Inspired by the Movies: Vicki the Silver-and-Gold-Digger from The Parent Trap (1961)

When Pattern Review announced its "Inspired by the Movies" contest I was kind of stumped.  I have made a zillion costumes based on movie characters, but the requirement for this contest is that the final result *not* be a costume.  Which is a clever twist but was not inspiring me so much.  I was trying to think of contemporary movies whose style I liked and was really coming up blank.  TV shows, yes.  But movies?  Nothin'.

Then I was thinking about the yellow skirt I had planned and what I would wear with it and suddenly a little tickle in my brain reminded me of one of my favorite movies of all time:  The Parent Trap.  I prefer the 1961 version, but I will tell you that I also own the Lindsay Lohan remake and like it almost as much as the original.  I am not a purist.  Though it makes me sad to see her being cute and undrugged.

At any rate, I have watched this movie dozens if not hundreds of times, can recite every line along with the characters, still laugh when the cake gets stuck on the bird beak, and there it is in the middle:  Vicki's yellow suit with a silver top.  I love Maureen O'Hara's wardrobe, but have neither the hourglass figure nor the bullet bra to carry off her looks.  But Joanna Barnes as Vicki?  That I can do.

While reams of ink (to mix my metaphors) have been spilled on Maureen O'Hara's Maggie (here is a fabulous rundown of all her outfits), I couldn't find much on Vicki's costumes.  I assume this is partly because she's the villain and mostly because as a femme fatale she is a total fail.  The costume designer really was not giving us anything to work with in seeing Vicki as the seductive younger woman.  All her clothes are too big, hiding whatever figure she may have.  Her hair is gray grandma hair of the kind where you go to the beauty parlor to get it set once a week.  She mostly wears heinous suits--hardly the kind of attire that screams bedroom!

Hayley Mills's character calls her "very nicely put together" and Maureen O'Hara's character refers to her as "that plotz-faced child bride with the electric hips," and yet...no.  Nothing we see her in makes her look sexy.  I think it's a rather cheap trick on the part of wardrobe to make the villain unappealing visually as well as morally.



She first appears in her best wardrobe item.  It's all downhill from here, trust me.  She waltzes onto the scene in a fresh white cowl dress, the color suggesting bridalwear.  The fit is nice--not curve-hugging like Maureen O'Hara's clothes will be, but at least figure conscious.  The style is perfect for sitting pool(?--that thing always looked like a slimey pond to me)-side and trying to cozy up to the teenage daughter of your man-target.

I love that chunky necklace, too!



The next time we see her is at the country club.  She is seated the entire time so you don't get much of her outfit, but this is where she starts her run of suits.  This Chanel-style collarless checked jacket is nicely tailored and a good start, and it appears she is wearing a coordinating sheath under it.  OK, I guess she's trying to convey gravitas.  I get it.




The next outfit is my inspiration, the Silver-and-Gold-Digger Outfit.  I don't know if that is what the costume designer was trying to convey, but I think these should have been her signature colors.  She was blatant about what she wanted out of life and from Mitch, she should have worn it on her sleeve!  This photo shows the matching silver purse.  The only place I could get her matching yellow shoes(!!!) was in the tiny fuzzy shot from the back.

A yellow suit is a little much for my life, but a yellow skirt with a silver drapey top is just about right.  I went on a journey to find the right drapey top.  I didn't want to try to copy what she is wearing (not that you can see much of it), but to reimagine it for what a mid-level gold-digger might wear today (Mitch was wealthy, but he didn't seem *rich rich*).  I went with her method of alluring rather than showing off the goods, and adopted a very current silhouette in Simplicity 1805 (see all the examples in the S1805 blog post) that a woman in the fashion know--who is slightly clueless about how very little men care about what might be fashionable if it isn't tight and short--might wear.

The skirt was a lot simpler to choose.  The pencil skirt hasn't changed much over the years!  Burda 07-2010-120 offered a nice version with the interesting dart variant.  I went with silver shoes instead of yellow--again, more current--and put on my best seductress face.  Luckily, I have a marketable skill and a good job because I am no better a seductress than she turned out to be.





Here we have the nadir of Vicki-dom.  My heavens is this terrible.  She is at Mitch's house TO SET UP HER WEDDING and she is swimming in a dirge of a gray suit with a brown shirt under it.  Brown.

Her mother is sporting a fairly adorable naughty widow dress while Vicki is manning the guestbook table at the funeral.  Terrible.





She does have a good necklace again, though.  I can't tell if it's same one she wore with her white cowl dress, but the two strand pearls she wears with the Chanel jacket and the yellow suit appear to be the same, so I think she is an unwealthy girl trying to stretch her wardrobe staples while she runs in wealthy circles until she can hit the jackpot herself.

But overall, costume designer, shame on you.  In this scene she is set up as a foil for Maureen O'Hara's adorable print dress with contrasting scarves at the waist, but they are not even going to pretend it's a contest.  Give a girl a fighting chance to live out her dream of a life of unearned leisure!




Realizing that dour suits are a losing proposition, Vicki attempts to bring on the feminine.  Except she went so far into feminine that she emerged as Easter Parade Matronly.  You thought it couldn't get worse than that suit?  Think again.







This polka-dot confection has tucks and fripperies galore to hide those "electric hips" and is an unflattering tea length.  Seriously, honey, you need to cut your fabric allowance in half for just about everything you wear, and this one is public enemy number one.

And where did that third pearl strand come from?  Mysterious.












Not to worry, Maggie has her covered.  Literally.  When Vicki joins the camping trip on the fly, Maggie dresses her up in some of Mitch's pre-Weight Watchers items, telling her to "just cinch it."





She also managed to unearth another shirt in that most bridal of colors, brown.  Even so, Vicki is kind of working that cinch and the shirt is unbuttoned as low as she can reasonably go.  She's making an effort.  Then Maggie shoves her into a truck and waves goodbye.





Although the camping trip is a disaster, she does manage to style that Members Only jacket in a fairly cute, preppy way by tossing it over the shoulders.  She also found a different shirt that is a deep burgundy and almost not-brown! Our girl is clawing her way back to youthful one muddy shade at a time.  The kerchief over the rollers is kind of stylin' too. She appears to have a lot of practice wearing them given how soundly she sleeps.  I take back what I said before about the beauty parlor; she has to DIY like the rest of us schlubs.





And here's our parting shot, she all fury and curlers and oversized men's pajamas that actually could be sexy in the right situation.  Two teenage girls, a grizzled farmhand, and a pair of motor-tongued bear cubs is not that situation.  Also, real bears licked her feet?  Or were those wooden stunt feet? I would not let real bears lick my feet, I don't care if they're bitty cubs that wouldn't hurt a fly.

Hecky gets her boots and she storms down the mountain to dig for new treasure.  I hope for her sake that she ran so quickly she left her wardrobe behind and had to get by with a well-cinched pair of men's pajamas.  Cut those pants into shorts and unbutton a few extra buttons and you have a sort of adorable variation on a salwar kameez.

Electric hips?

Actress Joanna Barnes was a good sport in all this, and even reprised her role in the Lindsay Lohan remake as "Aunt Vicki," the mother of actual, if still unsuccessful, femme fatale Meredith Blake (played by Elaine Hendrix), who gets to wear actual attractive clothes.  I assume Joanna privately sneered at her as an amateur.  Anyone can work with a fitted sheath.  In her day you had to make a pastel polka dot HeeHaw reject dress look good!

Vicki, I salute you.

You can see the full album here and my pattern review contest entry is here.

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Three posts in one week!  I'm sure you can guess the contest deadline is today.  Ha!  I have been spending *a lot* of time at work on a big project, but I don't want to give up my real life to do it.  I am glad I don't have to do any more late night blogging, though.

And I've been so busy that I haven't told you that Cidell and I finally did another podcast! You can find us on iTunes, too.

Stashoholism Confessional: Knits Edition and The September Issue Movie Review

Knits are my downfall, man. There are a bunch of knit dress patterns I want to try (not least one from a Knip Mode I bought in the Netherlands and painfully translated the instructions for). Do I have knits in stash? Of course I do. And yet, I have fallen. Fabric.com sucked me in with its discounts and free shipping.

The green stalks and the brown and aqua chain fabric are Stretch Jersey ITY Knits. All the other ITYs I have seen, purchased, and used have had a micro-rib type texture, like very miniature slinky. These are slick and a little shiny with an even more micro-ribbed texture, so small that it hardly exists, which I find a little odd. I am not sure if I had not yet experienced the full range of ITY (which stands for "interlock twist yarn, as I understand it, implying some sort of texture) or if they are mislabeled. The hand is a bit like a nylon knit, but they are 92% poly, 8% lycra. I was impressed by the high lycra content on the website. It is actually not that stretchy, but has excellent recovery. I'm not sure I would recommend this due to the shininess, which I think looks a little cheap, and how thin it is (both items will need a slip), but I will be perfectly content sewing up the fabrics.

The chain link (impulse purchase in honor of Cidell, who loves this classic preppy stuff) will likely become another Butterick 5454 wrap dress, with a collar and cuffs to mimic the classic DVF style, although I am tempted to find an origami-type pattern that allows for play with directional "stripes." I guess I could cut the stripes diagonally for the bodice of the wrap dress, as the pattern is drafted. For the green stalks, I am not quite decided. Maybe the aforementioned Knip Mode.

The black and white is the Starlet Stretch Jersey. This I can unequivocally not recommend. Ugh. Very thin and sheer with an icky plasticky hand so reminiscent of the early polyesters that gave it a bad name. While I almost always avoid polyester wovens, I am all about poly knits in general (until my budget arrives at silk jersey for every project). It has good recovery and is colorfast, unlike the cottons (fade) and rayons (no recovery) I have experienced. It doesn't make me sweat more than other knits. Actually, I am somewhat cursed because the sweatiest fabric of all for me? Silk. Even in winter. Forget wearing it in summer.

I was really disappointed in this one because the point of the whole order was this print. I plan to make a purple skirt for my mom and wanted a black and white top to match. I'm just going to use it as a muslin to see if she likes the style I choose (not that I've chosen a style).

I took a chance on the Style Studio Stretch Rayon Jersey Knit. I have never found a rayon knit that wasn't poor quality. All the rayons I've tried have absolutely no recovery, crease permanently and become shiny along the creases, and pill instantly. I fell in love with this print and was excited to see that Fabric.com had made one of their videos of it. I hadn't looked at one before but assumed it would explore the qualities of the fabric. Well the video, which is no longer up, was totally useless! They just showed two lengths of folded fabric sitting on a table and talked about the prints. I was thinking they would hold up a single layer for the camera, give it a tug to show stretch and recovery, and give some idea of the thickness and the drape. I mean, the prints we can see in still shots!

Anyway, I made Burda 04-2009-110 recently in a lightweight rayon thinking it would be a good nightgown. But the rayon fabric just spread and spread and spread and at this point the neckline is down to my navel. I want to make the pattern as a real dress, and this print in all my favorite colors sucked me in. In person, the fabric is relatively beefy for a rayon knit and seems to have good recovery. It pre-washed well, without the shiny creasing. It's now $3.50/yd (bought too soon!). I can't guarantee how it will perform but I think it's worth a shot at that price.

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I finally signed up for Netflix (streaming only). Why yes, I do live in 2004, why do you ask? Would you like to see my cell phone? It's the new flip phone style! I am so cool! Smart phone? Well, I don't know. It remembers all the phone numbers I tell it to. That seems pretty smart.

I have a medium-sized DVD collection (maybe 30?) and haven't rented a movie since I moved to DC 9 years ago, so it had gotten to the point where I finally tired of all my movies and I caved. My first order of business was to watch The September Issue, a documentary about Anna Wintour and the creating of the massive September issue of Vogue. One of the movies in my collection is The Devil Wears Prada. Love it! (And it's one of those rare cases where the movie is better than the book.)

The September Issue is sort of an answer to TDWP. It shows Ms. Wintour being tough and critical, sure, but in the context of being an editor who has to be the one to make the final decision. It also shows how she has to manage up to her publisher and to her advertisers and that she is making the business work. The "fashion is stupid" role that Andi plays when she first starts at the magazine is played in The September Issue by Ms. Wintour's siblings, who consider her work silly and useless. I can't say that she was totally humanized, and I'm sure she is not pleasant to work for, but it was a fascinating look into a world in which I will never directly live, but that influences me every day as I get dressed. Aside from which, she must have a sense of humor somewhere--she employs Andre Leon Talley! Although I'm sure ALT would object to the notion of himself as an "employee," I assume money is involved somehow.

Last night I started watching Valentino, The Last Emperor. Loving it so far! (I am incapable of watching a movie at one sitting now, as I am so long out of practice.)

Any movie recs for me, fashion or non-fashion? I have a weakness for rom coms, as long as they are not too terrible.
How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days: terrible.
The Proposal: not too terrible.

Project Runway: Season 7 Episode 5 Designer Inspiration

So I've been keeping up with Lifetime's Project Runway (Bravo lost it two seasons ago) via the internet. I figured Season 7 would be a good season because on the first challenge there was no clear "throwaway" contestant. It seems in past seasons there would always be someone on the first challenge who would be revealed not to know how to sew or never to have heard of clothes or something and in this season there was no clear loser on the first episode. It is both exciting as a viewer but a teeny bit sad as a home sewist. I have never had any illusion of going on Project Runway--I don't draft and I don't know how to draft. However, I always could have been that first contestant who somehow against all odds manages to get on the show only to flame out spectacularly before anyone learns your name and you have the chance to cry/backstab on camera. I guess those days are over!

Anyway, back to this season. It does indeed seem like a talented group of designers, most of whom have a strong point of view (a little too strong in some cases where they keep churning out the same garment every challenge). None of the garments had really slain me until this episode, when Ben Chmura produced the kimono above.

LOVE. Man. I love everything about that dress. Love the kimono styling without being too literal, love that there is no obvious closure (I'm guessing his dress in fact has no closure but you could do hidden snaps), LOVE the color story, and how much do we love that open back with the lapels???? I've seen plenty of open backs, but I am not sure I've ever seen a lapel like that. It is genius. I also love that there is a back neck and the back peek-a-boo is a cutout rather than just a standard open back.

I hope this will be Ben Chmura's Kara Janx wrap dress (also a kimono style, hmmmm); even if he doesn't win it ought to put him on the map.

**edit** I didn't want to put a spoiler in but enough commenters have noted that this look didn't win the challenge that I will add my two cents! I knew it would be down to this dress and Anthony's teal confection (my favorite color); however, magazine covers generally favor solid colors and Anthony nailed Heidi's taste so I was not surprised by the win, and was very happy for Anthony. Heidi will look fab in his dress. Although, did anyone else see her look of alarm/resignation/depression/hunger when Anthony mentioned her having her "pre baby" body back by April (and considering magazines come out a month before their cover date and the cover shoot probably occurs at least a month before the magazine is released that gave her about five months from the baby's early October birth). I'm glad I'm not a model is all I'm saying.

So many of the other entries this week were huge fails! I couldn't believe how many people went with pale colors. Heidi is a blonde, people! With fair skin! Such people as us cannot wear washed out colors because we end up looking like a pile of dishrag. And *nobody* used the kiss of death words "Renaissance Faire" for Emilio's? Just add a pair of fairy wings and it could be walking ye olde dustie lanes.

Book Reviews, Movie Review, and I've Been A Bad Bad Girl

I'm hoping if I hide the massive fabric infusion at the end of the post it will mitigate the damage.

Several months ago I checked out Jackie: The Clothes of Camelot by Jay Mulvaney from the library based on Cindy of Colour by Numbers' recommendation. It is a great book! It is a bit of a hagiography, more Franklin Mint than trenchant political history, but that is exactly what I'm looking for in a book about the fashion of a public figure. I just want to read about what they wore, not their larger historical significance (for instance, the book skimmed right over the issues of infidelity and unhappiness in Jackie and Jack's marriage).

It is full of lovely pictures, mostly black and white but color when they are available. It's organized chronologically and by type of clothing (evening, daywear, casual sportswear). There is just the right balance of text and photos--adequate description and information on the designers and Jackie's personal taste without getting too much about the author or the story and not enough about the clothes. Although it is neither high literature nor high art, I think this is a superb piece of fashion history.




Love the day dress on the left; it's similar in style to the Butterick 5209 retro reissue I made last year. And check out the muscle definition in her legs--I thought they didn't believe in exercise back then and just stayed skinny by smoking and not eating? The Grecian evening gown is just gorgeous.


The girls on Wardrobe Refashion are in love with Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin. Amazingly, the DCPL had a copy so I checked it out.

I'm glad I borrowed it from the library rather than purchasing, because the Hipster Cowboy aesthetic is sooooo not my own. I deliberately put the words in order with Hipster first and Cowboy second; although Chanin has returned home to Alabama the look is pure Brooklyn (where she lived while developing her style).

The idea is to use old t-shirts as the raw material for all the projects in the book, which is kind of cool (but, again, not my thing). The first section contains useful and well-written information on sewing basics; all the sewing is done by hand so there's nothing on using a machine. After the preliminaries come the projects. There are a good number of projects and the book includes patterns for a skirt (loose fitting, A line) and corset-style t-shirt refashion. I found it a little frustrating on behalf of beginners that she doesn't make clear the corset thingy is corset style, not an actual corset; it has no structure and being made of a t-shirt won't do anything corset-y or foundation-y. But that's a small quibble.

The book also includes extensive information on applique, reverse applique, beading, and stenciling. I admire the look of the reverse applique projects, but cannot picture incorporating it into my garments. Even though my style is Retro Fantasy, and you'd think the "fantasy" element would include room for lots of embellishment, I am very wary of embellishment. It doesn't come naturally to me and can so easily cross the line into Crafty Crazy, Dated, Dowdy, and just plain Hideous so I usually just leave it alone.

I like the tactile nature of the book, if that's the proper way to describe it. It includes a cardboard stencil (in addition to some additional stencil line art printed on the pages that you are to enlarge on a copy machine and create your own stencil from); two paper patterns at the end; and a postcard to bead.







Although the clothes didn't do much for me, I did love the chrysanthemum fabric flower project. As with the rest of the book, I don't think I'd make these flowers; I have pretty much zero interest in non-functional decorative objects. But I will keep the idea in the back of my mind should I ever need to create decorations for a shower or party for someone else. As mentioned, I found the beading and reverse applique projects inspiring. The skirt on the right definitely does not look Dated, Dowdy, or Hideous and if it's Crafty Crazy it's in a sweet way, but I just don't know that I could ever get there. Asymmetry is ridiculously hard for me, and looking as though I've casually scattered an assortment of beads on a skirt would in truth be an arduous, laborious mental process (leaving aside the physical work of it!).

I only snapped a few photos from each book so as not to go beyond "fair use" and violate the authors' copyrights, but all images from both books are here

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A friend wanted to see The Young Victoria for her birthday and I was all over that! The costumes did not disappoint; they were sumptuous and breathtaking. It was annoying that there was so much black, but I can't blame the filmmakers for the mourning rituals of the time period. The menswear was just as lovely as the women's clothing. Tall, skinny plaid pants are sexy! I didn't know anything about Queen Victoria other than having a vague idea of her as a prude (based on the colloquial use of the adjective "Victorian"). It was well done and extremely interesting. I highly recommend giving this movie a view; I might even say to see it in the theatre so the costumes have maximum effect.

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And now we come to the confessional portion of this post. Based on a seriously enabling post on the PR message board, I ordered a lot of the Vera Wang closeout fabric on fabric.com. It was $1.95 yard, and with free shipping and discount codes it was really too good to pass up! Well, that is what I tell myself. In truth, There Will Always Be More Fabric.

Clockwise from left in the photo above, we'll start with the silk/rayon satin. I couldn't get a photo that looks anything like the actual colors but they are beautiful. The fabric is a heavy satin with a beautiful soft finish. Unfortunately, I have already ruined the purple. :( People had posted that the finish of the fabric "crackled" in the wash. I started with the emerald and put it as flat as I could into a bathtub with a few inches of warm water and some mild shampoo and mushed it around, not crinkling it up to the best of my ability. Then I hung it to dry. In the morning it was softer but the smell of the sizing washing out in the tub had been heinous. It seemed very toxic. So I threw it in the wash. It survived with only a few stretch marks. Then I got cocky with the purple. I filled the washer and let the fabric soak for 20 minutes, thinking it would dissolve the sizing and the surface would be ok. I was wrong. It looks like it is covered with dirty chalk marks. I will try over-dying and see what happens. Otherwise I have a lot of pajamas in my future. Actually, I bought these fabrics thinking to use them for linings and it will still be great for lining coats--I love the heavier weight and the satin slide is perfect to pull over clothes. I've not touched the olive yet. It's my favorite color and I don't want to ruin the surface of it.

I ordered the rayon satin the next photo for linings as well, and it is really nice! I didn't happen to have any light colored lining so I tossed it in the cart and am glad I did. Next to that is fuschia silk chiffon. Yes, I know I swore off silk chiffon but the color! It is gorgeous! The fabric! It is soft! I recently made the high-necked version of McCall 5708 in silk/cotton and love it. I think this fabric would be sensational in that pattern, with an underlined body and sheer sleeves.

Continuing around the clock we have a polyester/spandex print. I expected this to be a jersey, probably because I didn't read closely enough, but it's more like a cross between a stretch and a woven. I have two ideas for patterns, the current version of the classic DVF wrap dress, which I've made before, Vogue 8379 or Vogue 8593 with the interesting pleated neckline. I ordered four yards of this fabric and by laying out both patterns at once and with some judicious cutting I might be able to get both dresses out of it, the wrap dress with 3/4 sleeves, collar, and cuffs and the pleat neck dress sleeveless. Also, can I give a big annoyed raspberry in the direction of Butterick/McCall/Vogue for their website redesign that has broken three years worth of links in my blog archives and creates web addresses that are no longer intuitive like Simplicity did? What was wrong with a web address like
"http://www.mccallpattern.com/item/M6723.htm"
for McCall 6723? Why do we have to add a bunch more crap to it?



Now we come to the wools. I got fuschia flannel, off-white boucle, lightweight wool/silk/cotton suiting, stretch black suiting, and brick-colored melton.

I was hoping for more of a hot pink in the fuschia flannel and was initially disappointed in this purple fabric, but it is definitely growing on me. I will start with a skirt and see where we go from there.

The boucle is very lightweight and has a square texture almost like a thermal waffle weave. I have been craving a winter-white coat for several years now but not done it because it will get so dirty so fast. Although the price of fabric for a coat pales in comparison to the amount of work, maybe I will just bite the bullet and do it. I will likely felt the fabric first, though. Right now it is drapey enough for a dress and won't hold structure. Will test that out.

The wool/silk/cotton was a surprise; I bought it for interlining (the cotton content isn't ideal for interlining, but wool and silk are both so warm I figured it would be ok). But the sheen and hand on this fabric are gorgeous. The problem is, I cannot wear this color. It is the same color as me. I would look naked in it, and not in a good way. It would make a beautiful dress, though; I'm thinking particularly of the cowl-drape version of Vogue 8413. Maybe I will experiment with dyeing. I will likely lose the sheen and the herringbone pattern, but I really can't wear that color. Really.

Next is the stretch wool "suiting." This is super lightweight. I would never consider it for pants, for instance, and I really don't see how it would work as a jacket. I ordered three yards of it thinking that you always need a black skirt in the current shape and so I'd just stock up and be done with it for the next 6 years or so (assuming a skirt lasts two seasons). But I don't know that this fabric will work as a structured pencil skirt, for instance, which is what I'm looking for now. It is nice fabric and has a great stretch, but it's not what I hoped for.

Last is the brick-colored melton. I ordered it hoping that it would coordinate with my favorite Carol Collection plaid. I love the idea of making the plaid into the Burda 01-2009-114 jacket with the bias strips around the edges and then a skirt in the rust color. Although really, who am I kidding? Although I make the occasional coat, I neither make nor wear jackets. Ever. Alas, the brick does not match the rust in the plaid; seeing them together I realize I would need something more on the burgundy spectrum than the rust spectrum to match the plaid.

However, the brick fabric is really nice and after your comments on orange I was thinking I should have ordered enough for a coat! I got 2 yards, which wouldn't get me much of anywhere. Also, the color edges toward 70s orange (the color is closer to in the wool composite picture above than the photo with the plaid); it's not a pure, bright orange. I will think of what to do with it. I could still make a skirt, but then it occurred to me that I would really have nothing to wear with it. I wear cools, jewel tones, and blacks, and pretty much never wear browns or warms. I'd hate to have a one-trick pony skirt with only one top made especially to match it, creating an outfit that in truth I would likely never wear. Although I do need to justify the purchase of some brown boots. But the fabric is so nice that I'm not ready to let go of it.

So, um, 46 yards. It took me three days to carry all 24 pounds of fabric home from work (my commute is about a mile and a half on foot, and uphill of course). That's almost half of what I sew in a year. Bad.

To atone for this in some manner, I did some stash cleaning last night and culled out an approximately equal weight of fabric (didn't measure the yardage). So Laura, is DC Threads still looking for fabric donations?

Linings v. Underlining; Coco Before Chanel; Stashoholism Confessional

So it had been quite a long time since I did any fabric buying online, since June, I think. The problem with buying fabric online is that it is not quite as satisfying as buying fabric in person and I buy twice as much!

I was really taken by Simplicity 2473; I love it with the collar for a bit of a coatdress feel with much less work. However, I didn't have anything in stash for it. I decided since I'd finally had the chance to sew up some stash fabric last weekend I would treat myself, since this will be a great work dress throughout Fall/Winter. Before I started looking I saw some gorgeous silk/cotton on Fabric.com in exactly my color on The Selfish Seamstress and *had* to have it. I have worked with silk/cotton once before and found it a really wonderful fabric to sew; as soft as silk but much less unruly.

Luckily, Fabric.com had the perfect hounsdtooth wool blend as well, and at a crazy price. I was hoping for 100% wool; this is 70% rayon, 20% wool, 10% linen, which is an interesting blend. I don't generally have much use for rayon because all the rayons I've tried wear incredibly poorly, but I'm hoping the wool and linen (both of which wear well) will offer some durability.

After I placed my order I had a bit of buyer's remorse in choosing the turquoise. Yes, it is my favorite color, but maybe I should branch out?



When the fabric arrived it was so luscious, so gorgeous, that I decided I absolutely had to have more. Given the price of $12.98/yd (or $11.03 with the 15% discount code they had put into my first order), which is waaaayyyyyy more than I usually pay for any fabric, you know it's good. The red color is a gorgeous lipstick blue-red, exactly the color red I love. The purple is more of a red-purple than a blue-purple, which is not quite to my taste. I bought it with the idea of making a dress for a friend's wedding but I don't know how much of that color I can wear (this is the Violet; I probably should have ordered the Royal). I'm thinking of somehow toning it down with gray accents.

Unfortunately (for you), I bought up the last of the houndstooth, but there are still plenty of yards of many colors of the silk cotton available.

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I pre-washed the houndstooth in cold and air dried. It didn't shrink too much along the length, but holy cow did it lose a lot of width! It went from 44" wide to 38.5" wide, and really fluffed up. The fluffing up I don't mind--it will add to the coatdress feel.

But now I am in a quandary. I was planning to line this dress and have the lining cut out. But then I thought, Hmmm, I am thinking that because this shrank so much along the width in the wash it is liable to have some stretching. Should I use that lining as an underlining instead?

What is better to prevent a fabric from bagging out, lining or underlining? Right now I am leaning toward underlining, as that will reinforce the seams as well. Wisdom appreciated.

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Wednesday I had the day off for Veteran's Day, so a friend and I hit up a matinee of Coco Before Chanel, a French film starring (who else?) Audrey Tatou as a young Coco Chanel.

I knew this wouldn't be primarily a fashion film, but I am always curious about people's lives. I have to say, I didn't love this movie. Coco's character is frustrating and not especially charming, and it's difficult to see why everyone around her is charmed (I think it's a French thing). There are some sewing/fashion bits, but instead of being exciting they feel forced. She really wasn't that interested in creating fashion until later in her life, and it doesn't work to pretend that there is some foreshadowing. However, it was interesting to learn about her life, which was not a very happy one. My favorite part was the very ending sequence, in which she has become Chanel.

I would say there's no reason to see this in the theater, but put it in your Netflix queue if you're interested.

This was shown at our local "arty" theater (E Street Cinema) and they showed a preview for The Young Victoria, which looks like it will be a Costume Drama in the strongest sense of the word. It's not my favorite fashion era, but I will take luscious costumes from any era! And I have loved Emily Blunt since The Devil Wears Prada. I will definitely try to catch this one in the theater.

The Fashion Show

So, is anybody else watching Bravo's spite-knockoff of Project Runway, "The Fashion Show"? I am guessing that a lot of the aesthetic look of Project Runway is owned by Bravo, such as the time lapse shots of New York, the "_ Hours Until Runway Show" graphics, and the music. This makes me very curious to see what Project Runway will look like in its new home. I'm guessing if the look and feel, if not the actual content and stars, of Project Runway are the intellectual property of Bravo they're going to have to tweak, if not the format, at least the superficial look of the show. The parties have shown themselves extremely willing to engage in litigation so Weinstein shouldn't take any risks.

/lawyer geek.

So, I don't have cable. In a way this is good because to watch Project Runway I have to bum off a friend and invite myself over. Which means that I don't watch it alone. I didn't realize how much having a friend to gossip with increased the enjoyment of watching the show, but watching The Fashion Show online (I won't link because it's probably not legal but you can find it easily enough) by myself is not quite the same.

Nor is the show.



Kelly Rowland: Wha? I mean, I loved Destiny's Child back in the day, but seriously, what is this woman's cultural relevance? And she doesn't overcome it with her wooden presence and complete lack of understanding that the definition of "fashion" is not "stuff I would wear."



Isaac Mizrahi: A funny, genuine person. But he's not warm enough to be Tim Gunn or bitchy enough to be Duchess Michael Kors. Also, he appears comfortable on film, but not remotely natural. He keeps doing the Michael Scott thing where his eyes cut over to the camera.



Fern Mallis: Why don't they use her more? She really could give Tim Gunn a run for his money. She is sweet and encouraging and knows everything about fashion, especially its marketability. An internship with Fern Mallis should be every aspiring designer's dream. I think that should be the prize, and that she should replace Kelly Rowland in the workroom visits. But she's probably too busy with her real job. Of which Kelly doesn't have one.

There is the usual mix of silly, unwarranted divas and a few people who keep their heads down and let their talent shine through. Actually, I'm not sure there are any of those, but there is some genuine talent.

As in Project Runway, there's a lot of harping on the finishing of garments.

One of the contestants got very pissy about being called out for poor sewing, saying repeatedly, "I didn't know this was a contest for America's Best Home Sewer" (a line, might I add, that he ripped off from Tim Gunn, who said it about all the people who came to Project Runway auditions with portfolios of garments sewn from commercial patterns although I can't find the source for this).

Isaac--who has publicly emphasized the importance of sewing to designing in the past--said, "You can't write recipes without knowing how to cook."

I totally agree. I am not a designer, as I am continually telling people who say, when they find out I sew, "You should go on Project Runway!" I have drafted a few simple projects, but in the end I have neither the skills nor the vision to be a designer. So I am not saying this from a place of thinking that I'm better than anyone.

But to me there are two components to fashion design. The first is artistic. But the second is engineering. If you can conceive of a garment but cannot carry it out into wearable execution (and production sewing is yet another ball of wax), your work is art but it is not fashion design. And that was the issue with this designer. He created a bodice that would not stay up without duct tape. If he doesn't know enough about sewing and construction to understand that two jersey triangles without straps, boning, or structure will not stay up over a woman's breasts, he is not a designer. He is an artist, perhaps. But not a designer.

I would quibble with the judges on finishing techniques. You don't have to know finishing techniques to be a designer. That is something you can leave to skilled workers once you're successful enough to hire them. I think I'm even ok with safety pins, assuming they're standing in for viable seams. But garments that do not function as garments? That is not successful fashion design. Unless you're Viktor & Rolf, as demonstrated at right.

Overall, the show is going well, but hasn't quite decided what it is. I love the emphasis on saleability, and that the weekly prize is production and sale of the winning garment (with well-executed details and surprisingly affordable price points) and the final prize is an entire line sold on bravotv.com. However, the judges seem conflicted about this. At one point, when the guest judge likes the losing design because it's something his clients would buy "without even thinking about it" (because it is flattering, innocuous, and easy to wear), Isaac says, "This isn't the salesman show."

But...it actually *is* the salesman show. Notwithstanding that mandate, the judges often choose the garment that will be the most difficult and expensive to produce, with the most fashionified silhouette suitable only for fashion insiders with model figures. I'm not sure how--if ever--this tension will be resolved. It doesn't necessarily have to be for the show to be enjoyable, but the home sewist/armchair dreaming designer would love to know which it is.

The Fashion Show airs on Thursdays on Bravo.