My Strange Laundry or: Why I Need to Spend More Time Dressing Better and Less Time Selling Fashion Stuff to Other People

First the title of this post: we love Netflix. So many fun movies that we missed somehow over the  years. "Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" is such a fabulous movie! I know how I missed it when it first came out. It was "commie pinko propaganda" so I obviously wouldn't have seen it then. And then later, the "riding the bomb" scene was played over and over and who needed to see the rest, right? Wrong. It's an awesome flick and totally worth seeing. Slim Pickens is an absolute delight in this film. (And Peter Sellers and Sterling Hayden too, of course.) And the movie spawned endless "double" titles.

Now to the main post. I call this shot "Keep the Sabbath Day Holy." I looked at this line of laundry and was deeply depressed. I really need to dress better. Jeans every day of the week and a nice suit and pantyhose on Sunday. This is no longer going to cut it.

I spend my days selling vintage patterns, scarves, purses and other groovy fashion stuff to folks all over the world. I spend the rest of my time writing a novel about a young lady who meets a 1950s seamstress. And yet, I obviously exhibit no fashion sense (except for Sunday). 

Here are my excuses. I write at home. I stay at home. I make one trip a day to the post office in Shavertown which is exactly one half mile away.  Sorry, those are paltry excuses.

It's true that my house is presently overrun with boxes of vintage patterns which I bought on Ebay and stacks of vintage fabrics and notions which I bought at an estate sale. So I will have to wear work clothes to get that in order. But I resolve to do better. More updates later.

I am a writer too

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I got a letter a day ago from folks asking for my social. And I gladly send it to them. You know you're going to be published when you get the IRS form. Pretty exciting.

I've rethought a few projects and I'm thinking of a book that I think the grandkids might like reading. Michael and I discussed it last night and he thought it might fly. It goes with my original plan to write about time travel but simplifies it quite a lot. And it has twin heroes. I've done a lot of writing about twins--wonder why? (For those not in the know, I have only two sibs and they are identical twins.) I have not given up on my Louisiana novel though. Those characters are starting to live in my brain.

The pattern? I just had to share. This has got to be the penultimate 80s pattern. It's got almost everything--knit fabric, ruffles, bias, the big hair and Brooke Shields. The only thing it hasn't got is the big shoulder pads but I don't think they'd work with this outfit. This makes it penultimate rather than ultimate. What a hoot! So many patterns I've got are bland and I just shove them in a box not knowing what to do with them. But the wowza patterns like this I have to put out there in the marketplace.

Tomorrow I promise I'll share the story of Michael helping me fit a pattern last night. I hope I can make you laugh because it was truly funny.

Surviving the Sixties

You don't really survive the sixties. Because they never, never, never go away. A much younger friend on Facebook posted the first line of "The Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel and in minutes all these young'uns had posted line after line of that amazing song. Our music, our dreams ( like Earth Day and World Peace), and our fashion live on.

And check out this pattern that sold in just minutes. It's for spats! You make the spats which zip up the back and they hook under your shoe with an elastic strap. Suddenly you can have boots to match any outfit. Styles like that leave an indelible mark. In truth, what most people think of as sixties fashion is late sixties early seventies fashion. What a great time to be skinny and have a gorgeous wardrobe!

That being said, to me no clothes were more flattering and beautiful  than those from the 50s. We just watched "Bell, Book and Candle" with Kim Novak. I could hardly listen to the dialogue for being distracted by the gorgeous clothes she wore. It's a umpteen-star movie just for the fashion.

To say that I find modern clothing boring and unimaginative is a huge understatement. No wonder I sell patterns almost every day from eras that were more romantic, more funky, more groovy or more elegant. There is a really good thing about modern clothing though. You can wear almost any style and pull it off. This was not true in the sixties when middle-aged ladies had a huge dilemma. Almost all clothing was for the very young and svelte. So they could either look stylish (and silly) or look nice (and  frumpy.) Tough choices we don't have to make today. Because today's clothing is so bland, you can adapt almost any style element from another era and still look interesting and attractive.

You boys bored yet? Sorry. But sometimes I just have to talk about clothes. (And shoes.)