The $4.6 Million Dress

Friends, by now you've all probably heard about the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood costume and memorabilia auction that happened last weekend.  The big news: Marilyn Monroe's infamous "subway dress" went for $4.6 million.

For that price it should have sleeves.

(NOTE: you can download a PDF of the auction catalog here, and I highly recommend you do.  It was an amazing collection  and beautifully documented in this catalog.)

Ten years ago I saw the soon-to-be auctioned Marilyn Monroe memorabilia collection on display at Christies and saw the famous Jean Louis "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" barely-there gown.  That one fetched $1,150,000, which seems like a bargain by comparison.  And it was beaded.

As you know, I am a huge old movie fan and melt at the sight of costumes from classic films.  I've blogged about the Diana Vreeland costume exhibit I saw in the Seventies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a child, as well as some of my favorite movie gowns.

Debbie amassed her collection over more than forty years, with a dream of founding a Hollywood memorabilia museum that never quite happened.

The whole thing makes me sad, for Debbie and for us Americans.  What larger cultural contribution has America made than "the movies" a.k.a., Hollywood?   As I said to someone yesterday, with all the billionaires we now have in this country, couldn't somebody cough up, say, $100 million to keep Debbie's collection intact and viewable by the public?   The fact that a dress associated with a famous star could fetch millions reflects the huge, lasting interest in Hollywood history.







Wise readers, your thoughts, please.

Why is this (Marilyn) dress so valuable, other than that we've seen that image upteen times till it's embedded in our DNA?  Is it really all that?  Have you ever seen The Seven-Year Itch (the movie the dress is from)?  It has not aged well, to put it mildly.

Also, do you think these costumes belong in one place -- i.e., a museum -- or is it only fair that they go to those who have the most interest in owning them and perhaps chopping them up into quilting squares and throw pillows? 

Is it important, given that the costumes can be seen, as they were intended to be seen, in the films themselves?

I'd love to hear what you think.

I'm going to be gone the rest of this week as I'll be taking care of my mother who gets out of rehab after her hip replacement today.  My mother doesn't have a computer -- she tried to master one about five years ago and failed -- nor does she have DSL or any other type of Internet service.  Her neighborhood, moreover, though just a (long) subway ride from where I live, is a wi-fi black hole.  I will be thoroughly disconnected -- pray for me.  I hope to return to daily blogging next week.

BTW, please feel free to read other blogs during my absence. It's healthy and can only strengthen our relationship, in the long run.

Have a great week, everybody, and see you soon!

Read More

"Are my seams straight?"

Readers, we're not going to talk about ladies stockings today, though I haven't ruled out this riveting topic for the future, perhaps during "Fetish Week."

No, today, I want to discuss the tricks and tools we sewists use to keep our seams straight and seam allowances accurate.  MPB reader "E" recently emailed me to ask how I manage to sew so evenly, and whether it was simply a question of practice.



It does take practice, certainly, but there are lots of tricks you can use to make sure you're sewing accurately from the very beginning.

Here are a few of the most popular ones:

First of all, most sewing machines come with a numbered throat plate (sometimes called a needle plate).  The numbers on it refer to 8ths of an inch.



My vintage Kenmore 158.141 has markings on both sides of the presser foot (not just to the right).  Isn't that fantastic?



Vintage Singer straight stitchers often did not come with numbered throat plates (don't ask me why).   Here's my Featherweight.



Jenny at Sew-Classic.com sells numbered replacement plates for many vintage machines.    I use one of the ones she sells for my Singer 15-91, which did not come with a numbered plate.  It works fine.



Jenny also sells numbered peel-and-stick decals which you can adhere to a plain throat plate.  They need to be trimmed first and lined up carefully, but they do work well, and they're cheap and replaceable.  I use one of these on my Pfaff 30.



The most popular seam guide is the old screw-on kind.  That's one of the things those little holes on the bed of most vintage sewing machines are for.





I don't own one but I do have a photo of how they work.  Very straight forward.  Of course, it helps to have a numbered throat plate so you know where to line the guide up.  Otherwise you have to measure from the needle to the outer edge of your fabric, the width of your desired seam allowance.



Whether or not you have a numbered throat plate, here are a few more helpful tools.



I poo-pooed this magnetic seam guide recently, but other people like it and find it helpful.  This is another tool that's easier to use if your throat plate is numbered.  If it's not, you'll have to measure.



When I'm using a vintage straight stitch machine, I use the straight stitch foot as my guide for topstitching.  The right edge is 1/8".





The left edge is 1/4".





(I have also discovered that the far edge of the throat plate screw is 3/8" and the inner edge of the large hole is 5/8".  Sometimes those are the only guides I use, but I don't recommend this for beginners.)

My zigzag machines all have low shank adapters that use the same snap on/snap off feet.  You can buy sets of these on eBay.   (High shank adapters use the same feet, btw.)  Two edge guide feet that are very useful for accurate topstitching are these:





I discuss them at length in my topstitching movie, which can be viewed here.

Friends, have I left out any useful methods of sewing straight seams and accurate seam allowances? I've heard of some people using tape to mark the measurements but don't all the different tapes get confusing -- and gummy?

Which is your preferred method?

(A master sewist I know marks all his seam allowances in chalk, eliminating the need for guides altogether.)

Please share your secrets with us today -- we won't tell!

Read More

Peter models the funky-cuffed summer shirt!

Readers, the shirt is finished and yesterday, with Michael's able assistance, I got to play fashion model!



I am now thinking the lavender cotton shirt fabric, which I had originally identified as lawn, is in fact voile.  Or gauze.  Or something.  As you can see in the photos, it's slightly transparent, loosely woven, and very soft.  In fact, the softness and loose weave resulted in the one (minor) disappointment in the shirt construction.



Not wanting to deal with flat-felled seams on such soft fabric, I'd planned to stitch the sleeves on, serge the seam allowance, and then stitch the seam allowance down to make a mock flat-felled seam.  However, even with the shirt open and flat (before I'd stitched the sleeve and torso closed), I was unable to stitch down the seam allowance without puckering -- it's that stretchy and soft.  This wasn't a tension issue, though it caused some!

I completed one side, and then ripped it out (gently); traces of which are slightly visible.  Has this ever happened to you?



Anyway, with a shirt this casual and summery, it's fine, and it's not like I'm going to be hurling baseballs in it or anything.  The shoulder seam is perfectly secure.



Here are a few more construction details.  You can view the whole folder of construction pics here.

I interfaced the collar stand with knit weft interfacing on just the outer layer.  For the collar itself I used an additional layer of my fashion fabric (I was short on interfacing).  This is one of my better collar stands.







I topstitched all the way around the stand; sometimes I skip that step.  With the exception of the buttonholes, I sewed the shirt entirely on my Featherweight, using a #9 needle.  Anything larger would occasionally snag the fabric.



I finished the sleeves and side seams with French seams, stitching at 2/8" wrong sides together, trimming down to 1/8 inch, pressing, and then stitching right sides together at roughly 3/8".  I like the result -- clean.



The buttonholes, which I made on my 15-91 with my buttonholer attachment, aren't gorgeous.  I chose not to interface the front left button placket and it could have used a little more heft for prettier buttonholes.   Do you see how the fabric puckers along the width of the placket?  Still, they're stable and not particularly noticeable.   (I really should clip those stray threads...)



And that's it.

Here's a little slide show of me modeling the shirt.  No sailors, I'm afraid.

As always, to see these photos full-size, please click on any image.  In Picasa, click on the title of the folder, and then in the left hand corner, "Slideshow."



Happy Sunday, everybody -- and to all your fathers out there, Happy Father's Day!

Read More

Sewing with Old Sheets

Readers, as you probably know, I'm a big fan of repurposing old bedsheets.

I was going to say vintage bedsheets, but really, the age of the sheet doesn't matter, it's the cost that counts.  You see, the best thing about sewing with sheets is that they can usually be found in thrift stores for just a few dollars (if that) and they're generally huge.

A twin flat sheet has more than enough fabric to make a men's shirt, and with a king-size you can probably make a cotton ball gown with a luxuriously high thread count!   Always look out for prominent stains and fading, of course -- we want to avoid those.

I've found some wonderful sheets at the Salvation Army -- the designs from the Seventies are the most fun, I think.  The downside is that in that era, sheets were generally cotton/poly, and they can get smelly.  Then again, you don't have to iron them.

Here are some of my favorite sheet projects...

Shirts, shirts, and more shirts!









And even some of Cathy's outfits.  Don't tell Cathy someone slept in her dress -- besides her.







So yesterday afternoon, as I was finishing up my lavender cotton shirt, I had a vintage sheet epiphany.  As you know, I'd made the collar and collar stand white, which gave the shirt a nice crispness and highlighted the lavender.



Unfortunately, it also gave the shirt a banker-y formality I didn't want.  Plus, a white collar calls for white cuffs, which would only intensify the banker thing, plus, white cuffs show dirt.  What to do?

Then it hit me!  I dug through my collection of vintage sheets and voilà!







Sort of Lily Pulitzer meets Wamsutta, right?

Yes?  No?  Maybe, with a matching bowtie?

The big shirt reveal will be tomorrow but you get the idea.  The sheet -- which is pictured up top -- is a huge Seventies-era flat sheet I found at the Salvation Army last year.  Not sure what I'll do with the rest of it -- maybe a jumpsuit!

In closing, friends, do you ever sew with vintage (or just plain old) sheets? 

When you wear what you've sewn, do people ever guess that you're clothed in second-hand bedding?  (Do they inadvertently start yawning when you tell them?)

Is the ewww factor just too insurmountable?

Sheets-into-clothes: yea or nay?

Read More

Friday Filler

Not a whole lot to report on this end, I'm afraid.  I cut my shirt fabric yesterday and started stitching.  I'm using my tried-and-true vintage shirt pattern, Butterick 4712, but this time incorporating a sloping shoulder adjustment.  I hope that turns out well.

 

The fabric, which I believe is cotton lawn, is rather sheer and loosely woven and can stretch easily.  I'm staystitching in the obvious places (like the neckline) and trying to limit handling.  Originally I had planned to do the whole thing in lavender, but today I'm thinking of doing the collar and collar stand in white to give the shirt a little zing.

I have some soft, white cotton (lawn?) left over from a collarless shirt I made last summer, roughly the same weight and quality.



I get a lot of wear out of the shirts I sew -- Michael even more so.  I hardly ever wear knit shirts anymore.  I find them uncomfortably clingy in hot weather compared to a cool, crisp, woven cotton shirt, and I never feel well-dressed in knits.

Here's how things stand as of yesterday:



I don't think I'll finish this shirt today, but hopefully over the weekend.  I'm still not sure if I want this to be long sleeves or short (which is so much easier).

Michael and I saw a fantastic HD filmed version of Stephen Sondheim's Company starring Neil Patrick Harris at the movie theater last night -- truly wonderful.  (Oh, and Jon Cryer from Pretty in Pink was in it too -- eerie!)

I go to the movies about once a year if you can believe it, so this was a very special experience.  There are some things that one can't entirely appreciate on a 13" computer screen, I must admit.  Do you still go to the movies?    I can't stand the commercials and the films generally have a visual (and aural) intensity that stresses me.  I'm also not into guns, explosions, car chases, bathroom humor, or animation.  What's left?

Readers, I'm eager to get back to my shirt project as I don't have much time for sewing today and I'm most alert in the morning and early afternoon.  I rarely stitch anything in the evening that doesn't have to be ripped the following morning.

Happy Friday, everybody, and happy sewing!

UPDATE:  Collar on -- snazzy!

Read More