Inspiration from the archives

I bought these 2 books ages ago; Children's Fashions 1900 - 1950 and Everyday Fashions of the Twenties thinking they would make great source material when I get round to doing a bit of pattern cutting.

I think I may have gone too far back in time and probably should have focused from the 40's onwards, but I was thinking about 1920's Chanel dresses at the time, in hindsight, these wouldn't have been found in a Sears catalogue. None the less, they do make for fascinating (and very funny) reading. Here are a few of the highlights...

quite like a Christmas cracker

These are some of the oldest children's clothes in the book from 1910, there is so much to them, I can't imagine a child putting up with something so bulky these days - look how wide the shoulders are. The dress is almost symmetrical top and bottom.

yuckity yuk

Imagine dressing a child in furs? it gives me the creeps seeing the nose and tail of the animal.

what can he hear? the sound of his friends sniggering maybe?

I love the idea of dressing my son in Rufplay Rompers. They are for the Little Fellows. And are apparently, famous.

These girl's dresses are cute though, I like the peter pan collars and dropped waists.

More dropped waists, and some lovely pleat action. I'm not convinced how flattering these are though, maybe it's just the way they are drawn but they look quite masculine (if a man were to wear a drop waisted 1920's dress).

fun fun fun - do real kids look this jolly?

I love the middle outfit here on the bottom row, the polka dot blouse has a pretty tie.

no sunscreen in the 20's, so perhaps not that healthful

And if you are looking for "Gay sunshine clothes" which are so healthful (who isn't?), then here they are for 49c. How cute is the one of the left with the bubble skirt and ruffle sleeves?

Loving the jump suit on the left, if I wanted a suit to jump in, I'd be picking one of these up for $1 (or $1.98 in corduroy).

spade, pitch fork, pig pen - country chic

The pleats in the middle are so sharp, the lady in the crazy trousers on the left had watch out. Her trousers have hot rural buzz words on like 'spade' 'pitch fork' and 'pig pen'. I think I may include this idea in the next thing I make, but make them relevant to living in a city like Brighton. How about 'bus lane' 'pot hole' and 'Grubbs burgers'. It will be a new craze and remember you heard it here first.

my little fellow would put up the mother of all fights 

not to be dressed in a wash suit

More fashion for little fellows, this time rompers and wash suits. It would be great fun to dress my little fellow in something like this, but I can only imagine the fight he would put up. I have documented his criteria for getting dressed here. His rules haven't relaxed much.

M & S undies have nothing on these...

Phew, avert your eyes ladies, some cool athletic underwear on show.

Look at these gorgeous dresses, they are heading towards the Chanel I had in mind.

More cuteness in the form of Bob Hats. Such a shame we only wear hats for weddings these days. This could solve my bad-wavy-hair days. I miss being able hide my bird's nest under a woolly hat like I did in the winter.

My eye is drawn to the polka dot dress on the right, it reminds me of the dress from my pattern cutting course.

Finally some elegant ladies undies. Is the silhouette on the top left the end result? Then transport me back to the 1920's and I'll snap one up.

Dear J Crew...

 Dear J Crew: Please dress me in these outfits 

and provide me with these legs.

My latest addiction, Pinterest has led me to some new and very lovely fashion discoveries. If you haven't heard of Pinterest yet, it is a totally addictive and wonderful way to collate gorgeous images from the internet and see what other people are into too.

If you have ever been researching a project about say, Audrey Hepburn, decorating your home, albino peacocks, dressing your kids in beautiful dresses, then you can store all these images on one mood board rather than a confusing bunch of bookmarks on your internet browser. Oh, and it is totally addictive, but I mentioned that already.

One of my latest trips to Pinterest led my to J Crew. All I know about J Crew is that it's an American clothing company that has clothed Michelle Obama. The wikipedia page about them is disappointing, which is worrying as wikipedia has increasingly become my font of all knowledge.

So, to continue the title to this post...
.....................................................................
Dear J Crew, please open a shop in the UK. 

Thanks everso,
Kate
.....................................................................

I shall demonstrate why using the power of pictures.

Dear J Crew: please dress my first born in these outfits.

Dear J Crew: this isn't my colour, but I still like it

Dear J Crew: I think you know my weakness for stripes, 

and this top is all kinds of stripy

Dear J Crew: I like this pleat action, and you 

make your dresses in about 50 different colours.

Perhaps you would consider opening a shop in the UK?

Dear J Crew: this is the mother of all big-bow dresses 

I would never have cause to wear it, 

but I can admire it anyway.

Dear J Crew: perfect for the school run, a skirt and hoodie,

I will stand out from the other mum, thanks.

Dear J Crew: a 6 year old girl in my life needs this dress.

Dear J Crew: a dusty coloured flounce skirt

yes and yes.

I rest my case, J Crew, I hope you are listening. Those of you who are curious about Pinterest, here's something that will make you more curious, you have to ask to join, and after an agonising wait, they will email you and let you join their club. I can get you in the back door though, send me an email if you want an invite and something to sap away your free time...

ps, thank you to the clever Amy who has informed me that J Crew do have a shop on Net a Porter, so I can get some of their collection in the UK. (Dear J Crew - this doesn't get you off the hook, I want the whole lot).

Marimekko Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show

(via the Strawberry Luna blog)

Ok, so I wouldn't normally lift a blog post straight out of one of the blogs I'm following and plonk it into here. Not a great way to impress my lovely new readers. But once I read about the Marimekko Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show on the Strawberry Luna blog, I new I had to share it with you. You can watch it here, give it a minute to load, you shouldn't need to do anything.

It's amazing right? I have watched it about 5 times, those flowers, the music, the dresses - why didn't I know that Marimekko do clothes? Watching this sent me into a bit of a trance and when it was finished my immediate thoughts were;

'must make a dress this weekend'

and then ...

'must buy some Marimekko fabric'.

Maybe there were subliminal messages in the video, if there were, they worked. These are the kind of dresses I want to be making, it is quite inspiring.

 Also check out these two at the beginning, very cute.


And by the way, have you been to the Stawberry Luna shop? (also on Etsy - check out the alphabet prints). I like to visit at least one a month and plan what I would buy if I didn't have to contend with customs duties coming into the UK.  But if I were feeling lucky, I would probably buy this for my daughter...

and this for my son,

If the sun comes out enough in the next few days for me to take a decent photo, then I have some proper sewing related things to share with you, have a great weekend.