Well, since Catwalk Queen was nice enough to link to me yesterday, I will play true to type and show another Duro … but because I think a lot of you are going to dislike this color combo I'm shooting it in front of a busy background so as to give you something else to look at. (That handsome man on the wall over the dress form's shoulder? That's my grandfather, Fritz.)

This is in wool crepe, which I've washed so it's a little felty — I love it when wool's a little felty, it just has such a great texture and weight to it. The blue is a very peacocky blue, and the gold is downright mustard.

The colors are a little truer with my flash off:

With any luck, because it's wool, it will be nice and warm for Thursday, when I am speaking on a panel at the Free Library of Philadelphia (where I am fighting WAY above my weight class, I can tell you: the other panelists are the amazing Mark Liberman, the charming [in his books, at least, but I expect he'll be so in person as well] and well-read Ben Yagoda, and the almost frighteningly erudite John McWhorter. I, my friends, I am the comic relief.) You should definitely come see it. (Just don't expect me to carry the show.)

I think I only have a couple Duros of my own left to show — and I have only one more cut out waiting to be finished, but I think that one's going to be a doozy. Hint: Darth Vader Fabric.

Keeley sent this link to me — isn't it fantabulous? I love the sash, obviously — what's not to love? I'm not as hipped on the bodice/neck/sleeves, but the sash makes up for any little quibbling doubts I might have had.

This is B38/W30 and is listed in the eBay store of Dorothea's Closet, for $157.

If I were going to make something like this, I'd try to figure out how to make interchangeable sashes; I'd want a bluey-green one, and a yallery-orange one, and even (for the height of sophistication) an oystery-gray/ivory one.

But, considering that my "to make" pile is growing exponentially, I won't get around to reverse-engineering it until about 2027. So you might as well buy it now. I'll come find you when I need it.

You read that right. Isaac’s Style Book is launching a new feature called Sketch-A-Dress. Yep, think up a dress, any dress, even an impossible dress made of cotton candy with soap-bubble trim, or barbed wire and Christmas tinsel, and email Isaac with it; Isaac will then select his favorites and sketch them. The results will be published in issue no. 2 of Isaac’s Style Book (April 2007) and posted online.

Needless to say, when I heard about this — well, I typed so fast I thought my keyboard was going to overheat. Seriously, there was smoke, and a weird smell like burning hair. (Although maybe that last was coming from my head, as my neurons churned, and not the keyboard.)

Even if my dream dress isn't chosen (sob!) I can't wait to see what he does sketch. Isaac is a man who Truly Understands The Dress. He isn't always trying to "reinvent" it; he knows it's an ideal form (a la Plato) and is solely concerned with making the ideal real. Thus this contest!

So send 'em in! And cross your fingers (or hold your thumbs) for my entry …

A correspondent who wishes to remain anonymous sent me this link; I was lucky enough to get some of this stationery as a gift a while back so I figured everyone knew about it, but just in case, I'm posting it today. It's from Fred Flare, and it's $8 for 16 sheets and envelopes, plus cute little stickers …

I generally like Fred Flare, but if you value your eyeballs, don't go check out their new blog. The rule for replacing "s" with "z" at the end of a word? (As in "twins" becoming "twinz" and "girls" becoming "girlz") Is you get to do it SPARINGLY. Too much = not funny. Too much = really annoying. (Also, I don't need to see any more pictures of either Olsen twin, but maybe that's just me.)

And, while I'm dispensing dictats, can I remind you all of the spelling hint that differentiates "stationAry" (as in "and yet it (doesn't) move") and "stationEry" (cute paper to write letters on) is that the pEn that you use to write on stationEry has an "E", and so does stationEry itself. I have tons of these little hints, and I make up more all the time, which is kinda dumb of me as I think spelling talent is pretty much hereditary and is very hard to learn, at least in English. Yet still I try.

I have a rollicking head cold today and am moving about as fast as molasses uphill in January. In other words, I'm much more like stationAry than stationEry (which moves quite briskly through the mails). In fact, I think I'd better go lie down …

Reason #5,898 why I love Google Book Search: I just found an amazing book. It's Fashion and Costume in American Popular Culture, and it's described as:

Providing a convenient and unique look at fashion and costume literature and how it has developed historically, this volume discusses monographic and reference literature and provides information on periodicals, research centers, and costume museums and collections. It also provides a new way of looking at the literature through a database of 58 Library of Congress subject headings. It covers topics from jeans to wedding dresses and features "popular" examples of how clothing is used and reflected in our culture through the literature discussed. Of interest to scholars, students, and anyone curious about the unique power clothing holds in our lives. Various types of reference sources are discussed including other guides to the literature, encyclopedia, dictionaries, biographical dictionaries, specialized bibliographies, and indexing and abstracting services. Electronic CD-ROM and online databases equivalents are included in the presentation of indexing and abstracting services with major networks such as OCLC, RLIN, Lexis/Nexis, and Dialog mentioned as well. In addition a list of 123 research centers, mainly libraries, is provided and arranged geographically by state, some 176 costume museums and collections of costumes located at colleges and universities are listed alphabetically, and a list of 278 periodicals on fashion, costume, clothing and related topics is provided. A database of some 58 clothing and accessory subject headings is analyzed in the Worldcat database with the literature of the top ten specific clothing and accessory subject terms limited to media publication format are covered. Additionally, histories of costume and fashion in the U.S. and works which concentrate on psychological, sociological or cultural aspects are outlined. An appendix, including the clothing and accessory database, and author and subject indexes conclude the volume.

Holy moly, right? I love annotated bibliographies; and this one seems great — especially the overview of clothing and accessory subject headings (</library geek>). The only downside is the book is not illustrated (so the picture above, from Fashion-era.com, is only for eye-candy).

I found a copy for only $20, including shipping, and there were plenty more where that came from!

Do any of y'all remember the popsicle fabric I bought off eBay, way back in December 2005? Well, I hardly remembered it either, until I was in the sewing room this past weekend looking for something else, and then I remembered that last fall I had started to make a dress out of it.

I say "started", because, in a true triumph of hope over experience, I put it together in September. This happens to me a lot. It's early September, it's still in the high seventies, degree-wise, and I think, "Oh, sure, I'll make one last summer dress and wear it for a few weeks before I break out the sweaters." No. I usually get it right to this stage (the dress above is missing the side zipper and the hem isn't finished) and then, BOOM! The temperature drops to 50, I have absolutely no interest in popsicles, either to eat or to wear, and the poor dress has to live in purgatory all winter long.

I figure round about March I'll feel like finishing this up. Here's a close-up of the bodice:

I'm very pleased, though, that this dress has all the colors I said I was going to concentrate on this summer: yellow, blue, green, and orange. If I really stick to that plan, maybe I can even justify buying these shoes, in blue …

Okay, here's another one. This is my version of the Claire McCardell (McCalls 4292) that a couple of you had asked about. It's in silk charmeuse that I bought at Vogue Fabrics, and I guess it is also blue and brown, although the brown is really a lovely old-gold color.

Here's a closeup of the bodice:

The dark lines you see in the bodice are the gaps in my adjustable dress form, underneath the fabric. I forgot to dress her in her white undershirt today!

I thought this pattern went together very easily; it even has two side pockets, although I ended up just doing one because the instructions for putting together the pocket on the zipper side confounded me completely (and I was in a rush to get it finished to wear to my friend A's lovely wedding). I think I've worn it once or twice since then; I have a cardigan that matches it, which dresses it down a bit.

If I made it again I would take in the upper back center seam about 1/2 inch; for some reason I have the opposite of a dowager's hump (dowager's sinkhole?) and dresses seem to gape on me there. Or maybe it's narrow-shoulderedness? I don't really know. Speculation welcome.

I almost forgot — here's the bow in the back (sorry for the fuzzy picture):

The charmeuse is very soft, so it doesn't have the loft of the bow in the original pattern.

It's a very comfortable dress — easy to wear, and the wrapped sash is very forgiving. I think next time I might make it in black, even though I have a couple LBDs already that I don't wear …

Five Things I Never Seem to Have Enough Of:

1. Sharpie markers (where do they all go?)
2. quarters for parking meters
3. hours of sleep
4. milk chocolate Hobnobs
5. wrap dresses with midriff detail (see below)

So cute! I love the yellow backed with gray; not just because I love that color combination, but also because it looks like the flannel backing you find underneath ceramics. Like she has a right and a wrong side, and the wrong side is padded to reduce scratches.

The pattern's up on eBay now (click the image to visit the auction). B34. I'd bid myself but I'm Not Buying Patterns right now; at least not until I get mine all organized (now there's a topic for Mr. Mann) and figure out what I actually have. I did the first batch last night and it feels very odd to divorce the pattern envelopes from the innards … even though I know it's for their own good. And mine.

But, seriously, if anyone can tell me where all my Sharpie markers go, I'd really appreciate it. I swear, I feel like I buy a couple every month! The green ones seem to hang around the longest, but black ones disappear in a heartbeat.

(And if you're not reading Merlin Mann's 5ives, well, why not?)

Okay, perhaps that subject line was better left untyped, but this eyelet dress from La Redoute (kindly sent in by Angela) is pretty sweet. (Ignore that that model seems to be sizing you up for edibility.) It reminds me of this one that Helen was looking for a pattern for last year.

When I was in LA I almost bought $100 of broderie anglaise, but I restrained myself with difficulty, remembering that I already *have* an eyelet dress (I'll add it to the picture queue) and that there's something fishy about a wardrobe with more than a couple eyelet items. I don't know why, but eyelet, like lamé and lurex, is more of a condiment fabric than a main course. But it's lovely for summer!

Speaking of summer sewing, although I don't think I can do the full-on SWAP (sewing with a plan) lifestyle (as it involves the using only minimal prints, and you all know we can't have that here at Dress A Day Headquarters) but I am considering, this year, limiting myself to maybe only four colors — bright yellow, grass green, baby blue, and orange. That way I could maybe reduce my packing tsuris … and of course, even restricting colors still means I can wear stuff like this:

Or this:

Right?

I know, I know, I've been promising pictures of stuff I've sewn, especially Duros, for ages now, haven't I? Well, here's one …

This is made up of some of the Liberty I bought in London, along with some solid quilting cotton for the banding (which my friend Brad helped me choose — he has a remarkable eye for color, unsurprisingly). It was very difficult to get the right warm brown to match the brown lozenges in the print!

I really like the brown-and-blue combo (I like brown with most other colors, actually). It's fairly lightweight, which means for autumn and winter I've been wearing it over a ecru long-sleeved scoopneck shirt and tights. That makes it mostly warm enough.

Here's a closeup of the bodice (I made only an impressionistic ironing attempt, so excuse the remaining creases):

I think the only alteration I made from the original pattern was to lengthen the waist ties so that I could bring them around and tie them in the front, which I prefer. It's easier to tie, for one, and it looks a little more grown-up than the ties in the back.

All right. There you go. I made two other Duros round about the same time as I made this one, and I don't think I've posted pictures of either of them, so I'll try to take them tomorrow or over the weekend. Wish me luck!