Vintage patterns too fabulous for words.

These gorgeous, architectural dress patterns are from the 1957 Vogue Pattern Catalog. It's not so much that I want to own all these patterns immediately, it's more that I'd like my closet to already be full of unique, gorgeous outfits like these, so that I too can look completely fabulous all the time.

Craft wish list

I want to make this quilt. Is craft imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

I'm also looking for a new knitting project. I will either try to tackle one of the designs I've been thinking about for ages, or maybe this or this.

Great vintage shapes

I was thinking about bringing back Vintage Pattern Thursday, since I'm sure that many of you love finding inspiration in vintage patterns as much as I do. It isn't Thursday today, but I had a little time and found some vintage patterns with really great details.

Vogue 5175 from the 1940s
It may be completely the wrong season, but I think the shape of this sun dress is so classic and would be really stylish these days.

McCalls pattern from 1944
The gathering on the bodice of this dress is so cool--it must look like soft armor when made up.

Modes de Paris pattern from the 1960s
This pattern looks like a marriage between two dresses, but it somehow works for me. I do kind of what to iron the seam at the center front though...

Cultural connections

Last weekend I went to a couple cultural events in Arizona. Although I've certainly enjoyed festivals and such in other places--here, for some reason, it often seems a little more special. I guess I can really feel how the people and traditions are connected to the location.

I happen to live very close to an Indian Reservation, and since I moved here, I had been very curious to learn more about it. While driving home, I saw a banner inviting the public to a Pow Wow--and so I made sure to attend. The event was the Red Mountain Eagle Pow Wow. There were about 75 dancers and numerous drum groups competing. The dancers all had amazing outfits, and I loved the fact that their ages ranged from the little kids to grandparents. Some of the most impressive dancers were teenage boys--and I was so happy to see that there were so many young people interested in traditional dance and music.

I then headed to Tucson to see the All Souls Procession. This was my first time at this event, and I have to honestly say that it was the most impressive city event I have been to anywhere. The procession celebrates the Day of the Dead--participants celebrate the lives of lost loved ones. One of the greatest things about the event was that it was very inclusive. The crowd ranged from hipster artist-types, to other diverse members of the community. Most everyone had masks, or painted their faces to resemble beautiful skulls. There was a really positive, energetic feeling to the evening.


After several hours of the procession, the crowd made its way downtown for the finale. Flam Chen, a local Tucson pyrotechnic theater troupe, put on an amazing spectacle. There were women on stilts in bug costumes with flaming staffs, a band of skull-faced bagpipers, and most impressive of all, was a six-story crane from which ten people were suspended like a mobile.


They released a giant, glowing bag of balloons into the crowd below, then juggled fire as they spun around high in the air. I'm doing a terrible job of explaining how amazing this all was to see. In the end, a large sphere was attached to the crane that contained messages to lost loved ones. The sphere was lit on fire to send all the messages to another world.


Despite being tired and having a long drive home, we had an amazing, inspiring time. I'd encourage you all to attend in the coming years--if you have any friends in Tucson, be sure to visit them in early November!

Plaid please!

I'm obsessed with plaid, which is no wonder considering how prevalent it has been in the past couple seasons. But I swear my love of plaid goes back farther than that. I'm still thinking of making a modern version of the cute little pinafore dress my mom wore as a kid in this photo. I haven't come up with the perfect pattern yet--if you have any ideas, let me know! I also love the idea of mixing bias and non-bias cut plaid to create different effects. Here's some inspiration:

Pintucks plaid bodice (so great!)
Felt Up design's school marm skirt
gretchenlohse's plaid dress (lovely vintage pattern)

Ok not plaid, but similar idea:
Pintucks 80's dress

Help me choose

Ok, so I'm doing a bit of overseas travel this summer, and I think I need a sizeable yet mindless knitting project to keep my hands busy. I do have a couple design projects I'd really love to work on, but I think both will be too tricky to manage while on the road. This evening I thumbed through my stack of vintage knitting magazines and found a few candidates. Any thoughts?

Adorable striped cardigan. The dark stripes are seed stitch, while the light ones are stockinette. I love this in the two shades of gray.
From Fleisher Hand-Knit Favorites vol. 37 from 1967

This placket neck sweater might be the leader at the moment. I'm seeing it in a soft fawn brown color, but not mohair like the original.
From The Mohair Book by Bernat, 1961.

This bulky cardigan is so great with the collar and cables. It reminds me a bit of that really popular Drops cardigan. I'm seeing this in a rich navy blue. Bonus for this pattern is that it calls for Fleishers 'gigantic' yarn on size 15 needles. It looses points for the same reason though, as it would take up more space in the luggage.
From Modern Needlecraft No. 42 Fall Winter, 1963

EDIT: Thanks for the great suggestions so far, guys! I should note that I will be abroad for 8 weeks, and I will be nowhere near a yarn shop (or any other shop, for that matter). The length of my trip (and my flights) and the lack of opportunity to buy new yarn is why I was thinking of going with a bigger project.

Ikat love

My good friend Sara emailed me this weekend to ask if I knew of any good sources for ikat fabric. Ikat seems to have gained a bit of a following lately. For those of you who aren't familiar, ikat is a type of resist-dyed weaving that originated in Indonesia. The warps and/or wefts are resist dyed with one or more colors prior to warping and weaving. It is quite an advanced weaving technique that can result in the most beautiful fabric.

I was lucky enough to see some ikat weavers in action two summers ago at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC. The picture below shows the resist dyed threads (not sure if these are warps or wefts, I'd guess warps?). I find it staggering to try to imagine how to create a particular pattern this way...


...let alone the skills it must take to get the design to actually line up properly while weaving:


I have no idea how she kept track of all those bobbins.

In my search this weekend I actually found quite a lot of fantastic ikat fabric. I'm sharing it with you so that I can hopefully inspire more of you to make something of ikat fabric, because I'm dying to see all of these in action.

From Batik Tambal, 100% cotton, made in India.

Mmm...madras ikat, from The Cotton Club.

Silk Shoi fabric from Uzbekistan, Uzbek Applied Arts

Cotton ikat, Uzbek Applied Arts (remarkably good price for 10 feet of fabric!)

More Silk Shoi fabric from Uzbekistan, Uzbek Applied Arts

Note to self

Make every future project in a delicious shade of Kaffe Fassett's Shot Cotton (seen above in Grass). The warp and weft are two different colors, which gives the fabric this gorgeous richness and variation. I love love love it. The color above was purchased for an upcoming top secret project. If this is any indication, it will likely be stunning.

Dreaming of [a] home

I like to daydream that I own a house and that I have impeccable decorating sense. My latest dream is to make a thick shag rug from recycled t-shirt strips similar to the amazing ones by talkingsquid. How fantastic does that look on the wooden floor? There is a tutorial on the Craftzine blog. As near as I can tell, all you need is a large enough piece of mesh rug canvas, some cut up t-shirt strips, and a latch hook.

Vintage Pattern Thursday

I've been working on a lot of secret projects lately that I can't show on the blog for one reason or another quite yet. As a result, I find that this is slowly becoming a food blog--which is fine--but I'd hate to completely let the crafty part of it go. I was thinking this morning of trying to add a regular feature that would show where I find some of my inspiration. I absolutely adore vintage clothing and patterns. I do own quite a few, but lately have been amassing more of a virtual collection of images. Sometimes I love the color, or maybe the styling, or a small detail. I like to look back on these images to draw inspiration when thinking of new things to create. So, welcome to Vintage Pattern Thursday. I'll be sure to post links to where I find them--although I don't have the time to knit them all, perhaps one of you will fall in love with a pattern and knit it up for all to see!


I found the above image here, and was instantly drawn to the cinched, belted waist and those fantastic arrows. It is from the Vogue Knitting Book, 10th Edition from 1948. I doubt I could ever be so color coordinated, nor have I yet been able to pull off the belt-over-sweater look, but I sure would like to master this look.


This one is my favorite image of late--I think she looks so graceful and elegant, yet entirely comfortable. I love the drape of the sleeves, and how they are nicely fitted below the elbow--I wonder how fine a gauge one would need to get a material like that--I'd bet this was worked on 0 or 1 sized needles. Again, I adore that red/coral colored belt (and could easily see me working this color combination into a knit at some point) and the plaid skirt is fantastic! I have my doubts about handknit skirts, but this is perfection. Found here, from Vogue Knitting Book, 11th edition, 1948.

Knit inspiration

I'm always finding new sources for inspiration, and ideas for things I would like to make. Sadly, I have very little free time these days (as ever) and only have time to follow through on a small percentage of my ideas. Here's one idea that has been in the back of my mind for a while now, but I haven't been able to work it out fully enough to come up with the final design.

I saw this 'Bees to Honey Cape' at Anthropologie several seasons ago. I think I was mostly attracted by the lovely gold-flecked yarn, and how textural it was. It went on sale, and though I was tempted, I kept asking myself how on earth I would work a cape into my wardrobe.
This past winter I started thinking about the cape again, and then found this free cape pattern from Drops. I even found some gold flecked yarn in the right gauge that was on sale for something like $2 a ball. It would have been a $6 Anthropologie knock-off! But again, back to the impracticality of a cape issue. The mini-cape isn't quite substantial enough to keep you cold in the winter, yet it's more of an outerwear kind of idea, so I might feel silly wearing around work. I resisted my consumerist sale-driven tendency, and decided to make something I was certain I would wear instead.

This week, the idea came up again when I found this fantastic 80s sweater coat from slipteasevintage. I love the texture, shape, and color of it. I'm so tempted to buy it, but I'm not sure that my personal style is funky enough to be able to pull this one off.


However, now I'm thinking that I could combine the elements and feelings of these three garments to make a new design that is both unique and wearable. A less stylized, more practical version. I think that would suit me perfectly.

Future home projects

I'm currently in the process of pairing down my belongings in preparation for a big move in June, but that certainly doesn't stop me from dreaming about the fabulously decorated home I will have one day when (if?) I settle down. I found these two great images on Flickr a while ago that feature wonderfully made framed embroideries. I wish I could post the photos on my blog, but they don't belong to me--so click on the links above instead. I haven't done any embroidery--just cross-stitch as a child, but I'm very ambitious when it comes to crafts so I can totally see myself trying to make a huge panel like in the first image. Finishing it, well, that's a different matter entirely.


Can anyone recommend some good embroidery books? I've had this oneon my wishlist for a while. It has some adorable 1960s looking designs, but perhaps I would benefit from something a little more comprehensive. I'd also love to see some more gigantic embroideries for inspiration. Please pass them along if you see any!