"Would you believe Jane Wyman?" and other Halloween hash

It can't be ignored so why try?  Today is Halloween whether we like it or not.

Curmudgeon that I am, I consider Halloween exclusively a children's holiday and always have.  I don't think I've ever participated as an adult.  For one thing, my teeth can no longer handle Sugar Daddies and Mary Janes, and Halloween isn't Halloween without Sugar Daddies...



Maybe it's that I dress up strangely often enough that I don't feel the need for another opportunity.  This year, however, after our little cabaret adventure, I felt it would insensitive not to give poor Cathy a call, and see if she'd be free for some evening festivities. 

I suggested she dress up as Jane Wyman.

Well!  She didn't like that one bit!



Friends, many of you are no doubt familar with Oscar-winning actress Jane Wyman, perhaps from her Eighties-era evening soap, Falcon Crest, or maybe you know that she was married to then-B actor Ronald Reagan, before Mervyn Leroy introduced him to Nancy (how do I know these things?).

Jane's best-remembered films today are probably the two technicolor melodramas she made in the mid-Fifties directed by Douglas Sirk and co-starring Rock Hudson -- Magnificent Obsession and All That Heaven Allows.

Cathy's response to my suggestion was to ask, Seriously, who dresses up for Halloween as Jane Wyman, and do they get any candy?  Then she hung up her princess phone on me.  She thinks she most closely resembles Audrey Hepburn.



I think you'll agree that the resemblance between mid-century Jane Wyman and my cousin is remarkable, especially when dressed in opera-length gloves and McCall's 9152.

I am very fortunate that the big Halloween parade takes place just a stone's throw from my apartment (If you have a very strong throwing arm), and we are invited to a late dinner with friends on the Upper West Side.  Will we be able to stay up that late?  That's always the question since we're all very early-to-bed types here.  (I was under the covers by 10 pm last night.)

Doesn't Jane -- I mean Cathy -- look lovely in her cocktail dress and faux white mink stole?





Should Cathy tell people she's dressed as Jane Wyman, or is this simply an invitation to derision?

Friends, in closing, I must ask you: Do you dress up for Halloween?  If you do, do you actually leave the house or just sit around watching football and waiting for trick-or-treaters?

Have you ever dressed as something/someone so obscure that nobody knew what you were talking about?  Did you care or was it enough that it was your private joke?

Finally, if you were going to dress as Jane Wyman for Halloween, would you wear a little adhesive name tag that said "Hello, my name is Jane Wyman" or would you just wait to be asked?

Whether you're participating or not, Happy Halloween, everybody!

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We're a Hit + Vintage Pattern-palooza!

How thrilling these last few days have been, readers.  Our show, Noah's Very Unusual Insight, was a hit (despite fierce Februrary weather in October), and we're definitely going to do it again -- perhaps in the same space, perhaps on tour and coming to a city near you! 

Of course, you'd expect that I'd have hundreds of photos to post, but friends, I have none.  We did have both performances videotaped, however, so as soon as we get the files from the videographer we'll be posting highlights on YouTube.  There was simply too much going on to remember to snap some backstage pics, though for what it's worth, I did remember to bring my camera to the theater last night.  Oh well.

I will share with you what I wore as Dr. Lorna Gallo, who is a mix of Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound and Ethel Merman in pretty much anything.

I wore the Elaine dress (I'm glad I didn't dump it) with a lab coat on top.

At the flea market I found these great vintage iron-on embroidered letters.  They no longer ironed on -- I mean, they must be sixty years old -- so I just stitched them on.





I also found these vintage rhinestone shank buttons for just $1 -- love 'em! -- though they didn't make it into the show.



Michael wore men's clothes, of course, but he was very excited to have an excuse to darken his nearly invisible eyebrows for the stage.  Here's a test shot.



To shake off post-show blues this morning, I high-tailed it to the flea market and found four fabulous vintage patterns for a price so low I dare not share it for fear you'll hate me.  Here they are: 

Vogue 7282, dating from 1936.  So Irene Dunne!



McCalls 4615, from 1942.  I thought this was a house coat, but the patterns says Misses Evening Dress.  With all those buttons?





Vogue Couturier 354, from 1940.  I love how the back of the pattern reads, Have Fur Collar Made By Furrier.  I'll get right on it.



Finally, McCall's 3640, from 1940.  This bathing suit pattern is a true gem, and can be made in both one-piece and two-piece versions.  Still with its factory folds, too.







So fun!

Friends, that's all I have for you today.  We're a bit exhausted, as you might imagine, but it was really great to perform together and to discover that we're a good onstage team.

And what have you been up to?

Happy Sunday, everybody!

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Revisiting Vinyl

Readers, you are to be forgiven if you assume that today's blog post is about my three-plus yards of faux snakeskin, which has been sitting in my fabric stash for nearly two years now.  I am still waiting for the perfect project for it and I don't think it will be Prachee's dress.

No, today I am writing about something related to my daily ditch ritual, which continues, btw, though I sometimes forget to mention it.  Remember how I recently sold my oversized bike on Craigslist?  Well yesterday I finally dumped all the bike-related clutter: helmet (did you know those had expiration dates?) and lock (This is one of those Kryptonite designs it was later discovered could be picked with a hairpin or something, but I still had the bracket and keys, so it might be worth something to somebody.).



One of the best results of the daily ditch was that I have rediscovered my record collection.  To those who have no familiarity with records, this was a form of recorded music on vinyl.  Most people bought lp's or long-playing records that came in albums, named thus because at one time they were stored photo-album style in multiple sleeves.

I hadn't had my stereo set up for many years, and I had winnowed my record collection down considerably over the years.  But I still had my favorites.  Hundreds of favorites.







I decided that, not only would I not ditch my turntable and receiver, but I would set them up again, and listen with headphones.



Then, lo and behold, over the weekend I found a pair of Advent mini speakers in the trash.  Not great, but adequate.



Yesterday, for the first time in nearly five years, I bought new (to me) records, $1 each at the Salvation Army.  I don't think either will be available on CD any time soon, do you?



If you haven't heard Robert Goulet sing "Both Sides Now," you're in for a treat -- or something.  Seriously, I love Robert Goulet and was privileged to get to see him "La Cage Aux Folles" a few years back on Broadway and chat with him briefly after the show.   He was extremely polite and down to earth.  And short.

Friends, do you now or did you ever own records?  If the former, do you still play them?  Even on relatively cheap speakers, I find they have an aural "presence" you just don't get on CDs.  Maybe I'm biased.  Even the occasional hisses, pops, and skips sound charming.

And now I must away for rehearsal -- we open Thursday!  Come see us at the Duplex.

What am I going to do with my faux snakeskin....?

Have a great day, everybody!

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Find me this dress pattern, please.

Friends, as you probably already know, it's Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.  Or maybe it just was -- or is about to be.  I'm very holiday-resistant, and with the exception of MPB Birthday, on January 23rd (which you should mark in your calendars if you haven't already), tend to get them all confused.

We were over at my brother and sister-in-law's last night to celebrate, and Prachee, my sister-in-law -- a fantastic cook AND marathon runner -- asked me if I would make her a dress.  Since I offer to sew her something pretty much every time I see her, knowing that, busy as she is, she's unlikely to take me up on it, I was very surprised when yesterday she made a very specific request.  I'm trapped.  (Just kidding, Prach!)

It's the dress up top, a picture of which she snapped with her cell phone.  It looks like a simple sheath dress with horizontal darts and a decorative halter-style neckline.  I don't think it will be difficult to make, but I still want to work from a pattern and I'm having a hard time finding one that fits that bill.

To me this dress just screams Eugenia, or Elizabeth, or Rachel.  I'm hoping one of them, or perhaps someone else, can steer me in the right direction.  I've hunted a bit online, but I'm coming up short.



As you can see, the pattern below has a somewhat similar neckline -- but this McCall's dress is more of a maternity muu-muu.



For the dress itself I found this:



To be honest, I was a little surprised at how little there was to choose from and how difficult it is to find something basic, without gathers or fuss, and for a woven fabric.

So I am hoping somebody can help steer me in the right direction.  It doesn't have to be one of the big three (or is it four?) pattern companies but I'd like it to be an in-print pattern, if possible, so I can get my hands on it easily.

I'm excited about making something for Prachee.  But then again, I was excited about making a skirt for my mother, and a suit for Michael.  Hopefully this will play out better.

It shouldn't be too difficult, right?

A big thank you in advance, friends.

Happy Monday, everybody!

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BREAKING! The 1944 Outfit Project

Friends, I am very excited about my next project and I hope you will be too.  I'll be making three separate garments, all from 1944, to create a lovely WWII-era ensemble for demure Miss Cathy Lane.

The genesis:  I was perusing Etsy last week, and I stumbled upon this cute jumper and blouse pattern (above right) for only $3.  DING DING DING!!!  El Cheapo just had to have it.

I love the simple sweetness of it, and couldn't you just see a youthful Gene Tierney or Jennifer Jones -- or even somewhat more mature Eve Arden -- wearing that outfit onscreen?

Joan What's-her-name and Eve Arden in "Mildred Pierce"

Here's an ad for a somewhat similar jumper, from a September, 1944 Screen Guide magazine I own:







Now that it's fall, we couldn't have Cathy parading around in nothing but a jumper and blouse, so I decided to look for a suitable coat pattern.  And that's when I found this, also on Etsy:



It cost quite a bit more than $3, but what are you going to do?

Yesterday I went to look for fabric ideas, and here's some of what I came up with.  I don't want anything too matchy-matchy, and I want it to have a period feel.  The coat, I think, should be wool; the jumper can be velveteen, corduroy, or plaid or patterned wool tweed.  The blouse will be a very soft cotton, perhaps a soft camel and white stripe.







Last night, I remembered that Pattern Review has a Refashion contest starting November 1, which is just around the corner.  So at the flea market this morning, I picked up this huge salmon pink wool blanket.  It's not perfect -- there are some difficult-to-capture-on-film areas of fading and discoloration -- but I think it's usable.  It's darker than it looks immediately below, more of a rose beige, but I wanted to show you the blanket-stitching.





I'm fond of many of the styles of the mid-Forties and, paging through Screen Guide, part of my vintage movie magazine collection, I was reminded how lovely they are.







Oh, look what else I picked up!  I don't think it's real fur, but I love the look.



And that, readers, is what's on tap, starting soon.

What do you think?  Can you see a salmon coat, perhaps with contrasting lapels, combined with herringbone jumper and brown striped blouse?  Or should I go with textured velveteen?  Planning a new project is fun!

You can see more photos from my 1944 Screen Guide here.

Have a great day, everybody!

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