Vogue Pattern Winner + Recent Acquisitions!

First, friends, we have our winner of V2787, the glamorous 1948 Vogue repro pattern!

She's a lover of savory vegetable pot pie made with barley and red lentils who uses butter in her pastry, put your hands together for SONDRA!



Sondra, please shoot me an email (peterlappinnyc at gmail dot com) and I'll get your pattern off to you ASAP.  Congratulations!

Meanwhile, readers, you may be wondering what else has been going on in my life.  I've been a little distracted preparing for our upcoming show this Friday and Saturday, so I haven't been doing any sewing to speak of, and yes, I know it's been nearly a month now.  One must recharge one's batteries, though, and I think I may need a complete new set.

So far this year I have been very good about shopping on eBay, or rather not shopping on eBay.  In fact, only last night I decided that of all the things I need right now, a Dritz needle board is not one of them.  Even second hand those things are expensive!

I did buy a DVD the other day, however.  I've been anxious to see O'Mast, the documentary about Neapolitan tailors and tailoring, for nearly a year now.  Have you seen this short clip from the film?  It looks marvelous. 


O'MAST from Kid Dandy on Vimeo.

Anyway, there have been a few screenings in NYC, but I've missed them all, so I decided to treat myself to my own copy.  It should arrive shortly and I'll let you know what it's like.

You may also be wondering about my new Claire Shaeffer Couture Sewing Techniques Workshop DVD.  I received it last week and will have more to say about it in a future post.  In brief: I loved it and who knew there were so many kinds of hand sewing needles?

Readers, do you remember this sparkly fabric I bought last summer?



I finally found the pattern for it, which I picked up for just a few dollars on Etsy the other day.  It's very Diane Von Furstenberg meets Halston with a twist of Liza, don't you think?  (I'll be making the pants version.)



Of course, I could have cobbled this look together using patterns I already own, but since I'm giving away a pattern today, I figured I could make room for one more.  Does that make sense?

Finally, I bought a book (I know, I know...), Lynda Mayard's The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques.



I am hoping this will be a sort of intermediate-level book for those who want to do more hand sewing, but aren't entirely ready to give up their serger.  It's spiral bound, so that's exciting.  We'll see what it's like...

Readers, that's it!

Are you familiar with the Maynard book?  How would you compare it to Claire Shaeffer?  I'll have more to say about why I'm buying all these couture books...as soon as I figure it out myself. 

Anybody out there thread tracing their seam lines?

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

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National Pie Day, our SECOND anniversary + Vogue Pattern GIVEAWAY!

Friends, it gives me great pleasure to announce that today, January 23rd, is National Pie Day -- but that's not all!

Today is also our second anniversary here at MPB.  That's right, folks, on this day just two years ago, Male Pattern Boldness was born.  Today we're walking, talking, and nearly toilet trained!



Just like last year, the cables, cards, and flowers have been arriving nonstop from so many celebrities and friends around the world, including --

Mae West



Miss Barbara Stanwyck



Dr. Lorna Gallo (soon to be seen in the uproarious Noah's Very Unusual Insight)



The surviving cast members of Petticoat Junction



And so many more.

As has become a tradition here at MPB, I have a very special pattern giveaway for you on this very special day.  It's the beautiful Vintage Vogue repro 1948 pattern, V2787, in a (contemporary) size 12-14-16 (34", 36", 38" bust).  The pattern is complete and uncut.

Isn't it dreamy?



Can you name these two lovely bloggettes in their own versions?





MPB readers the world over are eligible for this giveaway, and all you have to do is leave a comment below.  Please share your favorite kind of pie, most inspiring MPB moment of last year, or just let off steam. (If you want to say hi but don't want the pattern, just let me know.)

As always, our staff are here for you, and qualified clinical social workers are standing by.*

You have until Tuesday (tomorrow) midnight EST to enter, and I'll announce the winner on Wednesday.

I wish all of you a very Happy Second Anniversary -- please have a slice of pie on me.

Have a great day, everybody!



*MPB is not liable for any illness, injury, disability or death attributable to your existing physical condition or any deterioration in the same, nor responsible for any loss, claim, damage, or any direct, incidental or consequential damages of any kind which arises out of or is in any way connected with your use of this website.

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Giveaway Winner + Last BIG purchase of 2011, promise!

Good morning, Ann Margret fans and others!   Huh?  Keep reading.

First, I'd like to announce the winner of the Mae West paper doll giveaway.  Please put your hands together for...DAMO!

Damo, please email me your contact information (peterlappinnyc at gmail dot com) and I'll get Mae over to you ASAP.  Congratulations!

Moving right along, friends, there's something about the holidays that makes us want to buy stuff.  Actually, everything about the the holidays makes us want to buy stuff, and that's just the way Madison Avenue likes it.  I pride myself on being highly resistant to most impulse purchases (Who just snorted -- did that come from Australia?), but the other day I happened to pop into the Housing Works Thrift Store on 17th Street -- never a good idea at holiday time -- and I was overtaken with the spirit of giving.  To myself.

Readers, I don't consider myself a true doll collector.  OK, I own a dozen Ken dolls, but I consider them decor, like ashtrays or commemorative Elvis plates.  I don't obsess over them or try to collect all their outfits and I hardly ever play with them.  But when I saw this very unusual doll, I simply couldn't resist.

Meet Patti Playpal!  (Yes, she came with her original tag).



One thing you need to know right off the bat about Patti, is that she is big.  BIG.



Some might say grotesquely large.





Patti is so big, in fact, that you were instructed to sew real 3 year old-size clothes for her.  Friends, if I ever talk about doing that, please organize an intervention.  But honestly, isn't this vintage McCall's outfit cute?

I know some of you will find Patti -- and her outsized presence in my living room -- the stuff of nightmares, but I hope you'll come around eventually.   Michael did, or he will any day now.  He's still a little freaked out.



Now, if I told you Patti was only $15, surely you would understand why I couldn't resist her charms.  To be clear, Patti has a little crack on her upper thigh, but hey, she's nearly 50 years old!   I trust some of you doll aficionados will instruct me how to mend it (something having to do with acrylic nail powder, perhaps?).

And here's the Ann Margret bit.  Don't you think she resembles Ann Margret...just a little?

In closing, I hope I haven't set a bad example for those of you desperate for any excuse to indulge your most outrageous holiday shopping whims.   If you keep it under $20, I think it's OK.  I can't translate that into Euros, but we're basically talking the cost of lunch for two at McDonalds.

Readers, do any of you remember Patti Playpal?  Did any of you actually own one, or envy a childhood friend who did?  Would you display her 1) on the floor, 2) atop a credenza 3) in the back of a closet -- waaaay back.

You can watch the original Patti Playpal TV commercial here. 

Have a great day, everybody!

(More Patti pics here.)

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Mae West Style + GIVEAWAY!

She wasn't thin, she wasn't young (not at the height of her fame anyway), and she wasn't particularly beautiful, yet there's no denying that Mae West was a true sex symbol in her day.

What do you make of Brooklyn-born Mae West -- actress, playwright, singer, comedian, sexual trailblazer?

Many excellent biographies of Mae West have been written in the last decade and she wrote her own autobiography in the late Fifties, Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It.   Outspoken about female sexuality (and sexuality in general), she was a feminist before feminism had a name.  And yet, especially toward the end of her life, she seemed trapped in the campy caricature she herself had created -- the raunchy, ever-sexually-available woman.

Apart from her movies, the best of which were made in the Thirties for Paramount, she's best known for her endless witticisms, among them,  “Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere,"  “I used to be Snow White, but I drifted,""It's not the men in your life, it's the life in your men," and  “When I'm good, I'm very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better. ”

Mae started performing around 1900 and was still performing in the Nineteen-Seventies!  To see Mae West in her last film, Sextette, however, wig piled atop wig, is to watch someone who seems to have lost perspective on how they come across.   In her mind, she never changed -- which in one way (her taste) was true, but in another (her allure) was terribly false.  I guess you can argue that it's heroic that she never dropped the mask in public; I'm not so sure.

I love Mae West, and in her early films she seems more like a real person than the lip-smacking, hip-rolling stereotype she became.  Before the so-called Hays Code in 1934 forced her to censor her more explicit material (which she wrote herself) she was one-of-a-kind bawdy.  She was still one-of-a-kind after 1934, but tamed, she was much less fun.  She eventually stopped working in films to perform on stage in successes like Catherine Was Great (she played Catherine).  She also had a touring stage show with loincloth-clad musclemen and was an occasional guest star on TV (Mr. Ed), usually playing herself.  Her return to films in Myra Breckinridge in 1970 was a big comeback for her, and she was back in the limelight till the end, recording albums of rock music (The Doors!), giving interviews, and promoting new projects.

Mae nearly always appeared in spangly Gay Nineties-inspired gowns or variations thereof -- many designed by Paramount costume designer Edith Head -- that showed off her hourglass figure.  Ostrich plumes, sequins, and huge hats were all part of the look that she stuck with throughout her career.   She wasn't a tall woman, and she wore shoes like these for extra height, hidden under her gown.  Can you imagine?

I have a wonderful Mae West giveaway today for all you Mae West fans out there, the Mae West Paper Doll book by Tom Tierney.  It's full of beautiful color illustrations (and detailed information) of many of her most famous costumes from stage and screen, as well as biographical information about Mae herself.









If you'd like to be considered for the Mae West giveaway, just leave a comment below before Wednesday at midnight, EST.  I'll announce the winner on Thursday, December 15, and will try to ship it out to you in time for Christmas.  (If you want to comment but don't want to be entered in the giveaway, just let me know.)

What are your thoughts about Mae West?  Do you find her inspirational and empowering, or embarrassing?  Role model or relic?

Do tell!

Here's Mae still going (semi) strong, somewhere in her mid Eighties, speak-singing Captain and Tennille as only she could.

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Name That Notion!

Friends, this weekend at the Chelsea flea market I was delighted to stumble upon a big bag full of vintage notions and a trunk stuffed with vintage cotton fabric.  As you can guess, I couldn't resist.

First, the fabric:

I just love these old cotton prints and each piece is at least 5-6 yards long, if not more, at $4 apiece.  I plan to launder them later today.



These two are my absolute favorites:





The bag of notions I bought is primarily kits to make cloth-covered buttons and buckles.  I've never done that before and am excited to try.





But there were a few things I couldn't identify, and I knew I would have to draw on your collective expertise.  I thought it might be fun to turn this into a game/contest, so I've added a few additional "mystery" items just for fun.  Wanna play?

1)  You may have seen one of these before, or something very much like it.  This one was manufactured by Dritz.



Two questions:  a) How does it work, and b) Why is the first visible number at the bottom an "8"?

2. What is this black stuff called and what purpose does it serve?



3. What is this white thingamajig and what is it for?



4. These copper colored items are also stamped "Dritz."  What are they?  (I honestly don't know so if you're persuasive, you may be able to invent something and make the rest of us believe it.)



The winner shall receive...oh, I don't know...how about either a vintage Prims "Cover-your-own" buckle, or "Cover-your-own" buttons kit?  I'll announce the winner tomorrow and I'm willing to mail it anywhere.

Ready to play?  The first person who gets all four questions right is the winner.

On your mark, get set....NAME THAT NOTION!

Good luck, everybody!

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"Vogue Patterns" Winner + SHOULD I HAVE BOUGHT THIS?

Readers, I am delighted to announce the winner of the Dec 2011/Jan 2012 issue of Vogue Patterns with my vintage sewing machine article in it. 

She's a motorcycle-riding fiber artist from the Lone Star State, please put you hands together for RatherBeSewing! 

RatherBeSewing, be sure to email me (peterlappinnyc at gmail dot com) with your mailing address and I'll get the magazine off to you ASAP.  Congratulations!

In other news, friends, occasionally while trolling the sewing machine listings on eBay, I come across something that strikes me as simultaneously desirable and repellent.  I saw this lamp listed earlier in the week and I couldn't decide whether it was really cool or ugly as all get out.  In the end, I decided to let it go.

But I just discovered that it's been relisted (no one bid the first time, do you believe it?).  Anyone who's interested has until November 16 to bid!

Friends, I must ask you -- what do you think of this lamp?   Is it a must-have for any sewing fanatic, or does it have "Daily Ditch" written all over it?

I can't decide.    Maybe with a slightly larger shade....?

It's called a "sewing machine replica," but as far as I can tell, that's a real sewing machine under there.  I mean, what kind of replica would have both a bobbin winder and a feed dog drop lever?

In closing, are you the type of person who buys sewing-related kitsch: pencil sharpeners, clocks, things like that?  At MPB, we don't judge, so fess up.

Happy Friday, everybody!

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