Pattern Fight, Day One

A package came in the mail! It was none other than my materials for one of the entries in the Pattern Fight, Vogue 2556. Let's open 'er up.

The contents of the mailing envelope oozed forth. I was pretty happy with the colors; I had been a little nervous about ordering them based on the color shown on my laptop monitor. The green is a polyester for the under flap part. It felt about how I expected. The blue is a bamboo/cotton blend and it feels very soft. Both are knits per the pattern requirements. In retrospect, it was really really dumb to get these colors since the winner gets to go to a friend's wedding, and the bride is wearing blue with the wedding party in green. I'm reasonably certain that they're very different shades of blue and green, and the groom has assured me that nothing I wear to this thing is going to be a faux pas, but still. Is this going to be enough to disqualify this dress from the competition?

Magnus, the official cat of Superlemons, was eager to help, as always. There was a hole in the middle of the blue. I was able to place the pieces around it with no trouble. Even so, not cool, fabric.com. Not cool. I cut all the pieces and spent like half an hour putting in tailor's tacks. Now, before I had only encountered them in vintage patterns and quickly dismissed them as overly fastidious old-timey nonsense. However, they have well made up for the effort I put into placing them, and now I am born again tailor's tacker. Hallelujah!

The day ended with the dress partially assembled. It's both more and less complicated then it looks like on the envelope. However, I've reached the point where I need some snap tape to continue, which fabric.com didn't stock and I've had trouble finding locally for a reasonable price. I have a budget to consider and a whole 'nother dress to build, after all.

Pattern Fight!

So my recent trip to Pennsylvania to visit relatives further reinforced a bizarre hypothesis I had first posed in Boone, NC: thrift stores in hick towns have the best haul. Now, I don't know the distribution models, but I have to assume that the items in thrift stores are donated locally, and people in hick towns have limited access to the good stuff, and, to make a terrible generalization, have no taste. And yet there's a high frequency of Banana Republic stuff and one time a tank top from Top Shop down at Ram's Rack.

So we went to this place in a neighboring town (I guess slightly better because it had a movie theater) which had an extremely sweet haul. My limited funds and even more limited closet space prohibited me from stocking up on old bowling shirts, the most ridiculous fur coat in the world (only $10) and some sweet hats, but I did pick up two vintage patterns AND a Vogue Issey Miyake pattern for like two bucks. Awesome!

Which brings us to the bout of the century: Pattern Fight. I'm going to to construct both of these patterns on this very blog. The winner, voted on by MY FAITHFUL READERS (both of you?) gets worn to this wedding I gotta go to. Let's meet the contenders!


Team Simplicity 4944:
This copacetic little bird may be getting up there in years, but we still think it's the berries. It didn't come with the original envelope and there's no date printed on the directions. The company also had two other patterns with the same number which complicates finding information. Judging by the price (65 cents) and the cut I'm going to guess late 60s or 70s. I'm going to go for View 1, but I'll probably revisit 2 in the future if it comes out okay.

Team Vogue 2556:
This pattern is stiff competition, due to the involvement of big name Japanese designer Issey Miyake, who survived the atomic bomb to give the world the Pleats Please collection. But like so much high fashion, is this 2001 pattern too funky for its own good? I say the crazier the better, but I am concerned about the potential waist-negating effect. I'll be doing the dress A, the skirt is not a length that suits me and I can't afford to make a thing AND furnish my own top.

The fabric for 2556 has been ordered and construction will begin once it arrives and I track down some elusive snap tape. For 4944 I'll check around the house and see if any of my existing stash is up to the task. Gentlemen, the game is afoot.