Category Archives: fashion

March 17, 2009 · 10:43 am

Snap-front Shirts

Two is a coincidence, three is a collection. -Me

Well alrighty then, kiddies, gather ’round and let me tell you ’bout a little girl who never wanted to dress like a cowboy until some time late in high school when she HAD to have herself a pair of cowboy boots. And by “have herself,” I mean “beg for a pair for Christmas.” I still remember ’em: Dan Post boots, in black leather. Nothing fancy, which, even then, I was disappointed by. But still, good boots of my very own. And for that, I was pleased. They were joined shortly thereafter by a pair of Larry Mahan lizard-skin boots, very graciously donated to me by my friend Winston, a real, live Texan. They were too small for him, and too big for me. My heels would bleed from rubbing around inside those boots, and the lizard was cracking, and the soles were separating, and I was in no financial position to do anything about it.

Actually, even before the boots, I had a t-shirt on which was printed an old photo of a line of cowgirls, real buckaroo rodeo gals, from maybe the early ’30s. Wonderful, broad-brimmed hats.

I’m not sure at what point I decided that I wanted to be Dale Evans. I loved Nudie‘s work, and I’d wanted majorette boots since I was a tiny little thing, so I guess it was a natural progression. I bought my first leather-and-concho belt in Kansas in 1995 or ’96, and my first fancified snap-front shirt in… shoot. I don’t remember. It’s been a while.

Click on the photo to take a look at the collection.

The Coma of the Zodiac Clutch

When last we spoke, dear readers, I was engaged in an apparently ambitious plan to sew a clutch out of wonderful Zodiac glitter vinyl. I was having a bit of trouble with the printed directions, but my mom deciphered at least the first hurdle. Okay, good to go. Or so I thought?

Have you ever sewn this kind of fabric before?
No. But it’s okay, I switched to a heavy-duty needle.
That’s good, but you should know that the vinyl may stick to your needle plate. If that happens, you put a scrap of pattern tissue in between, and sew through it. You can tear it out when you’re finished.
Oh, thanks! That’s good to know. Woo, go Mom, with the handy hints!

And, as I begin sewing, I keep that tidbit in mind. As long as I’m sewing right-sides-together, everything is fine. Then it’s time to turn out the flap, and stitch down the edges… stick. Stick stick stick. Not only to the needle plate, but also to the presser foot. I don’t have “spare” pattern tissue, but I do have plain ol’ white gift-wrapping tissue. And voila, no more sticking.

Except, now I can’t see what I’m doing. I try my best to stitch down the flap edges by feel. Um, yeah no. Not straight. And, when I pull away the tissue, a Large Quantity remains caught under the thread. White tissue on a red clutch. Yeah, that’s kinda conspicuous. Okay, well, at least it’s vinyl. When I’m done with all of the sewing, I’ll run it under some water if I have to. The crooked stitch isn’t good, but I’ll do better on the next one. And this bad one will eventually have a big, industrial snap going over it, so noone will even notice. Moving along…

Here is where I have to do the first of the “Huh?” maneuvers. I need to take the two raw edges of this flap, move one edge 1/4″ down in the center, and do a zigzag stitch to keep in in place. Then trim away the excess. The stiffness of the vinyl makes this difficult. I squinch it down, I pin as best I can, I zigzag, I trim. The tissue tears away from the zigzag with great lack of success. As bad as the crooked stitch looked, I have now made it Much Worse. I am losing my will to see this through, but also very much want to have this fabulous new clutch for the weekend. I begin to read ahead in the directions but can no longer make heads or tails out of anything.

It is now two weeks later, and my equipment is still spread all over the sewing dining room table. Every time I look over at it, I am disenheartened. I’m still using my fabulous pinstriped purse every day, but it’s like driving a car that badly needs an oil change. The pinstriped purse really needs to visit a leather shop to have the handle restitched, and the bottom reinforced. If I wait too long, the wear will be too great to repair.

Suddenly, Revamp purses are looking… well, still too expensive. But yeah, I now understand how difficult this damn fabric is to work with. Le sigh.

3 Comments

Filed under family, fashion, life-threatening clutter, sewing

January 29, 2009 · 5:03 pm

Pinstriped Handbag

I love pinstriping. More than handbags, less than shoes. Actually, maybe more than shoes. No, that’s crazy-talk. But I do love me some pinstripin’ madness.

This past summer, I was nosing around West Side Sinners, a local “kustom kulture” boutique, with my pal Megan. We shop there from time to time, but on this day, we’re there to watch a hairstyling demo by Lauren Rennells, the author of Vintage Hairstyling: Retro Styling with Modern Techniques as well as Bobby Pin Blog. Smart girls that we are, we get there with plenty of time to meander through the racks of goodies. Erin, the owner of the store, has stocked a selection of pinstriped handbags and I am ogling all of them, but one in particular is whining at me to take it home. A black leather vintage bag by Lady Audley, it’s striped on both sides in four colors, and it is just fabulous. Erin is asking a very reasonable $60 for the bag… reasonable for everyone but me, that is. I grew up amid the financial stress of a two kids/one parent household, and I’ve never earned enough myself to forget what it’s like to have the power company shut you off. Again. So, even when I was gainfully employed, I’ve always had these unofficial price caps in my head. They shift, so I couldn’t tell you what they are specifically, but I can tell you that I’ve never paid $60 for a handbag before.

But…

Damn, this bag is gorgeous. And Megan is supporting my decision to buy this bag, should I choose to do so. (This is how Megan operates. She won’t tell you outright to buy something, but she is subtly encouraging, if she approves.) Okay, now Megan is being a bit less subtle. “It’s perfect for you. And those colors… it will go with so much! $60 really isn’t expensive, to normal people. You should get it.” Everything she says is true.

So I buy the bag.

I only have to reconfigure slightly what I carry around with me in order to fit stuff in. I start using it immediately. (Erin, if you stumble upon this post, the price sticker left icky goo residue on the bottom of the bag. Maybe you can try a different brand? Or tie on hangtags, instead? Also, are you hiring?)

Not too long after, I’m at my local Starbucks, when the cashier notices my bag. “I like your purse. My dad’s best friend is a pinstriper. They’ve known each other for years.” Oh yeah? Does he live around here? What’s his name, maybe I’ve seen his work at a car show. “He’s local. His name’s Rody.” Heh-heh. Um, this is actually his work. Rody striped this purse. “Really?! Hey, he never striped anything for me! I’m going to ask him to do something about that.”

I’d like to note, I have used this handbag every single day since I bought it. Megan was right, it goes with (almost) everything. In fact, I should call Erin and see if she can book Rody to do one of my own bags, so I can have the “brown” segment of my wardrobe covered, as well. Having those two, I could get rid of a whole lot of purses! (Yeah, right.)

6 Comments

Filed under fashion, friends, shopping, vintage

December 19, 2008 · 9:34 am

6 out of 10

I know about vanity sizing.

I know about the benefits of spandex.

I know that my personal style involves a snug fit.

But this new skirt? It’s a size 6.

Over THESE hips?

Oh, man.

I’ll take it.

Dim-Out Anklets

Hi! Remember me? I used to post 5 days a week. Now I seem to post twice a month. It’s something I will try to get better about. I think perhaps I need to get out of the house more.

Okay, so if you know me at all, you know that I collect, among other things, vintage clothing. Always have. Well, as long as I’ve had money to spend, I have. My mom had a beautiful, I’d guess late-1800s jacket that I used to adore as a girl. It was too fragile to atually wear out, but I would put it on, and wonder about how to fix the worn and frayed bits. I have no idea what ever happened to it, or to the gorgeous, ’40s-era ivory satin wedding dress (tea-length, therefore not a gown) that I bought on Canal Street in NYC back in 1990. I spray-painted a pair of pumps to match. I kid you not.

All of the collecting that I’ve done over the years has been with a huge amount of luck, and a small understanding of what it is I’m looking for. I recognize silhouettes and colors and fabrics from the photos I’ve always admired, and as a graphic designer, I can guesstimate an era by the typeface used on the label, but I’ve never done any serious studying. I could be wrong a lot of the time. In fact, I’m sure that I am. So from time to time, I do a little online hunting to brush up and maybe learn a thing or two.

This morning, I was scouring the LIFE archives on Google Images (boundless thanks to Ryan Cochran over at The Jalopy Journal for pointing me there). The image search feature is capped at 200 matches, so I kept finessing my keywords based on intriguing hits. Some magical combination of words let me to a series of photos of a woman’s ankles, wrapped in a variety of large white cuffs. There was a mention of “dim-out fashions.” Of course, I know what a dim-out is, but it inspired a fashion trend? And what on earth could it have to do with these giant anklets? My internal research alarm was buzzing madly, so I went about finding out.

If there is an online archive of LIFE articles, I don’t know about it and can’t find it. I know that these photos accompanied an article that ran in the March 22, 1943 issue. And while I couldn’t find a LIFE archive, I sure know where to find the New York Times archive. On January 16th of 1943, the Times ran an article which explained,

White anklets, which would make New York women pedestrians visible to motorists 100 feet away on the city’s dimmed-out streets, were suggested yesterday by the Public Safety section of the Greater New York Safety Council as part of a five-point program to reduce the mounting number of fatal traffic accidents here.

Ah-ha! Now I get it! There’s also a mention of “college girls” being asked to “help out” which only strengthens my belief that the entire concept was thought up by a bunch of ankle fetishists. I mean, c’mon. Take a look at these photos.