Theoretical Clothing - The Blue and Gold Edition

So I still need some cold- weather clothing. Despite the fact that I live in The South and it didn't actually start acting like winter until the beginning of November the weather has decided to make up for lost time. So what to do? Well I am going to make another knit dress, but this time it will be out of this lovely blue wool knit pictured below. And that gold knit? That happens to be an Italian silk knit that I got at a pretty sweet deal and it feels dreamy. I have enough of it to make a long sleeve cowl neck, like this one, and a camisole. These items are from my TNT patterns and I can knock out both in one afternoon. Even after modifying the dress sleeves to be elbow length (Of course now that I've said that I've jinxed myself... I just know it).


And the final bit to this theme of blue and gold is this fabric I picked up in Nashville, TN while there to see the "Golden Age of Couture" exhibit at the Frist Museum*. I have enough to make about two items out of this fabric. The first will be a high-waist strait skirt, but the second? Not a clue. Any suggestions?



*I highly recommend going to see at least one exhibit at The Frist. The building alone is worth the trip. Its a beautiful example of Depression era Art Deco. Here's a picture of me and my daughter outside after the tour. And in keeping with this being a sewing blog, I made both dresses!

(Looking at pictures from earlier in the year I am definitely seeing the progression of weight loss. Not to toot my own horn or anything.)

Our Inner Louis Lane: Comics and Sewing Linked in the Past

(Image Courtesy of My Vintage Vogue)

When I stumbled upon this picture the geek in me became rather excitable. There is nothing exceptional about the dress and if you read the advert you'll see its really trying to sell the fabric. This being from 1948, selling fabric through catalogs was still widely common.

What really made me like this is because it is featuring Superman and making a reference to the girl imagining herself as Louis Lane. It was rather fresh on my mind since I had recently learned my paternal grandmother would buy comics for "her kids" but not hand them over until after she got to read them. See, Superman debuted in the American popular culture in 1938 and became an iconic symbol for "True American Values". He was the handsome man to the rescue and the world's biggest boyscout (Of course, later in "Kingdom Come" Superman himself said that the world no longer needed a boyscout, but that's a different discussion).

See, in 1947 Christian Dior and the couture houses of Paris revealed "The New Look". It was a very successful attempt to bring back the glamour of couture houses and to try and erase the utilitarian styles left on us by The Great Depression and WWII. We want to remember the grand dresses and shiny stars that grace the silver screen. But in reality the majority of the population was still making their own clothes and still struggling to make things work. To me, this would have been an apealling advertisment to those like my Grandmother that were dreaming of being rescued by their handsome superhero and taken off into a better day.

My Grandmother