Yet another great swing dress

It's the buttons at the shoulders that really make this dress something special. And I personally love the interaction on the cover. Pink dress lady is obviously the good little southern lady with her white gloves and hat, probably the kind who's been raised to attend the local women's society teas and appreciate different roses. Without, of course, getting her hands too dirty. And just prior to the drawing something happened that was ever so shocking. Glove hand to the forhead - it solves all dramatic problems. The brown dress woman is just in from the city. She's a Career Woman who has her own secretary and can stare down her male counterpart until he weeps. She's not at all impressed with Pink Lady's drama. In a few moments she'll tell Pink Lady to snap out of it and get a degree. Pink Lady will tell Brown Woman to (in essence - she'd make it sound more polite than this) get a life. And on it would go, each one getting more sweet in that way that clearly says they wish the other would perish in a terribly painful way. Too bad we don't have a drawing of that.

Glam Wiggles

From Lanez Living

The only thing keeping me from buying this pattern this instant is all those buttons. Neither of my machines do button holes and I've never gotten around to learning how to do them by hand. Granted, both machines SAY they do buttonholes of the 4-step variety but in reality neither really puts much effort into it. No matter how carefully I follow how-tos and button hole masters the effects always look crooked and half-hearted. So for now I'm sticking with zippers and snaps. With that said, this is the kind of dress that almost justifies taking the dress to a tailer or drycleaner and paying for all those buttonholes to be put in. I LOVE that whole side of buttons, though I'm sure I'd find some way to sit on them wrong and wind up with little imprints up my leg. Still, it would be worth it for this level of glamor.

In the topic of "things I just learned," the seller calls this a "wiggle dress." ?? Fortunately for everything you don't know, there's google. A quick search pointed me to dressaday.com where the ever-helpful Erin pointed out in an early blog that a wiggle dress is one with such a narrow skirt that regular steps are impossible. I'm guessing that, by extension, more active things like swing dancing are out. Oh well. It's still fabulous!

40s Senior High

Isn't this the cutest little top/skirt combo? I especially love the green and brown version. It's more of a high-school senior dress than a hanger dance dress but I still love it.

(from Out of the Ashes Collectibles)

If I were to make this (in, of course, my large, well lit, and always organized sewing studio, where it's always spring outside and french doors overlook a well-tended herb and flower garden) I'd probably start with a brown wool flannel for the body of the dress and crisp cream cotton for the collar and sleeves, giving it a cute jumper look. Then I'd start experimenting with stripes on the bias, maybe go a little crazy with quilting cotton like this from fabric.com with solid color collar and sleeves. Because print to print matching should only be done by a professional and numerous attempts have shown I'm not quite at that level. Actually I'm more of a thrice-over remedial student in that area ... there's a reason my stash and closet are almost all solids! Still, in my imaginary studio I'm sure I'd suddenly be inspired to print-matching genius and come up with the perfect combination!

40s Nostalgia

With everything going on this month we completely forgot about the Hanger Dance! Live swing band, vintage airplanes, and so many people decked out in the neatest retro garb. Wes (aka Dear Hubby) and I went with a group two years ago before we started dating and it was so much fun. I went in a dress that was more 40s inspired than actually vintage and I keep hoping, one of these years, to rectify that. Unfortunately this year won't be it, we're too busy and most of our swing friends have moved or married non-swingers or are too busy. So this is just pure dreaming which has the benifit of being far cheaper and faster than actually making the dresses. On the other hand, I LIKE making them ... oh, well. Later!



from Cemetarian.com

Isn't that girl on the right featured in Threadbared?

Well, odd pose or not, isn't that dress on the right just perfect for some swinging? Imagine it in a navy blue crepe with cream sleeve and pocket, paired with a little blue hat, cream gloves, and navy purse. Or would that be navy gloves with a cream purse? Or a whole different color all together? I really need to try these things out in life, my imagination doesn't do visuals all that well. Still, after a few glove/purse/shoe combos I'm sure you could get just the right mix to look completely in the period.

I also like the printed cottons the dress is modeled in. What I DON'T like are all those ruffles on the left dress. I know they're cute, I know they're period but I just don't like ruffles. Oh, well.