Sandritocat is having a Valentine's Day sale, ending Sat. 2/14. Anyone who purchases from her shop will be entered into a a giveaway of a $25 Gift Card to use in her store. Each pattern you purchase will give you one entry. (She is going to have her 7 year old draw the name, which should ensure total randomness!) The pattern above is available on her shop … click on it to visit!

If you're Chicagoland-local, Mary Beth is teaching a hat-making class this Sunday, and then again on the 22nd! The first Sunday class is almost full, so hurry-scurry! (Sadly, I'm booked solid both of those days, or I would be there …)

Oh, and one of the reasons things have been a little quiet around here lately is because I'm filling in for Jan Freeman at the Boston Globe for a few weeks. You can read my columns on correcting people (don't) and Twitter, if you like.

Other quickies:

Amy sent a link to Little Dresses for Africa.

Carol P. sent a link to this fantastic Garden of Eden dress. It won top design prize at the annual meeting of the International Textile and Apparel Association. I wish I'd know about them before, their last meeting was in Schaumburg (very close to Chicago).

I am showing you this image (from Google's LIFE photo archive) simply because I can. Isn't it wonderful, that I can show you a photograph from a magazine printed more than sixty years ago, basically on a whim? This photo was taken by someone named Nina Leen, and I'm relieved I've never met her, because I felt compelled to say her name under my breath several times just for the sheer joy of it, and that would be awkward upon a first introduction. (Try it yourself: Nina Leen! Nina Leen! neenuhleeeeeeen! Isn't that fun?)

And this is one kickass dress, isn't it? I mean, not that anyone who was involved in either the making or the photographing of it would have probably described it that way, but it is. It is constructed of the most finely woven French kickass available, actually. I love the elegant square neckline and the fern detailing, and that the model is NOT an empty-eyed, twelve-year-old bobblehead. (You know I'm a sucker for models who look as if they had a pretty decent idea of how a dress should be worn in real life, instead of just on the runway. This woman is meeting her lover one last time before he heads to the front, obviously. At the end of their interlude she will cry just one perfect tear, so as not to distress him overmuch.)

This is just more proof that there are beautiful things everywhere, and more and more of them are available to our eyes every day. Go look for them, and when you find them, share them.

Jen at MOMSPatterns is trying to help a customer find the dress on this pattern — not this actual pattern, which is for fabric roses — but the dress that Vogue used as a canvas in the picture on this pattern envelope for the flowers that this pattern makes. Is that clear?

We're assuming that the marketing whizzes at Vogue would use one of their own patterns ON one of their own patterns, but nobody's been able to find this yet. Can you help?

Speaking of brides, I'm going to be a bridesmatron again in May! I'm very excited. [Not-so-interesting Erin trivia: thus far I have only stood up in the weddings of people named "Vanessa".] This is the dress my bride-to-be has chosen for us — I really like it:

(NOTE: She is not getting it in BLACK. You guys know how I feel about that, and anyway, it's a May wedding. But you know what? If she asked me to wear black I would so totally do it. I even offered to wear purple if she wanted me to, and purple and I don't get along.)

This dress is from Watters — does anyone have any helpful tips for dealing with them? They're saying "ten weeks"; is that for real, or a nervous-bride-buffer?

Do you think if I say it often enough, it will happen? If so, then "spring spring spring spring spring" is my new mantra. I'll say it while I shovel the four inches of snow expected in Chicago tonight.

I don't know what it is, but this winter has seemed terribly, terribly long, even longer since we have, thanks to an OBVIOUSLY HUNGOVER post-Super-Bowl groundhog, six more weeks of winter coming.

With all the snow and the ice and the bitter cold, and the using up of tubes of lipbalm faster than Blagojevich wears out hairbrushes, and the constant need to wear two pairs of tights (or one pair of black long johns plus black socks) to prevent the dreaded knee frostbite, and the spring fashion magazines trying to be "relevant" in the "economic crisis" by alternating offering up unremarkable $20 t-shirts with suggesting you buy a couple-grand handbag as an "investment," well, let's just say I haven't even been in the mood to look at anything springlike, not even stuff like this:

That's our friend Oscar de la Renta, who I know we've harshed on before as being a little safe, but — you have to admit — the man knows his pretty.

And speaking of pretty — oooh! have you heard? — Isaac Mizrahi's first set of designs for Liz Claiborne are about to come out:

It's worth clicking on that image EVEN THOUGH the whole Claiborne site is a stupid flashtastrophe that takes forever to load and doesn't allow for direct links. Because the new collection has about double the cuteness of the stuff he did for Target, and nicer fabrics because it's a higher price point.

Anyway, I'm not looking at this stuff now because it's just TOO PAINFUL. I need a couple of fifty-degree days in a row before I can begin to contemplate spring clothes. I'm so tired of winter that I'm even tired of Mexican hot chocolate, and friends, when you are tired of Mexican hot chocolate, you are tired of LIFE.

I'm beginning to think hibernation is a *fantastic* idea. Somebody wake me when the daffodils are out.

I was lucky enough to get an eBay gift card for Christmas … well, actually, it was intended for both me and my husband, but I appropriated it immediately and he didn't squeak — he's not what you would call a big eBay shopper. And I figured I would spend it on — what else? — fabric. Namely, Liberty.

I fell in love with this pattern, and realized too late that it's jersey knit. I don't really sew with knits. I mean, I have done, but I've never really ENJOYED it. I even got rid of my serger last year, since I do so little knit-sewing. But for this fabric, I will make an exception. What kind of exception, I don't know (well, I know it's not going to be an elastic-waist skirt, I have it narrowed down that much). I'm thinking I'll be doing a lot of browsing over on BurdaStyle; they have great patterns for knits. I want a dress (duh) and I want pockets (double duh) which are hard to manage in knits, I think. (Maybe I'll line them with organza?) But I'll make it work. Fuchsia-style. Just watch me … on a significant time delay, since there are about 677 projects in front of this one. But still! Knits!

So yes, the nice folks at Sew Bettie Fabrics have LURED me into looking at their site by offering you, dear readers, 10% off with the coupon code "PINK". The fabric above is one I am seriously considering buying two or three miles of. I have a weakness for that color and abstract plaids. (I just like the CONCEPT of "abstract plaid.")

I also love their mustache print, which is calling out to be a stunt dress if ever any fabric was; I just don't have a suitable mustache-related event to make a dress for. (And actually, the idea of there being a suitable mustache-related event scares me a little, so, please, no suggestions in the comments.) Here, see for yourself:

And this chain-link fabric: want. Perhaps to use with this pattern.

They have some other great prints, too, including a bike print (for those of you who liked my bike fabric a while back). One caution — the fabric is priced in fat quarters, so be careful when you place an order that you don't get much, much less than you expect!

A quick one,just to get you started on the week!

Help the Etsy crew send Valentines to the Citymeals-on-Wheels!

Kathleen points us to a giant knitted bus!

Jen at MOMsPatterns has found the oldest fauxlero yet, we think — from the 1930s! (Oh, and while you're there, Jen is running a sale: use code 'greenbelt20' to save 20% off of any order at MOMSPatterns until Friday, January 30, 2009. All sale patterns are down to $2 until the end of the month as well; coupon is good on ANYTHING!)

Libby sent this fabric-shopping site — the fabrics are the ones we know and love (Michael Miller, Alexander Henry, etc.) but you HAVE to check out their illustrations! So clever!

I was interviewed HERE. Learn all about my secret double life, my mysterious past, and my plans for world domination. Or, you know, about this blog that you're reading right now.

Birgit sent me a link to a lovely companion in the "A Day" blog world: Robot A Day.

I love this "Lucy" dress that Cemetarian has up right now. But I love that orange plaid fabric in the illustration even more.

Remember the 2008 charity drive? Doesn't it seem a million years ago? It ended January 6, and according to the widget, we raised $1250 for Books Through Bars! Which is fantastic, given how completely horrible the economic news has been …

And I did promise that I would name a character in my forthcoming novel, The Secret Lives of Dresses (due out from Grand Central AND Hodder in 2010! And in Dutch and German sometime after that!) after one of the generous donors, and … the winner is … Maureen Boyle!

This character, as far as I know now, sports a Bettie Page haircut, fixes motorcycles, knits, and is studying HVAC. (All this is subject to change before publication.)

If you'd like to know my randomizing methodology, it's this — I dumped all the email addresses into an Excel file, assigned them all random numbers using Excel's RAND function, and then sorted on that number. Maureen came out on top!

I want to thank all of you who contributed to this year's fundraiser … the money we raised will go towards books for women prisoners in particular.

If you want to be more involved with books for prisoners, Books Through Bars has set up this cool interactive map of programs in the US!

There was no way I wasn't going to love this dress. First of all, I love that color. Secondly, I love Isabel Toledo. (I actually met her — and her fantastic husband — once. She's even better in person.) Then, when you add in that she is wearing all that as THE FIRST LADY, well, you can see how one might become a bit overwhelmed.

And then those fantastic gloves! Swoon. [Disclosure: I have a vintage pair in just that color.]

I read a couple of pages of people's comments on this on the NYT caucus blog, and was disappointed that no one seemed to realize that Michelle Obama does what I advocate everyone should do: she wears what makes her happy. Could she have worn some boring royal-blue, be-Spanx-ed sheath, by Oscar de la Renta (no offense, Oscar, but you know what I'm talking about) and gotten relieved and approving nods from the Fashion Commentariat? You know she could. But she obviously loves those gloves: they made her happy, so she wore them. WITH a yellow wool lace Isabel Toledo!

The thing is, you can't please everyone all of the time. You can't even please most of the people most of the time. Which is why, especially when it comes to clothes, you have to please yourself. You're the one wearing them; you're the one in the pictures; you're the only one whose happiness is even remotely under your own control: so do what feels right!

I like this one too, even though it's not my taste. (In other words, I don't have a tulle-laden Jason Wu in my closet next to my green gloves.) I do think it looked great. But even if I didn't, I'd see that Michelle Obama is accessorizing it with the only things that really matter: confidence, happiness, and the kind of ease that comes from having made one's own decisions.

And that, my friends, is something that I hope the new First Lady brings firmly into fashion.

I keep thinking about the perfect winter dress. Of course, by "perfect winter dress," I mean "perfect winter dress for me," which is not everyone's perfect winter dress.

For me, a perfect winter dress would:

1. fit nicely under a cardigan sweater, and look cute with colored tights
2. be able to be made in a warm brushed cotton or lightweight wool without looking too goofy
3. accommodate pockets
4. have a raised or empire waistline to accommodate a bit of extra winter weight

I was thinking about Vogue 8469, but I really don't like puffy sleeves. (I suppose I could deflate them without too much trouble.) Here's the line-drawing for it. I'm not showing you the illustration because it is SO CUTE made up in POLKA DOTS that I am afraid it will cloud your judgment. I am also not showing you this version by contrariwise of Pattern Review, because it, too, is WAY TOO CUTE.

So — what do you think? Could you see it in a really fine and drapey Liberty babycord? A lightweight brushed wool flannel? A heavy silk? Some Liberty Jubilee, if I ever find any again? It only takes two yards of dress fabric and 5/8ths of a yard of lining, so that's a big plus. If not this dress, what do you think would be a good pattern for a short, layerable, winter dress? (I would make more Duros, but they just don't really work well under cardigans!)

And also: nagging. I feel as if there are a bunch of hanging threads I need to follow up on here, but I can't remember them. Contest winners? Completed projects that need photographing and posting? If you remember, nag me, and I'll see what I can do.