Julie (at Damn Good Vintage) has this adorable snail-print dress up right now. It's only about $75 but it's teeeeeeny. Waist 24.

I love the little snails — how could you not? And I wouldn't even mind the inevitable escargot jokes. (Although my favorite escargot reference is this one. [warning video link])

Don't the snails look as if they were drawn by Ian Falconer (who does the Olivia books)?

Here's Olivia:

And here's a closeup of the snails:

I think this similarity is deeply significant, but I don't know why. Or how. All I know is that if this dress were in my size (PETER PAN COLLAR, people, and POCKETS) I would own it.

This also reminds me that I have some really cute bug-print fabric that I bought to make my son a camp shirt, and since he has shown NO interest in me making him a shirt (or, in fact, me making him anything that isn't various complicated Star Wars costumes) I think the statute of limitations has run out and I can use it for a dress. Right? Right. (Besides, I think I bought six yards, so I probably have enough for both.)

Despite my own penchant for bright grass green, which I would venture to guess is the Anti-Goth color (brimming as it is with life and vulgar cheerfulness), I have a not-so-secret fondness and admiration for the Full-On Goth. I really, really love Goth fashion, in all its varieties, but probably my Favorite Goth is the Lady of the Manners, who runs Gothic Charm School. (That's her, right there on the left.)

And because the Lady of the Manners has such exquisite fashion sense, she is often hindered by the lack of availability of certain items, since manufacturers are either unaware of the demand for such things, or unwilling to cater to those so far avant of the garde. So she asked me for help in tracking down a particular fabric, and I, in turn, am asking all of you.

Does anyone know of a source for black and "cupcake pink" (see why the Lady is my favorite Goth?) WIDE striped fabric? The stripes, ideally, would be more than 3/8th of an inch wide.

The Lady of the Manners needs at least five yards, because the envisioned dress includes a bustle. (Oh, my heart!)

It has been suggested that the Lady of the Manners buy black and WHITE fabric, and dye it, but, perfectionist that she is, she is afraid that she wouldn't be able to dye it evenly. So she waits for the right fabric to come along.

And — this request got me thinking. If I put up a quick-wiki/bulletin board page of "fabric requests" would you folks visit it, both to post requests and to help fulfill them? Does such a thing exist anywhere else? I wouldn't provide any kind of ecommerce support — you'd have to email each other and make arrangements for sales and swaps yourselves — but would simply having such a space be helpful? Let me know in the comments.

Janet (of zimmersarmy) sent me this image. Doesn't it look like this poor woman would rather be holding a dead wombat that a sewing machine? Of course, those things are heavy, and maybe the illustrator used a model who was thinking the whole time, "I don't want to drop this on my foot!" Except she was probably thinking that in German, and I'm terribly sorry, but the several years of German I was exposed to (I can't say 'took', because it obviously didn't take) did not equip me to express that in German. I'm pretty sure the words wollen and Fuss are involved. And possibly nicht. Given my track record, though, if I were to put those words together, it's more likely than not to come across as "Please, a foot I do not wish to be."

It's unfortunate that the ad makes what was probably a kick-ass machine look as if it smells awful.

Also, after resorting to a German-English dictionary, I feel ALMOST confident asserting that hausschneiderei means "home dressmakers". The translation of the rest of the ad I leave as an exercise for you, dear readers.

Several of you sent me a link to this PatternReview review (by moss) of the Butterick 4790 wrap dress. (You may have to log in or join PatternReview to read the review — I can't remember.)

Please stop for a moment and enjoy the pure, unadulterated awesome that is this dress, okay? No, really, stop and take it in. Ahhhhhh.

It's really such a good dress, and I'm ashamed to say I haven't made mine yet. (It's the not knowing where to put the pockets that is holding me back.) And in spending time tidying up the sewing room this weekend I discovered I have at least three copies of this pattern (I guess I bought it every time it was on $1.99 sale, thinking I'd have to really fuss with it to solve the pocket problem) so I really have no excuse.

I had no excuse to be tidying up the sewing room, either, given all the other stuff I should be doing right now, but it had reached that stage where small children would wander in and vanish without a trace (except, late in the night, you could sometimes hear the sound of someone furtively using expensive sewing shears to cut paper), and it was making me itchy. So I finished sorting out all of my sewing patterns into binders. Expect a picture when I find my camera-battery charger. In the meantime, while you're waiting, go click on the image above to read the review of this pattern.

Doesn't this pattern (from Linda's Sew Be It) look just SO EASY? I mean, it's probably not something you can make in an hour, but then, the cuter stuff never is. (It takes time to grind the cute into the fabric, you know. Laboriously. By hand.) But it looks so easy TO WEAR.

I love those patterns that want ONE HUGE BUTTON, because my One-Huge-Button collection is vast; it contains many, many One Huge Buttons picked up hither and yon. (I used to, in my less discriminating/more magpie-ish days, buy completely ratty, holey, unwearable vintage, just to cut the two remaining buttons off of it. Then I would lose one of the buttons. This is how One Huge Button collections are born.)

I'd make this out of a ditsy floral, I think, green and yellow, with a big green button and green piping around the pockets. Or a red and black geometric with a red button and piping. I might even pipe the yoke. Except I'm not buying this one, because it's slightly too small for me (Size 14, B34, I think). So one of y'all do it, okay, and then send me a picture of the dress you make?

I have to say that I've made quite a few of these Anne Adams newspaper patterns, and they're usually very good — clear directions, go together well. As soon as I get a new battery charger for my camera (I can't find the one it came with, which leads me to believe I left it in some hotel room, somewhere, grrrr) I'll take a picture of a couple Anne Adams dresses I've made that I really liked. If I remember. Nag me, okay?

… is, as Mary Fran tells me, in Seville (that's Spain, not Ohio.) Turns out flamenco dancers need/wear/love polka dots. Another reason, as if you needed a reason to 1) go to Spain 2) take up the heartbreak and passion that is … FLAMENCO! 3) wear polka dots.

I am in high-covetousness-gear right now. I want, in no particular order, the coffee-colored dots the third shelf down on the left; the multi-sized green on the bottom right (and oddly, that horrible dotless pea green right next to it——I always latch on to the runt of any litter); and the orange and chartreuse on the third shelf down in the middle.

So, if anyone's going to Spain … in my head, of course, these are all lovely fine cottons, but I'm betting they're actually poly, so as to wear longer.

Also, I just found out I will have less than 24 hours in Tokyo in late July, probably Monday the 30th. Does anyone have fabric-store recs for Tokyo? Preferably near Narita airport?

Sorry I missed yesterday — I don't know where the day went. Although I assume that the occasional postless day just adds to my general air of intrigue and mystery.

Li Chan sent me a link to this dress a few days ago, but the seller, Affaire d'Amour Vintage, set a Buy-It-Now price that was, astoundingly, less than $20, so someone else got to it first. Not that I'm bitter, or anything. (Although on a closer read of the auction text, it turns out that the dress is polyester knit, so I probably *wouldn't* have BIN-ned it. I don't do polyester knit.)

However, this print is so cute. Any of you type-heads out there want to ID the font? That "fat" question mark should be a giveaway, right?

You know that "SWAP" meme that's going around? Where you sew a certain number of coordinating items, and they they're judged, and the winner gets a gift certificate? (There are a couple of them, I'm too lazy to google for them, extra credit for those who do so and put the links in the comments …) I'd love to do a SWAP with a "typography" theme and have a little jacket and skirt combo with comma-shaped pockets, and a couple alphabet-print dresses, and so forth. The one thing that holds me back from SWAP.jpgng (aside from the complete and total lack of a spare hour in any day between now and the 4th of July) is that they all want you to sew tops, and I just don't sew tops. I make dresses, I make skirts, I buy t-shirts and cardigans, I'm done. This is not A Blouse A Day, after all …

Jennifer (of the excellent Naughty Secretary Club) sent me the link to this dress, which is by her sister Hope (of Hot Pink Pistol).

It's hand-painted, obviously, although I would like, for a moment, to entertain the notion of a world where the image of Purple Rain-era Prince is omnipresent and heavily marketed, sort of like all those Che Guevara t-shirts.

It's such a short leap, isn't it, from finding a purple satin dress to thinking "I should paint Prince on this dress! That would be awesome!"

And lo, it is awesome.

If I had this dress, I wouldn't wear it … I'd put it on a mannequin and keep in my living room (or, if my husband objected, the bedroom, or, if he REALLY objected, my office) because, as a work of art, it would make me happy every day.

Even better would be to have one of those recordable greeting-card sound chips stuck inside it, hooked to a motion sensor, and then, if people got too close to it, BOOM! Purple Rain would play. (The really climax-y "I only wanna see you" part, naturally.)

I think paintings on dresses are the new dogs playing poker. Ever-so-slightly cheesy, but cheerful in a way that you can't really explain.

Whether you'd display this, wear this or just admire from a (very long) distance (I admit no other options), be sure to check out the link to Hope's other stuff — the David-Bowie-in-Labryinth-dress is equally fantastic, if slightly scarier. (Bowie was terrifying in that movie, was he not? Sure, half of it was the known fear-inducing quality of spandex, but still …)

Thanks to Melanie at A Cluster of Parrots, who designed the logo! (Melanie's baby onesies with the bow ties? My *favorite* baby presents.)

Here's the deal:

• They're American Apparel tees (which means they come in AA sizes, see poll below)
• They're pink with brown ink. We'll do other colors later, I bet. Leave a comment if you have suggestions.
• The logo will be smallish (about palm-size) and centered on the front of the shirt, on the upper sternum, for fewer bustage-stretchage issues.
• They'll come right from Melanie, who is lovely to deal with. (As much as I love CafePress, I wanted the Dress A Day t-shirts to be crafty and hand-done and from a small, mom-run business … it just seemed appropriate. I may still use CafePress for tote bags and postcards and whatnot; tell me what you want in the comments!)
• Cost: $15, plus $4.60 priority mail shipping (in US). (International Shipping will be extra, depending on where you are and how fast you want your shirt.)

Please take our size poll so that I know what sizes to order! The poll will be up for a week or so; Monday I'll put it in the sidebar or something. Then I'll put up the link for ordering after we know what sizes people want.

http://www.majikwidget.com/mw/api/poll1/poll1.php?id=d961e9f236177d65d21100592edb0769

I know there's lots we haven't answered, like whether we'll do men's sizes, and when exactly you'll be able to order them, and so forth, so go ahead and leave comments and I'll try to answer them as best I can, although you should expect a lot of "I don't knows" and "Let me look into thats".

Lisa sent me the link to this one, another eBay glory listed by Capricorn Vintage.

Look at those dots! And the shelf bust, and the big ol' ruffle. I'm really obsessed with the big ol' hem ruffle right now — I must have four or five patterns that are featuring it. Not the 1970s prairie hem ruffle, but this exuberant, can't-help-myself 1950s hem ruffle. The kind where just sitting down in a chair turns into some kind of effervescent event.

Of course all those patterns are waiting until I get a ruffling foot for my sewing machine. (I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid.)

In fact, most of my sewing is waiting for one reason or another, with the 'one reason' in particular being that I'm coordinating the Dictionary Society of North America meeting in Chicago in June. And since June is like, next week, there's SO MUCH TO DO, none of which can be accomplished with a sewing machine. Gah. But if you're near Hyde Park on Saturday, June 16, you should come see the New Word Open Mic, which is (as you might imagine from the name) open to the public. Come hear people pitch their new words to dictionary editors! Or come pitch one yourself!

(Also, I seem to developed the dreaded summer head cold. Arrrrrrrrgh.)

Anyway, back to the dress — it's B36, and in great shape — take a look! (Click on the image to visit the listing.)