice big chunk of this lovely Varuna wool:

And three other pieces: two of the cricket-balls print (possibly called Schlesinger? Anyway, I want to make a BIG shirtdress in that) and one (about three meters) of the neuron print (that's not its actual Liberty name, but that's what I call it).

I could have bought fabrics that I *didn't* already own in other colorways, fibers, and weights, but what would be the fun of that? In an ideal world, I'd only wear Liberty print everything … the same patterns in wool, babycord, cotton lawn, and cotton twill, over and over again.

Yesterday I went to the INCREDIBLE V&A "Golden Age of Couture" show — if you have any, any, any chance of going, GO. Go twice, if you can. I am not joking here, people. There was so much there — it just went on and on like a really good dream — and it was beautifully mounted, up to and including little line sketches on the information cards so that you could better understand the construction details. Cassie (from the V&A's web site) and Melissa kept me company (and indulged my geeking out over all the pockets), and it was just wonderful. (Disclosure — Cassie got us free tickets, but I would have definitely paid the special entry fee anyway …)

Yet to come: a trip to actual Liberty, and possibly Muji — anyone want to tell me which branch of Muji in London is the best?

Every once in a while I meet someone who only knows me from this blog and if I'm wearing a skirt, they seem disappointed that it's not a dress.

Me, I consider dresses and skirts more or less equivalent, sartorially; they both belong to the 'not-pants' group, which, nutritionally-speaking, I need at least one serving of a day. I named this blog "A Dress A Day" because "A Dress (or Skirt) A Day" was a bit unwieldy.

That said, I'm headed to the UK for a week and I'm only packing skirts! The trauma! But … I'm doing some work that involves visiting primary schools, so I don't want to wear super-high heels, which are the only ones I have that work with the Duros, and I'm in the middle of switching from summer to winter sewing, so the new version of this dress that I wanted to bring/wear isn't ready and and and …

But I have to admit, I really, really love this particular skirt for traveling. (For those of you who have been playing along at home, this is the same pattern as this tutorial.

The pockets here are perfect for holding my boarding pass, ID, and phone, and it's easy to dress the skirt up (okay, maybe not the blue-and-orange camo version) by adding very nice flats, tights (or even knee socks!) and a nice sweater. Here's a closeup of the pocket, trimmed in orange twill tape:

The next best thing about this skirt is playing with the facings and the pocket linings. Here's the waistband facing of this one:

Of course, I've also been driving myself nuts trying to figure out what my Next Big Dress is going to be, after my obsession with the Duro. I might post on that later this week.

And, furthermore, while my self-induced pie coma is wearing off, I just wanted to say that one of the things I have been thankful for these past few years is the generous and openhearted community of folks who read this blog. You know who you are. I think you all deserve another piece of pie, wherever you are.