Memorial Day Tribute to our Great Country and our Troops

I simply cannot allow this beautiful weekend to pass without a tribute to our troops and our country. Our recessional hymn at Church today was "America the Beautiful" I think this beautiful song sums up our country in a nutshell. Yes, we have our problems...lots of them, but remember what we stand for and yes, in my household that includes God and a belief that we won't resolve our differences without him. (I will rarely (if at all) get political in my blog, but I reserve the right to be religious) ;o)

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet

Whose stern impassion'd stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness.

America! America!God mend thine ev'ry flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for heroes prov'd

In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved,

And mercy more than life.

America! America!

May God thy gold refine

Till all success be nobleness,

And ev'ry gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears.

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea.

May God Bless our country and God Bless our troops, both those fighting today and those who fought in every war beginning with the Revolutionary War and every war that followed to ensure our freedom was not compromised. And may God forgive our country its transgressions, stupidity and prejudices while leading us down the path of righteousness.

Now back to sewing....................... ;o)

Dresses a/k/a I love being a girl...er...well, woman ;o)

There was a conversation going on at Stitcher Guild http://artisanssquare.com/sg/index.php/board,10.0.html about dresses. I think the coversation was triggered by the SWAP discussion, along with some very pretty dresses posted by a few members, including Liana and her drop dead gorgeous watercolor 2-piece dress. http://sewintriguing.blogspot.com/ This discussion forced me to think about why I, the ultimate girly-girl, rarely wear a dress or skirt. Actually, I hardly own any dresses and skirts and this makes me sad as I used to wear dresses every single day, only pulling out pants on very cold days or just for something different.

I think the demise of the dress & skirt (for me) actually came about at the same that fashion dictated "wearing nylons is the ultimate fashion no-no", with open toe shoes which had become acceptable for work, as well as play. Sadly, I started to wear fewer and fewer skirts and dresses. I have to say that the last time open toe shoes and dressy sandals were "in" (1970's - 1980's)we wore hose with them. No self-respecting girl/woman went without hose, especially at work!! I remember going through one pair every day as I would put my toes through them. OK, that part I hated, but this was a necessary evil. ;o) Why did things (fashion) have to be different this time??? Why was it suddenly a sin to wear hose with sandals???And, why didn't I simply thumb my nose at the world and wear them anyway??? Sigh....because I guess I too am chained to fashion and I wouldn't want to commit a huge faux pas and stick out like a sore thumb...so here I am..sans hose and hating it. Oh, I do wear them in the winter with pants or the rare skirt. At least the chains don't bind me in the winter. ;o) I do have toeless hose, but they hurt like heck and I end up almost bruised between my toes when I wear them.

I will stand up and proudly say that I *like* wearing nylons and I feel finished and polished, not to mention less jiggly in them. ;o) I struggled with self-tanner (hated the inconvenience and mess and smell). Then I gave up and just wore pants. Lets face it ladies, no matter how much we may profess to dislike nylons, many of us do not look our best without nylons, or at least some self-tanner. I work in a building with 1,000 people so I get to see quite a few young and older ladies in skirts, sans hosery, and I'm sorry, but much of it just isn't pretty.

My thoughts then turned to thinking about "why we sew"....well...you sew and I collect. ;o) It's so we can wear what we want and in many cases we are not slaves to the garbage...er...clothing at the mall. Soooo....I decided that I WILL WEAR HOSERY and I will wear it proudly, even in the summer as long as I have on closed shoes or shoes with very small peep-toes. For dresses & skirts worn with my pretty high-heeled sandals I will once again pull out the self-tanner and I will faithfully use it.

I must state that I have no objections to white legs in shorts, or casual skirts outside the work environment...hey, we are who we are. I have the whitest legs in the world. But, for my eyes, I just can't think someone looks their best when wearing a work skirt/dress (especially in the winter) and very white, bare, blotchy legs are sticking out from under the skirt. Someone (or many) reading this will probably disagree with me and that's OK. Again, that's why we sew (or collect) to do what we want. Anyone who proudly displays white legs then I say....You GO girl!!!! For this white-legged, blotchy legged gal you'll see hose or self-tanner on her gams. ;o)

These are some of my favorite dresses. I really do plan to make 1 or 2 this summer. I'd say more than that, but it will be a miracle if I get the 1-2 made. LOL!!!! These are only a tiny selection of the dresses I drool over.

Everyone's favorite Vogue 1048- I love Chado Ralph Rucci

Vogue 8491 - this pattern had me when I looked at the jacket

Vogue 1025- I just love the lines

Vogue 1027 - Higher-waist wrap-right up my ally

Simplicity 2888 - Cute summer dress

Simplicity 2926 - cuter summer dress ;o)

Simplicity 3530 - I like that this is somewhat fitted.

Simplicity 3673 - vintage look that I love

Saturday morning ramblings about Style & Patterns.......

Since my fitting class is on hold for a couple of weeks due to our store closing (sob!!) and the need wait for our teacher to return from vacation to start our private group lessons, I'm going to ramble about other subjects. I will however, cut out and pin baste my fabric....soon...no, really I will...promise. ;o)

Ahhh....it's Saturday morning, the sun is shining and the temps will be in the 70's. Who could ask for anything more? Thank you Carol and my friend Elle for leaving comments in my blog. Those comments make me feel warm & fuzzy and..well...established. I hope my ramblings are worthy of anyone actually wanting to read them.

Carol found me from Tearsa's blog, http://www.thatssewlive.com/ where there is a discussion going on about personal style and do you still wear "trends". I started thinking about my personal style and realized that although I am not eclectic, nor do I dress in an eclectic style on any one day, the garments I'm drawn to are all over the style board. Thus, I think my style is eclectic. My extensive pattern collection reflects this eclectic (or disjointed) style.

If you were to peruse my pattern collection you would find vintage patterns from the 1930's, a few from the 1940's, many from the 1950's, several from the Jackie O era of the 60's and even a few from the 70's. I love the 30's for the long, elegant lines and the 50's for the bouffant skirts and puffed sleeves to the elegant wiggle dresses and fitted jackets. Now that the Jackie O era is *in* I can really appreciate how elegant and refined she always looked. I'm not a huge 70's fan, although I did love my bell bottoms, micro-mini skirts, platform shoes and palazzo pants back then.

The vintage jacket that Elle is making in our fitting class had me drooling in class and set me on a hunt through Ebay to find similar patterns. This is Elle's pattern, lifted from her blog, (forgive me Elle) http://elledechene.blogspot.com/

It's difficult to see the lines of the jacket, but when I saw the traced pattern, pinned to her in class, I was blown away by the lines and elegant cut of the jacket.

Any 80's patterns I still have are in storage and as Elle said, "That's where they belong". LOL!!!! I was a teenager in the 70's, but I blossomed in the 80's. I loved my huge shoulder pads, big, (albeit frizzy) hair, pink & white Princess sneakers, spike heels, power suits and girly clothing. I gave up those shoulder pads kicking and screaming. Just as some day I'll give up my wide leg and boot leg pants kicking and screaming all the way. (although I'm not giving them up yet!!) I just remembered that I gave up "bell bottoms" in the late 70's-very early 80's kicking and screaming. Hmmm.... yes, sometimes change is difficult for me. ;o) Does this mean that I will again one day wear big shoulder pads and then have to give them up....yet again????

My current pattern collection ranges from Vogue's Chado Ralph Rucci, who is my absolute favorite designer, to a couple of Simplicity Project Runway patterns and everything in between, including many independent pattern companies. If I were to choose my favorite companies, hands down....HOTPATTERNS!! and Vogue. I own almost every Hotpattern printed. I love the owners, the styles, the concept..well..everything about them.

Out of the Big 4, I'd say Vogue is quickly becoming my favorite company. With McCalls purchasing Vogue & Butterick I can see how they are evolving each pattern line. McCalls seems to be more "trendy"; Vogue, more classic and elegant & urban; Butterick more
suburban. I agree with other postings I've read that I think Vogue is getting back to it's former designer image and I love it. I do understand that anyone reading this may have a different take on the pattern companies, and I'm definitely interested in reading your thoughts. As a side note: I know you may hate Hotpatterns, but please do not slam them in my blog. I feel they've been slammed enough elsewhere, and I wouldn't want to see that happen here.

Now I have a couple of questions for anyone who stumbles onto my blog:
1. Do you buy a lot of patterns you probably will never make up?
2. Why, or why not?
3. Are these patterns reflective of your true style or are you buying them for a different reason?

I ask this because I must own somewhere around 500-800+ (or more) patterns and I purchase them for many reasons: to actually make up the garment (yeah right!), for the artwork, for a lifestyle I'd love to live and just because I want them in my collection. I'm truly curious and interested in why you buy your patterns.

Have a wonderful Saturday. I'll spend mine cleaning my house and sewing room. Tomorrow, I plan to go to Osgood's again with Elle. Pendleton wools are calling her name and I want to explore this vast warehouse of sewing goodies.