Marge at Born Too Late has the perfect suit for your Mad Men-obsessed friend:

She's also got this sparkly green cocktail dress, this really cute Anne Adams newspaper pattern and this Vogue pattern (ahem, Santa, I've been really good this year …) And Marge is giving 10% of the purchase price of all items (not including shipping) to the Salvation Army through the end of December!

Carol [not Caroline, as I had it earlier! ooops!] at Dandelion Vintage has a great selection of vintage purses (including this mock-croc doctor's bag):

And if you're giving a bag, why not put a vintage hanky in it? Carol also has lovely vintage aprons, which make great gifts whether the recipient cooks or not (if she does, it's useful; if she doesn't it's funny).

Jill (Old & Beautiful Vintage [not the Purse Diva, sorry Jill & Holly!] at the Main Street Mall online) sent me three links that tell a little story … there's this gorgeous Winter Wonderland dress:

And this mink-collared coat:

And this alligator purse:

At first I thought they were all worn by the same woman, but the dress is much smaller (and doesn't really go with the purse). But eventually I figured out that the coat and purse are worn by the mother of the girl in the dress! (Am I right? She's a debutante, her mom's a society lady? Together, they fight crime?) There is a whole movie in this collection of items … and a couple of really, really fancy presents!

More holiday shopping …

Rita at Cemetarian suggests these wonderful things …

I love this old dress ad — an inexpensive frame from the craft store and you have a fun present:

This vintage knitting book would make a great gift for, well, knitters. If you're feeling flush, included the recommended amount of yarn …

I *really* want the guy's sweater in this booklet, shown here (but not enough to learn how to knit, sadly):

And if you still need a dramatic holiday dress, I bet you could get this in time … I would make it in tartan, myself. (Because, yes, I *enjoy* looking like a sofa …)

Rita is offering 10% off with the code adad …

AND: Kathleen at Little Hunting Creek is offering a free handmade baggage tag (and they are CUTE) with every purchase over $25. And if you buy three or more patterns, you still get free shipping! (Put "Dressaday" in the comments.)

So, here's the deal. I haven't even come close to finishing my holiday shopping yet — I celebrate Christmas, so I'm gonna call it Christmas shopping, please feel free to substitute the name of any holiday you like — and I haven't even had time to even look, for the most part. And I figure, with the way things are in the world, a lot of you might not have finished yours, either. And time's a-wastin'!

One of the things that's been holding me back, shopping-wise, is that I didn't really feel like buying mass-produced, cookie-cutter things for people who are (to me) one-in-a-million. I'm planning to do a little shopping on Etsy, and at craft fairs, but I've been looking for cool vintage stuff for folks, too.

So I asked all the lovely folks who advertise with me what they would suggest as presents for vintage-loving or sewing-loving folks, and send me some links, and I'll be posting them all week (sometimes several times a day, if I can manage it … I got sent a lot of links!) so check back early and often!

I know a lot of folks hesitate to give vintage, since it usually can't be returned, and because you really have to know the recipient for it to work. But really, this year — if you gave something from Linens-N-Things, well, that can't be returned now either! And a really great vintage dress is so much better made than almost anything modern — if you're not entirely sure of someone's size, give it and an offer to get it tailored to fit them. (Personally, I'd rather get one fantastic vintage dress, even if it didn't quite fit, than ten "eh" presents …)

First up is Holly from LuciteBox, who sends three fantastic dresses …

I would send this one to a best friend who is looking for a cool but still possibly office-y dress:

This one is definitely a teen-ager's dream …

This one I think folks might be tempted to get for themselves … New Year's Eve is coming up … or maybe you should forward this to your significant other?

But wait! There's more! Holly is offering NOT ONLY 15% off any purchase on her site (with the coupon code: pleasegive), she will ALSO donate 10% of the order total (less shipping) to Book Through Bars, our charity this year!

Here's the sweet part. Every customer who shops using the pleasegive coupon code also gets to be entered into the pool of names to be chosen for a character in the upcoming "Secret Lives of Dresses" book. If you've already been entered, you'll have increased your chances of getting chosen when part of the proceeds of your purchase are given to Books Through Bars. (Holly promises to send me your name right away.) This offer expires on December 27th, 2008.

How can you resist that? The dresses, plus the discount, plus the donation?

[great pic by Amit Gupta]

Does everyone have a list of 'to-sew' ideas? Here are the ones that are topmost in my mind right now:

1. A black cotton circle skirt (with pockets, and a contour waistband), with a wide band at the hem. I want to cover the band with either little studs, in a kind of paisley pattern (with a transfer? I don't know) or with a pattern of grommets. I think the studs or grommets would weight the skirt nicely …

2. An orange cotton shirtdress. And by "orange," I mean ORANGE. I have the fabric, I just need the time.

3. A khaki camouflage shirtdress. Again, have fabric but no time. And it's hard to be motivated to sew lightweight things in Chicago in December.

4. A dark teal dress with a pleated skirt. I have a pattern for this and the fabric, but I need to find the right fabric to face the neck with, because the facing shows. (I'm thinking Liberty, but, then again, when am I not thinking Liberty?)

5. A Duro Jr. made in five different colors of jewel-tone silk shantung.

6. A camouflage twill circle skirt with a deep camo ruffle at the hem. I know, I know, I wear more camo than the First Armored Division, but what can I say? I like it. It makes me happy.

7. Something with the crazy big print fabric I bought from Waechter's.

8. A gray corduroy dress. Wide-wale. Have fabric, but no pattern. "NOT a jumper, patch pockets" is as far as I've gotten in finding the pattern.

9. A skirt with a faux-argyle pattern done in applique, embroidery stitch, and applied ribbon. (Do I know how to do this? No.)

10. Something with that brown roses fabric I bought a million years ago. It just sits in my sewing room and TAUNTS me.

Well. That's roughly three years of sewing. What's on your list?

Caroline (of Frillseekers Vintage) is offering ten free tickets to the Vintage Fashion, Textiles and Accessories Fair this coming Saturday, the 14th, at the Hammersmith Town Hall (King Street, London W6). (I know. ANOTHER fantastic vintage sale in London … sigh. I may just make a raft and start paddling. Which, from Chicago, would get me to … Michigan? Actually, more likely Gary, Indiana. Need new plan.)

Anyway, if you are in/can get to London, email her (at caroline AT frillseekersvintage DOT com) with 'dressaday offer' in the subject line and she'll pick 10 names at random. The tickets usually cost £5 or £10, so this is a nice deal!

I haven't gone to very many of these vintage shows, so I don't have any advice (other than the advice I always give for every situation, which is "wear comfortable shoes and carry something to eat") so if you have any Vintage Show Tips and Tricks, would you leave them in the comments? It would be a service to humanity.

I got a really interesting comment from Xan this morning on the McCardell Update I posted a while back:

First, it has been with great difficulty that I have found time to finally comment on this post.

A real travesty indeed-silk charmeuse sprayed with sizing for this Claire McCardell dress? Not only does it give me the willies, I bet the fine designer of the pattern is rolling over in her grave.

I have had the gut-wrenching experience time and again seeing sewing projects online over the last couple of years borne from people sewing something just to sew something rather than do it in a respectable if not correct manner.

Yours here is obviously such a project. I understand wanting to sew from one’s stash of fabric, but first to mutilate charmeuse with spray sizing and then to do so in order to ‘shoehorn’ it into a Claire McCardell dress pattern for which limp, draping fabrics were never meant, what’s the point? What happened to taste? Do you go anyplace wearing this dress? Is it usable as a garment?

Never mind the fact that the print was not matched along the centerline of the front as San Antonio Sue pointed out on Nov.13-it is simply awful.

As always, I totally support anyone's right to be appalled by what I wear, and to be vocal in their disapproval. De gustibus, and all that, but I did want to respond to this comment, and not just in the comment thread.

(First, I wanted to clarify one thing — the silk was not sprayed with sizing, it was treated with Sullivan's Fabric Stabilizer Spray, which is washed out before wearing. The Sullivan's makes the fabric easier to cut and sew, but doesn't affect the fabric's "hand" after washing.)

This is the part I really wanted to respond to:

I have had the gut-wrenching experience time and again seeing sewing projects online over the last couple of years borne from people sewing something just to sew something rather than do it in a respectable if not correct manner.

It is the fear of encountering this snobby attitude that I think keeps so many people from sewing, and I think that's such a shame. Yeah, that dress was not the best I ever made, but — so what? I did wear the dress (to a wedding) and I got some nice compliments on it (from people who didn't know I made it, btw).

More importantly, I learned something from making that dress. It was an experiment. It was an exploration. You learn a lot more from trying something new than from doing everything in the "respectable if not correct" way.

I'm not saying "throw all the rules out the window!" (I wouldn't have made that dress out of plastic grocery bags or polyester double-knit) but I'd rather live my life trying new things (which are not always guaranteed to work) than making sure I only did exactly what's been done before, what's "respectable and correct," and nothing else. If you're only going to follow a recipe, why not invest in a few paint-by-number kits? (This is why I always ignore those "Copy Ready-To-Wear!" articles in sewing magazines. If I wanted "ready-to-wear", I'd BUY "ready-to-wear," people.)

It's the garments I make from weird fabrics, in fact, that have made me the happiest. Camouflage and stripey skirts, and curtain-fabric dresses, and on and on.

But, really — "gut-wrenching"? If seeing other people's not-quite-right (by your standards) efforts gives you actual intestinal pain, you might want to take some deep breaths and repeat "This isn't my problem" until it goes away.

The designer of the pattern, Claire McCardell, was herself an innovator. She pioneered ballet slippers as shoes, which would have been neither respectable nor correct in some people's eyes when she first did it — but she didn't let that stop her.

If you're just starting to learn to sew, and you're worried about attitudes like Xan's, think for a minute about what you want more: Making something that's "perfect" by someone else's standards? Or the experience and pleasure of planning, sewing, and ultimately wearing something that's a reflection of you, and not the equivalent of packaged cake mix? I know what my answer is.

Since the holidays are coming up, I thought this extract from Miss Leslie's Behavior Book would be helpful:

In presenting a dress to a friend whose circumstances are not so affluent as your own, and who you know will gladly receive it, select one of excellent quality, and of a colour that you think she will like. She will feel mortified if you give her one that is low-priced, flimsy, and of an unbecoming tint. Get an ample quantity, so as to allow a piece to be cut off and laid by for a new body and sleeves, when necessary. And to make the gift complete, buy linen for the body-lining; stiff, glazed muslin for the facings, buttons, sewing-silk, and whatever else may be wanted. This will save her the cost of these things.

If there are givers reading this blog solely to get ideas of what to give givees who are very interested in sewing, a length (four yards is safe) of a very nice fabric is always welcome. Choose a color you've seen your givee wear, and ask for in the store for advice about fabric if you're unsure — natural fibers are best. Or you could visit some of the advertisers there on the right and choose a fantastic vintage pattern or vintage accessory — always welcome!

Oh, more about the charity drive for this year: first, we're up to $860! Second, I was wrong about international donors — it only works for Non-USians if you use Paypal. If you can't use Paypal and want to donate to an equivalent prisoners' or literacy charity in your home country, you're still eligible, just forward me your receipt! Remember, one lucky donor will have a character in my forthcoming novel named after them (or after a person important to them) — go out and donate here. Thanks!

Beth B. sent me this, from SoVintage Patterns. Now, THOSE are pockets, yes?

I'm pretty sure that they don't really go all the way to the hem, but are, instead, given a kind of apple.jpge-bed treatment. Right? Otherwise I see a LOT of things going through the wash that shouldn't go through the wash …

And I don't know about you, but I think those buttons are overkill. Giant pockets, center zipper, AND button trim? Girlfriend is trying a bit too hard. (Plus, I think she's only pretending to read. That book is too far away and I have a sneaking suspicion it's upside-down. It seems odd that all the lines would be right-justified …)

Oh, and thank you all SO much for your wonderful response to last week's charity drive kickoff! We're already nearly halfway to the goal of $1500 for Books Through Bars … and I forgot to mention the end date, which, this year, will be Epiphany. (Seemed appropriate, and if money's tight before the holidays, if gives you a little longer to donate …) A few folks have had trouble with the Network For Good widget interface, so I'm going to ask Books Through Bars if they have alternate avenues … Overseas/UK folks *can* use the widget (which asks for state/zip code) by putting their equivalent geographic locations/postal codes in those fields, btw. Don't forget to put "Dress A Day" in the "Dedication" field so that we can track the donations … to donate TODAY, click here. When you get your receipt, forward it to me, since one lucky donor have a character named after him or her in my forthcoming novel, "The Secret Lives of Dresses"!

If you've been a reader of this blog, you probably know about the Secret Lives of Dresses series. (If you don't know about them, the links are over there in the sidebar, on the right.)

And you probably also know that, for the last couple years, I've been lucky enough to be able to raise money for some great charities by offering to write new "Secret Lives" vignettes if we reach our donation goal.
This year, I hope we can raise $1500 for Books Through Bars, a charity in Philadelphia that provides books, especially dictionaries, to prisoners. They are working towards starting a program in a nearby women's prison, and our donations would go towards that effort.

If we make our goal, I have a new prize this year. You see, there's going to be a "Secret Lives of Dresses" book (just like many of you have asked for!) sometime in 2010, from Grand Central Publishing in the US and Hodder in the UK. And guess what? It's a novel! A novel that I haven't exactly finished yet, so I have room to rename a character! If you donate to this charity drive and email me a copy of your receipt (email is erin at dressaday dot com), I will choose one name from all the donors and name a character in the novel after him or her. (Yep, seriously.)

http://www.networkforgood.org/PCA/Badge.swf?BadgeId=113162

I don't care if you give a dollar or a hundred dollars (although obviously, I'd prefer you give a hundred dollars, if you can …). But if you give anything at all, you have a chance to be a character (or at least a character's name) in the "Secret Lives of Dresses" novel. In addition, my wonderful editor at 5 Spot/Grand Central, Caryn Karmatz-Ruby, has offered to send me a box of their fantastic books to give as prizes for some runners-up (whom I'll also select randomly from all donors) …

So, what are you waiting for? Scroll back up and click the "donate" button, and help a woman in prison educate herself so that, when she is released, she never has to go back.

The Donate For Good site accepts PayPal and credit cards; please put "DressaDay" in the "Designation" box so that Books Through Bars can make sure that our donations go to their women's program.

[Oh, and speaking of contests, the winner of last week's "enter a fabric store on the wiki and win a pattern" contest is Jinnan-tonnyx — Jinnan, drop me an email with your mailing address, okay?]