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This is open to everyone. I can't always afford shipping when it's going overseas but I do want international people to get recognized too. (I haven't forgotten about you guys!)

I have an ARC of The Elite up for grabs. I wanted to put this post up yesterday but alas, my laptop decided to do updates and then my battery went dead.

Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.
America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.
Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.

It’s the Easter season, which mean lots of little girls are wearing fancy dresses.

So it seems like the perfect time for Allyssa to review Bonnie Ashburn’s picture book I Had a Favorite Dress (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2011).

This book tells the story of a girl who wears her favorite dress. Every week on the same day. For a lot of weeks.

But then, she grows, and the dress is too short. What to do? Thanks to some creative thinking and sewing skills from her mom, the dress gets transformed into another piece of clothing. That she wears once a week on a different day.

And then, it becomes another kind of clothing for another day.

And then … well, let’s hear the rest from Allyssa.

Our reviewer: Allyssa.

Age: 7

Things I like to do: Draw, color and read.

This book was about: A girl who had a favorite dress.

The best part was when: She had the hairbow in her hair.

I smiled when: When she was wearing the skirt.

I was worried when: When I told my mom that I didn’t have pants to wear to school. But on Monday, my pants were in my drawer. (Note: This example comes from Allyssa’s own life, not from the book!)

I was surprised when: The puppy got ahold of the hairbow.

This book taught me: “You can’t wear the same clothes every day.”

Three words that best describe this book are: “Funny.” “Creative.” “Good.”

My favorite line or phrase in the book was: “Snip, snip, sew, sew… New shirt, hello!”

You should read this book because: Because girls might have a favorite dress too. And it’s a funny book. You can see all the dresses on the front cover and choose which is the one you like.

Thank you, Allyssa! For the record, Allyssa’s favorite piece of clothing is a short-sleeved shirt that is purple and pink and sparkly with buttons. And her favorite day of the week is Saturday, because sometimes she  and her family do fun things together.

Another cool thing about this book is that it was a finalist for the Cybils Award, which is given to outstanding children’s book in several categories based on nominees and judging by children’s book bloggers. And if you’d like to see the memories it inspired in several grown women, read this blog post from Abrams.

Author Boni Ashburn has several great books out. To learn more, you can:

• Visit her website.
• Read this interview she did for Read, Write, Repeat.

Illustrator Julia Denos loves fashion and books, so she was the perfect choice to illustrate this book. You can learn more about her by:

• Visiting her website.
• Reading her blog, The Cinnamon Rabbit.

I was just reading a blog about a designer that believes he makes dresses that can change women's lives. Really? Have you ever had or even worn a dress or ANY article of clothing that changed your life?
My last post was about the possibility of the US government defaulting on its debt, and today I'm writing about dresses that could change your life. Really, Sandra? Really? Has the economy turned around? Has Congress suddenly decided to compromise? Maybe. The President is endorsing bipartisan "deal on debt", and the so-called Gang of Six [Senators] are pressing forward on something that appears to be a bipartisan compromise that will include slashing the budget and raising revenue. Including some cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Also new today: President Obama has endorsed the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. All in all a red-letter day. Or maybe a red dress day. Secretary Clinton has not endorsed the repeal of DOMA, nor has she come out in favor of same sex marriage. Come on, Hillary.
I have had a lot of favorite clothing items in my life beginning with that cranberry red silk velvet dress that I outgrew at the age of four and am still writing about. I've worn dresses that made me feel beautiful, and one that I hallucinated in and that hallucination became a self-fulfilling prophecy ... that was sad and horrible. Was that life-changing? If so, it was in a bad way. Every now and then I go through my wardrobe and through out everything that makes me feel fat or dumpy. Even if I bought it last week.
I can remember almost everything I ever wore at events that were life changing, but nothing I ever wore actually changed my life. What about you? What was it? Where did you get it? In what way did your life change? Did you become a better person? A better singer? Suddenly you could dance? Oh wait a minute! I never walked until my mom bought me a pair of shoes, but the minute she laced them up on me I took off walking. Does that count?

As expected my obsession with short and simple dresses has not subsided.  So what am I to do?  Start sewing, naturally!  But I’m feeling a bit lazy, I despise setting in zippers and want relatively easy sewing projects.  So I’ve rounded up some patterns (not vintage!) that seem to fit the bill.   The above pattern is Simplicity 2360.  It has the same feeling as the Sessun dress from my last post, particularly the yellow print on the left.

New Look, it seems, has a plethora of slip-over-your-head, no-zippers-to-install or buttonholes-to-make dresses and tunics.  I think you have to use a bit more imagination here but I see the potential, can’t you?

New Look 6679.

New Look 6887.

New Look 6851.

New Look 6913.

I don’t have much in the way of fall/winter fabrics as I’m mostly a summer dress kind of girl.  But I’m thinking of blacks, grays and navy blues; wool, fine wale cord, linen, super thin and soft denim…even voile or lawn in a dark color.  Have any of you used one of these patterns?  If so, let me know!

I’ll also do a round up of vintage patterns from my stash.  I’ve got a bunch of a-line mini dresses from the ’60s that are really cute although a little more complicated in construction and probably have zippers. (Which is why I’m leaning more towards these new patterns - for now.)

Have a sweet Thursday!

Per my statement above, I cut down the armhole ruffles quite a bit.  Even still, I feel like these are very pronounced.  ”Hey everyone, check out my armhole ruffles!”   But I’m sure it’s just me and my desire to be inconspicuous (so says the girl who BLOGS).

Cotton voile, how I love it.  The weight and print are perfect for this vintage style.  Because it’s so floaty, I added a ruffle at the hem to weigh it down and balance the silhouette.  And you may recognize that belt - it’s from my vintage shop.  I decided it went perfectly so out it went, into my closet.

The next dress is a doozy:

It’s bright seafoam green!  And synthetic!  But also really fun and cute.  (Via Clever Nettle’s shop.)  I really wish I had taken a “before” photo (I’ve got to remember to do this!) because I changed out the collar.  It seemed like a trend back in the ’60s to make necklines look like they are backwards: high in the front, low in the back like in this dress.  Personally, I’m not a big fan mostly because I don’t like the feeling on stuff on my neck with the exception of a really soft (and loosely applied) scarf.

Back to the neckline: the front was high and wide with a standing collar that came down in a “v” in the back, tied is a bow.  I really liked the bow idea and wanted to retain that.  Here’s what I did:

• Removed the collar (2 pieces) and bias tape.
• Cut a “v” down the front (I put in the dress and pinned the bottom of the “v” so I’d know where to cut).
• Lined up the collar pieces to the front and cut off the access length; sewed down open ends.
• Restitched the collar pieces on by hand (Doing it this way seemed to leave little room for wonky seams even though it takes longer [but it's better then picking out stitches!]).
• Restitched bias tape to areas of neckline that did not have collar pieces sewn to it.
• Created a loop from left over collar to make the bow in the front.
• Stitched
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I’ve been meaning to share with you photos of my studio after I painted it grey from bright yellow (goodness, that was a while ago!).  And I guess this is really just a tease since I’m not quite ready to really show you everything. I’ve spent many hours cleaning, organizing and rearranging this room; it’s the one in the house where the misfit furniture ends up and I finally figured out how to make it all work.

Here you see some of my most loved vintage wearable things including stuff that will end up in le shop.  I’m really excited as I’ve had a kind of epiphany in terms of what I want to do with my time and what makes me happy; therefore my shop is going in a slightly different direction than where I was taking it before.  (But I don’t think it would be much of a shock to any of you.)  Details later.  (Oops, there’s that teasing again!  Hee hee.)

xo

Have you been reading other bloggers? I have. There are some terrific bloggers out there, lots of fun to read.[Stephen Fry, Fin Kennedy are two] I realize I've been writing as if no one is reading, no one is listening, and surely that isn't the case. No indeed, I have followers! So, just because you're lurking rather than commenting, don't think I don't know you're there ... how's that for double speak? In the midwestern US, we tend to speak with lots of double negatives, until we often don't know what we've just said. I'm pretty sure I just said I know you're there. I'm imagining you lurking around the corner of Blog Street, getting ready to come up to my window just about dusk, find yourself a comfy spot under the lilac bush and listen to me tell my innermost secrets into the telephone. Who am I talking to? Why it's another lurker! Actually, tonight I do have a very specific someone I'm talking to as I do my broadcast of the rest of Chapter Six and probably part of Chapter Seven ... she's a faithful listener and always has been, ever since she was born. Ever since my Mom held her up to the window at the hospital in Waynesville, Missouri in late November when I was not quite six years old, she's had to listen to my stories, and now she does it entirely of her own volition.
Saturday night I had some friends over for wine and chocolates. All three of them are terrific story tellers, so for once I was the listener. Should I tell you about the time Athos went on a blind date? Athos was dressed to the nines in a fabulous blue gabardine suit, gold watch chain and all, out on a double date with a friend and friend's date, and the blind date we'll call Diva. Well, Athos was still up and coming, this was a while back in the big city and Athos was still climbing the career ladder, so most of Athos' money went on the wardrobe. So when Diva ordered a split of champagne as her drink, Athos felt a flat wallet and choked out an order for a ginger ale. Surely Diva wouldn't order a second drink! When she did, poor Athos had to go to the bartender and run a tab (horrors!) and then went back to the table and very politely wished all the "friends" goodnight (and goodbye!). No more blind dates for my friend Athos. Fortunately, Athos met Porthos soon after, and they've been together ever since.
Theresa Rhebeck wrote a play called "Bad Dates." Have you seen or read it? It's fun to see, with about 400 pair of Mahnolo Blaniks or Jimmy Choos to be tried on during the course of the evening. What fun!
Tonight's stories will be about my Mom's fabulous evening wear, my adventures in sewing and bike-riding, a literal bug in my ear, John F. Kennedy and a real bad sunburn.