Remember last year, when I posted a link to a group in California that wanted scraps to make quilts for Quilts for Valor and other groups?

I wanted to share this thank-you note I received from Jane Ellen, who manages their donations:

Over the year I've received at least 6 large boxes of marvelous fabrics–silks, Japanese cottons and more. Most have arrived anonymously, but a couple had return addresses and I hope they got their thank you notes. The Pieces of Love quilting group at Northpoint Church in Corona, CA made and distributed at least 120 quilts in 2009–not bad for our first year with 12 members! Twenty were handpicked for women and children at an emergency homeless shelter and extras were left for others to receive as needed. For seven years our church has partnered with a Head Start Program in a disadvantaged area near us. Each year we give a Christmas in Corona party for the children and their families. This year we had over 400 people on our Christmas lists. Originally we just provided toys for the preschool children, but we have expanded to provide an item of clothing and a toy for each child in a Head Start family and gift cards for the parents. We also provide a small (50×63" min.) quilt for each child under age 3. The last count I heard was 52 quilts this year. Other quilts were personally delivered to members needing a tangible reminder of God's love in our church family. One quilt was sent to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where our church partners with a school and ministry. Several were sent on to Quilts of Valor for wounded warriors. Between now and March we'll put together a blue and white quilt for a woman who's speaking at our women's retreat then. This year's retreat is entitled "Sacred Scraps" and will have many of our quilts.

So thank you, from Jane Ellen, and thank you from me, too!

I really love the waist treatment on this pattern (from Tina at What-I-Found Vintage Patterns) but it is a size 11. That's right, e-lev-en. Bust 31 1/2, which I might be able to fit into immediately AFTER I track down Ray Palmer and his shrinking lens. Possibly. I might also have to track down some superhero who has a "remove-a-rib" lens. (I'm sure there was one in 1970s Marvel comics.)

I do understand that people come in all shapes and sizes blah blah blah but it's so sad when something like this doesn't. I know I could always scale it up but pattern grading falls right after "regrout tile in public bathrooms" on my list of fun things to do.

The saddest thing about these adorable patterns is that they're often uncut … because adolescent girls either want to draw as little attention to themselves as possible, or they want to dress like raddled divorceés who drink in the afternoon. (Or, judging from what I see in the windows of Forever21 as I walk past, extras in a Pat Benetar video. Aren't we tired of asymmetrical jersey ruffles with unfinished edges yet? I know I am.)

I suppose there are so many truly awful things about adolescence—systemic "unfairness," skin problems, parents—that I shouldn't begrudge the odd pattern that only comes in sub-deb sizes. (To be clear: there's nothing wrong with having a 31.5 inch bust, even only considering how many awesome things you can wear if you don't have to take into account chestular scaffolding and trussing.) And it's not like I don't have roughly two patterns to sew for every day that I can expect to live, most just as cute as this one, if not cuter. So you should put this whole post down to the cranky ramblings of the aged. If I had a lawn, I could now shout for those darn kids to get off it. (And you'll have to excuse me now, my stories are on.)

Denise at The Blue Gardenia is having a sale (33% off on three patterns) and this is one she's listing now … it's such a good pattern, especially for people looking for a fancy dress that is also *simple*. This one would be a snap, I think!

Carmen sent this link to the art of Mashanda Scott — it's all made of FABRIC! Astounding.

Also, I'm hoping to do more book reviews in 2010 — if you have likely candidates, feel free to email me links (or leave comments here)! I don't care if they're newly published or not, as long as they're still relatively easy to obtain (new or used). Sewing how-to, fashion and textile reference, and fiction about clothing all welcome!

From the (1883) Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity:

Attention has very frequently been called to the presence of large amounts of arsenic in green tarlatan, which has given rise so many times to dangerous symptoms of poisoning when made into dresses and worn, so that it is very rare now to see a green tarlatan dress. This fabric is still used, however, to a very dangerous extent, chiefly for the purposes of ornamentation, and may often be seen embellishing the walls and tables at church and society fairs, and in confectionery, toy and dry-goods stores. The writer has repeatedly seen this poisonous fabric used at church fairs and picnics as a covering for confectionery and food, to protect the latter from flies. As is well known, the arsenical pigment is so loosely applied to the cloth that a portion of it easily separates upon the slightest motion. Prof. Hoffmann after examining 11 large number of specimens estimated that twenty or thirty grains of the pigment would separate from a dress per hour, when worn in a ball-room.

But green tarlatan is not the only fabric which contains arsenic. We find arsenic sometimes in other substances used in making articles of wearing apparel, usually in the form of arsenical pigments. The writer detected a large amount of arsenic in a specimen of cloth known as "Foulard cambric," which had been made into a dress; after wearing the dress a short time severe conjunctivitis was produced, together with nasal catarrh, pharyngitis, and symptoms of gastric irritation. The pattern of the dress consisted of alternate stripes of light-blue and navy-blue, and contained 0.291 grm. per square meter. Conjunctivitis has also been recorded from wearing of "tulle" dresses. A pustular eruption upon the neck and arms was caused by "a splendid dark-green dress, trimmed with light-green leaves," obtained "from a well-known Parisian atelier;" the dress was found to contain "a large percentage of arsenic."

Excessive irritation of the skin has frequently been caused by wearing stockings colored with an arsenical pigment. The writer has detected arsenic most frequently in light-red, magenta-colored and brown stockings; in one case, that of a child, which came to the writer's knowledge, great inflammation of that portion of the skin which came in contact with the stocking took place first, then occurred symptoms of general poisoning, which resulted in a short time in death.

Dr. Jabez Hogg reports also among other articles of wearing apparel fatal cases of poisoning from the green flannel lining of boots, and poisoning by maroon flannel shirts, by calico shirts, gloves, coat sleeves, hat linings, and paper collars.

Holly of Lucite Box Vintage sent me the link to this dress (for sale at Oasis). I kind of love it, but more as a witty swimsuit coverup than as an actual dress, and it's definitely on the pricey side for something like that ($60, plus $10 shipping to the US). Plus, you know, no pockets.

The rest of the Oasis site terrifies me, especially this dress, which I am certain to have nightmares about for quite some time. (Although it would be pretty awesome as part of a Joker's-henchwoman costume for Halloween … )

Since I don't drink alcohol, don't care at all about college football (sorry Sis), and eat black-eyed peas about once a week anyway, New Year's is ALL about the resolutions for me. And this blog (and my related sewing habit) will not escape unscathed from the resolution juggernaut, oh, no no no.

First of all, if you scroll allllll the way down and look at the right-hand column, you'll see that I started this blog in May of 2005. 2005, people! That's like two decades in blog years. This current blog layout is the internet equivalent of a 1998 Toyota Tercel. Sure, it'll get you where you need to go, but very slowly, and you can't plug your iPod into the radio. So I'm hoping to do a refresh of this blog's "look" before the fifth anniversary. (I'd also like to be better about responding to blog comments/email, even if I only manage to do so once a week …)

Sewing-wise, I have two resolutions: to set aside a specific time every week to sew (right now, early Sunday morning is looking good) and to sew three things from my fabric/pattern stash for every item that requires new fabric or a new pattern. (See that pic up above? That's about 80% of my current fabric hoard.)

I've resolved, too, to be a better sewing planner — no more using up precious sewing time running out to JoAnn's because I don't have the right zipper. I'm going to make regular online orders of zippers and thread and other necessary notions, and if I don't have the right color of whatever, well, that project will just have to wait until I do.

I want to be more diligent about adding my project pictures to the Vintage Pattern Wiki and writing things up on Pattern Review — I hope that's a resolution you all share, too!

It would be great if I could say that I'm going to turn overnight into a more careful sewist — that all my patterns are going to match at the seams, that I'm never again going to press something into submission instead of unpicking it and doing it over, and that I'll always take my time and make a muslin first. But if I did, I'd be setting myself up for failure … that's just not gonna happen in 2010.

What are your sewing resolutions? And more to the point, how are you going to keep yourself on track with them? (I need hints!) Leave them in the comments.

This is from Janet at Lanetz Living, who has TWO copies of this in stock (as I write this) in B35 and B37. I *almost* made one of them mine, but I'm trying to hold fast to my resolve not to buy any more patterns until 2010. If you are not laboring under a similar resolution you might want to know that Janet is having a sale: 25% off your entire order (one time only); it ends 12/31.

I really love this (and I'm sure the orange version lurking in the background has nothing, nothing to do with that). I'd even recommend this as a fantastic candidate for a wedding dress (again, in the long and sleeveless version, but possibly not in orange). Think of it in a heavy peau de soie, yes? Or a really nice brocade … lovely. Slap a veil on that sucker and call it a day. (Although: *don't* call it "the happiest day of your life." Why limit yourself?)

The version with sleeves is a bit too Star Trek Epaulet for my taste, but hey, your taste may (and certainly can) differ. If you love it, go for it. Live long and prosper.

This dress (at Holly's LuciteBox Vintage) makes me nearly incandescent with joy. I know we've seen some trompe l'oeil dresses here before, but this one not only takes, but bakes, frosts, and decorates the cake, with those sparkling unblowoutable candles on top.

And NOT ONLY is this a fairly reasonable size (28 waist) it's ON SALE. Holly's having a three-day sale: today's the second day, so use the code SECONDDAY and get 30% off anything on her site. (Tomorrow is the THIRDDAY, and you can get 35% off, but I bet if you wait this dress will be GONE. And that's no-foolin'.)

What kinds of trompe-l'oeil dresses do you wish existed? (Don't ask for fake pockets, though. That's just cruel.)

I made a widget over on Widgetbox months ago, but because this blog is older than dirt and I never upgraded to the Blogger "Layouts" feature instead of the regular ol' "Templates", worrying that doing the conversion would eat up a Saturday better spent sewing, I have not told you about it. Until now.

It looks like this:

Click on that image and it will take you to the Widgetbox page for installation instructions. Unfortunately, because of the "older than dirt" restriction as mentioned above, I have no idea how normal people would install this widget on *their* blogs. Supposedly it "just works," but Steve Jobs didn't harm anyone in the construction of this widget, so take that with a grain of salt.

If you want to make your own random dress widget from your own pattern images, let me know — I'm happy to share the code, such as it is! You'll need to be able to create a new directory & ftp into to rename files for it to work.

I love this dress. I think it would be fun to have this dress with three or four different underslips, in different patterns, kind of like wearing different shirts with same suit, only better. This dress was probably used in one of those 1960s movies where the heroine's "disguise" consisted of a completely conspicuous hat and sunglasses that would shield car headlamps, or where she dressed as a boy (but with full-on false eyelashes), or she "hid" by standing behind a set of brocade drapes (like any villain with common sense doesn't have venetian blinds at this point).

You can nab this dress (and possibly sign up for Interpol) at the Vintage Fashion Library, where Lisa is having a FREE SHIPPING sale. Yes, that even includes you folks outside the U. S. of A. (See what I mean about Interpol?) Also, 10% of your purchase price will be donated to the United Christmas Service in Indianapolis. (Interpolnapolis? Okay, took the joke too far.) This sale includes patterns at Miss Helene's as well — email Lisa for more details if you want to buy from both sites. Sale lasts until the 17th, so shop now for best selection …