Book Review: Vintage Details: A Fashion Sourcebook by Jeffrey Mayer and Basia Szkutnicka

 Every so often I stumble on a book when looking at another on Amazon--you know the part of the page that says "people buying this book also looked at . . ."   This book was one such book that I purchased fall of 2019 and never took the time to look at.  I picked it up today and found it to be a handy sourcebook.  It focuses on women's garments from 1916 up to 1995, most of which are in the collection of the Syracuse University Costume Collection as well as a few pieces from private collections.  There are some interesting pieces, to say the least. 

This is a book entirely of photographs.   It's organized by type of detail as is indicated in the contents:

The visual index shows thumbnails with the front and back of each garment in full then it lists the page in each section where you can find that specific detail for the garment you are looking at.

Let's see how that works using the blue Robe de Style.  Note the abbreviations for each book section and the page number.

The neckline photo appears on page 38.

The fastening and buttonhole section on page 189:

The hems, darts, stitching and fitting devices section on page 230

The pleats, frills and flounces section on page 270

The embellishment section on page 303

And the construction section on page 369

There are other sections which didn't apply to this particular dress such as collars, sleeves, cuffs, pockets, and surface.

It's nice to have photos of all of these details.  I'm still not sure about the layout.  I think having the sections as they are may be helpful for someone who wants to study specific garment parts of a lot of garments.  I tend to study a specific garment and look at all the details in that garment so I prefer the pics to be all together.  I'd also love a full page pic of the entire garment.  Since this book is a book devoted to details, it definitely does its job.  It's a beautiful book.  The price has gone up substantially since I bought it though there appears to be used copies for sale.  

I would recommend this book for anyone who likes to study vintage clothing and who particularly enjoys seeing all the interesting details up close.

Sweet Victory

I've been meaning to blog since the election, but life got in the way.  I think I was coming down with a cold last week.  I stood out in the mist last Tuesday and handed out materials to those coming to vote at my school.  It was interesting to see the voters.  The neighborhood is extremely diverse with many non English speakers.  Many of them had questions and all seemed very excited to vote.  It is an overwhelmingly democratic district.  

I stayed up until 2 a.m watching the election returns and commentary. I was a nutcase the next day as I was totally exhausted. That's okay. It's not often that one gets to experience that type of victory!

My sale book order from KnitPicks arrived on Thursday. Check out the goodies:




I love all of them, but my favorite is Boutique Knits. It has some very unusual accessories. Also--check out this scarf from the Nicky Epstein scarf book:

Of course that page would catch the eye of the Crazy Cat Lady!
I also started the Silken Scabbard. No photos yet, but soon!

Saturday, DH and I headed for Pittsburgh to celebrate Ems' birthday which is actually on November 11. We got there around 3:30. Her street was covered with leaves. I love the houses on her street. They are rather large brick or stone homes with neat architectural details. Many have stained glass windows as well.

Here is the side of Em's house. Her apartment is on the second floor and she has the curved windows that you see.

Everytime I go in that house I see details that I missed before. Check out the plaster work on the ceiling:



We met Bird at the Double Wide Grill on the Southside for dinner after which Bird went to work. Ems, DH and I ended up meeting Ems' friends at the Forward Lanes in Squirrel Hill for a couple of games of ten pin bowling. I have to admit that it's been over 40 years since I've bowled ten pins! It was fun. After bowling, we took Ems back to her place and we checked in our hotel. Sunday morning we met up with Ems and Bird at Ritters which is a diner in Friendship. After a trip to Joanns, we took Ems home and we headed for the road, arriving home around 7:30 p.m. I paid a sitter to take care of the kitties so they were well provided for.

I think things will get back to normal for a short time until we hit the Holiday madness.

A bit of Nostalgia
"It was twenty years ago today . . ."
Here are some pictures from Ems' 5 year old birthday party. She just turned 25! We used to have wonderful theme parties at our house. This one was the Wizard of Oz! Can you guess who Ems was?

That's right! She was Dorothy! And of course, I was Glinda!

I just knew I'd find a place to wear that flea market 50's prom dress!
And no party at our house was complete without the special birthday cake that Nannie made. This one is of the Emerald City with Wizard of Oz figurines:

All the party guests received a goody bag with a "Doctor of Thinkology" diploma, a heart ornament and a medal of courage!

Bushism of the day:

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

Ouch! I think we are figuring out now!

Kitty Cam: We got to meet Ems' little baby, Chelsea. She's a wild thing, but she is absolutely gorgeous! She has beautiful markings!

Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down!

Who remembers that song by the Carpenters? Well it's a rainy day. It started raining yesterday. That cold penetrating kind of rain which we actually need to bring the water table up so we can avoid a drought this year. Unfortunately, I had outside bus duty at dismissal yesterday and I was cold to the bone after that! I stayed at work a little late then went directly home where I put on my slippers and fixed a latte. That felt good!

I'm trying to finish up some knitting projects before my hand surgery. I've decided that I need to frog about 3 or 4 inches off of Giselle so it will fit like that pattern photo. That's at least a week's worth of knitting, so I'm really bummed because I wanted to finish another sweater before my hand surgery. Giselle did fit. Then I blocked it and it grew. I also ran out of yarn before finishing the second flounce and I ordered another skein. Now, I'm wondering if I couldn't just use the yarn I frog from the body to complete the flounce. That would save me about $40. The problem is that it has already been blocked and stretched and I fear it would mess up the flounce which hasn't been blocked and stretched. I will save it. I'm sure I could use it to make something like this:

I'll have enough from the new skein left to make a nice cowl or hat, so I guess that is what I will do.

Here are the photos of Giselle so far:



It is just way too long. The end should crisscross above the waist and not meet in the back. I had to pull it up over the boobs just to make it shorter.
Here is the pattern photo:


Frogging will make mine fit like that. As much as it pains me to rip out 2 weeks of work, it would pain me more to spend over $100 bucks on a sweater that I don't wear. I will wear it if it fits correctly because I love the style and the yarn, which is mostly silk, feels glorious on the skin.

Here is the first sleeve flounce:

The shaping is done with short rows. I used to hate short rows because I had trouble knitting in the wraps. That is until I saw this video and this video. Cat Bordhi is a genius!

I bought a couple of new books:

Knitting New Gloves has some really interesting designs. I love knitting gloves for some reasons. They are portable for one. You can tuck the project right in your purse--unlike a sweater. I have never had a desire to knit socks though. Why spend the time on something that will be hidden inside a pair of boots? That's when I wear socks so I'm not wasting the time. The book on yarn is a resource. It reminds me of Claire Schaeffer' s Fabric Sewing Guide. This book is a "must have" if you sew. It goes through fabric structure and fiber content and tells what needles, seams, linings, techniques--the list goes on--to use. I refer to it whenever I start a new sewing project. The Book of Yarn is the equivalent resource for knitting. Also--I found a new source for cheap books! Overstock.com was even cheaper than Amazon. The shipping was only $2.50 and it was here in 2 days! What's not to love about that!

I've been reviewing some new spring pattern books and stumbled on some designs to put in my queue:

From Debbie Bliss Coastlines:



From Debbie Bliss Prima Collection:


From Classic Elite Make it Modern:


Also that cute little scarf pictured above is from this book. In fact there is nothing I wouldn't make in this book. All the projects use Cotton Bamboo or Soft Linen.

Another new pattern that is coming out:


This is designed by Wendy Bernard who also designed Sahara. I will be hitting up MD Sheep and Wool for the Tilli Tomas yarn for that one! She discounts substantially at the festival.

Lastly, I found this new pattern:

Yup! It's crochet! I typically don't love crochet. I can't do it mindlessly like knitting. But I will be a one armed bandit and I can do it pretty much with one hand, so I may undertake this project when I am home from school after my hand surgery. My other project will be that of putting a ton of stuff on Ebay. That's how I pay for my New England trip every summer. Sell stuff on Ebay then use my PayPal card to pay for the hotel. Gotta love it!

Other news: I came home from work on Tuesday and saw this in our yard:

Our new shed! It's huge. Once we get electricity in there we can rent it out for parties!

I think that's the end of this one! Later!

Bushism of the day:
"You're free. And freedom is beautiful. And, you know, it'll take time to restore chaos and order — order out of chaos. But we will." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 13, 2003

Kitty Cam: Sammy knows how to spend a rainy day!

RRRRRRRRIP!

So goes Juliet! Yup! I frogged her! I got almost to the end of the yoke--where the body is joined and discovered that my gauge was significantly off. My swatch had determined that size 9 needles would give me gauge (3.5 stitches/ 5 rows per inch). The yarn label also says size 8 - 9 needles gives this gauge. Wrong! After knitting 20 rows--I found that my gauge was 4.5 stitches per inch and the yoke only measured 3 inches long whereas it should've measured 4 inches. I suspect this is why the fabric felt so dense. I ripped it all out and started again using size 10.5 needles. It seems to be the right gauge so far. I can handle if it is too loose as I am making the size S. Both S and XS have the same number of stitches. Small just has you joining the body after 32 rows instead of 26 rows like the XS. I figure I'll just try it on at 26 rows!

I received a delightful surprise the the land down under today. My Ravelry Caffeine Swap packaged arrived today from Australia! It was a lovely treat! There was a box of Earl Gray Teabags, some special cookies, a lovely mug, a little tea bag rest with koala bears on it, some handmade stitch markers and a gorgeous skein of handdyed merino fingering weight yarn.

Here's a closer look at the yarn and stitch markers!

This yarn is just beautiful! It has shades of dark green, blue and purple and feels like butter! There are 490 yards so I may have to finally knit a pair of socks--unless I decide to do a lace scarf of some sort! I don't know! I'll know what to do when I see the right pattern!

I decided to stop by Borders today since it is Educator's Week and teachers get 25% off all books, CD, and DVD's. I only bought one book. As an educator, I thought I needed to be more educated in this:

Secifically in this:

I fell in love with that top! It's designed by Annie Modesitt which explains it all. I love her designs. There are some fabulous kids sweaters in there among other things--quite a few that I would gladly make. I was hoping to also find "Bag Style." I viewed some of the designs for that one online and found it to be the most interesting book of bags that I've seen yet. All of the Style series books are fabulous. I have Scarf Style and Lace Style as well and love them both.

Another design that I've fallen in love with is Cherie Amour from the fall issue of Knitty. This looks like a really quick knit. It is knit in the round with the sleeves flat knit then sewn in. I studied the pattern and came to realize that the sleeves could be picked up and knit in the round from the shoulder down. I'm seriously thinking of making this. The handpainted yarn recommended in the pattern is lovely but the color I like is out of stock so I will have to wait to see if they restock it.

I took Mikey to the vet for a fructosamine test today. Nomally he just gets a glucose test that involves pricking his ear then using a regular glucose meter like human diabetics use. The fructosamine test involves taking a large vial of blood for a more complex test at the lab. This test can tell what his average daily glucose level was for the last 2 weeks. They use a really large syringe and poke around in his neck until they hit a vein. Sometimes they have to shave him so they can see the vein. He's a good little patient. He doesn't struggle at all. I always feel so bad for him. It's funny how he is so loveable to me after all this. He cuddles and nuzzles me when I sit down. I can't help but think that he knows I'm doing this to make him feel good.

DH and I are going to Pittsburgh tomorrow so I need to get some laundry done.

Bushism of the day:
"I want it to be said that the Bush administration was a results-oriented administration, because I believe the results of focusing our attention and energy on teaching children to read and having an education system that's responsive to the child and to the parents, as opposed to mired in a system that refuses to change, will make America what we want it to be — a more literate country and a hopefuller country." —George W. Bush, Jan. 11, 2001

Kitty Cam:
Mikey takes a nap after his hard afternoon at the vet.

Snow Day, Take 2!

So today has been a beautiful snowy day which comes as a bit of a surprise. The weather people were calling for maybe an inch of snow wih freezing rain. When I woke up there was nothing, but around 9:00 a.m. the snow started and continued until around 4:00. It was the kind with the big, wet pretty flakes that is a bitch to shovel!


That's the view from the front porch. It looks like we got about 4 or 5 inches.

I used the day to pamper myself a bit. Yesterday, Ems came over and we went to Davidson Beauty Supply. It's certainly an advantage having a kid who is in beauty school! We got some Paul Mitchell Shines which are transparent demi colors. I mixed two of them and used that today. It turned out great in that it imparts incredible shine with deposit only color. I try to match mine to refresh it between visits to the salon. I was happy with the result.

The other treat yesterday was the trip to Borders. I had my 30% off one item Borders Rewards coupon that I was itching to use. I was hoping to find the new book Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel. She had designed a Top Down Cable sweater in the Spring issue of Interweave Knits which I fell in love with. I like the idea of the top down, no side seams knitting! Anyway they didn't have the book on the shelf at Borders. As I was browsing through the knitting books, along comes Denise from the knitting group, carrying a copy of the book! She had special ordered it and told me that they got in 2 of them. So I was able to go to the check out and pick up the other copy! What are friends for! This book has loads of designs that I really like. Here are the "must haves:"

The last one I like, but I would like longer, possibly belled sleeves on it. The back is really nice in that it is very form fitted with the eyelet design going down both sides of the back where the shaping is.

The other book I bought was one called Felt It by Maggie Pace. This book has some funky designs that I really like. I fell in love with the cloche shown below:

I would love to find 2 totally contrasting colors to do that in. I'll know them when I see them! The other design that intrigued me was the Flower Pedal Scarf.

There were several designs with this same type of construction--a flower choker and a star wrap. They are done in alpaca. I really like the design.

WoW! Another plus for this snowy day is the fact that Gone With the Wind is on Turner Classic Movies! There's 4 hours gone!

Mikey has the right idea for the afternoon!

I'm almost finished the first Pop Up Paw glove! I will post a photo when it's done! I wonder if school will be affected by the snow! I doubt they'll let us know until the morning!