Christmas apron!

Awhile ago, I mentioned that I'm making Christmas aprons for my sister, Mom, and me.  Sadly, all sewing was put aside when the house addition started and the sewing room became the depository for displaced furniture, clothing, boxes, and books.

Oh, look!  I am stirring a bowl of mime food!

I've been itching to keep sewing, so I snuck the sewing machine down to an empty corner in my room and made my apron yesterday!

The fabric deserves its own close-up:

When I saw the colorful 50s-style illustrations, it had to be mine.  It's too perfect.  The polka-dots fit with the cute housewifey feel of my main fabric - I'm really happy with the way they worked together for the finished product. 

*As a side note, I think apron-making has become so popular because of the proliferation of quilting fabric.  It's hard to go to JoAnn's and find a nice wool or silk for a dress, but cute quilt fabric is available in abundance.  Oh, small towns.  I both love and hate you at the same time. 

I ended up using the "Twirl, Girl!" pattern from the A is for Apron book (available at the Logan Library!).  It's a super easy pattern - there's only two pattern pieces that are cut out five times.  The pieces are sewn together to form one section and the five sections are sewn together, forming a swingy gored apron front.  After that, you just add the waistband and ties and you're done!  The whole project took about an hour and a half - such an easy pattern with such an adorable result!

I can't wait to wear it while making Christmas treats!

Book Report: Bright Young Things

You already know that I loved The Luxe books, Anna Godbersen's YA series set in Edith Wharton's turn-of-the-century New York.  Now, Ms. Godbersen turns to F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's 1920s New York with Bright Young Things. 

Our cover girl is Astrid Donal, a young society girl with loads of flapper style and a boyfriend who's the son of booklegger-to-the-rich Darius Grey.  Along the way, Astrid meets Cordelia Grey, a gal just off the train from Ohio, who came to New York in hopes of meeting her long-lost father.  Cordelia ran away with her best friend, Letitia Haubstadt, now Letty Larkspur, who fully expects to see her new name in lights very soon.  Drama and romance ensue, along with plenty of clothing description (which I've been a sucker for ever since the Baby-Sitter's Club).

I really liked the two different worlds represented in this book: Cordelia and Astrid find themselves in the country clubs and all-night estate parties of White Cove, Long Island, while Letty moves in with three roommates and works as a cigarette girl in a downtown speakeasy.  The upper-class stuff is done well (unsurprising after The Luxe books), but I found myself really loving Letty's life as an every day New Yorker: sharing a tiny basement apartment with three other girls, eating breakfast at a local diner, working all night until her feet are sore, circling auditions in the trade papers.  It's every bit as romantic as Cordelia's new life as a wealthy bootlegger's daughter. 

While I like Letty the best, the other girls are well-written characters, too.  It looks to be a fun, exciting series and I can't wait to find out what happens next (and what was worn when it happens)!

The New Encyclopedia of Modern Sewing

This is what I was hoping to find at Books of Yesterday - it's a sewing reference from 1943.  I'm hoping that it would be useful when sewing from vintage patterns.

The book has some nice basic patterns for clothing and home decor - the decor is a little frilly (well, a lot frilly), but the clothing patterns are good.  There's a great pattern for a basic dirndl that I can't wait to use, as well as some cute, basic apron patterns.

I'm most excited for the "Flossy Touches" chapter, which contains a reference for basic embroidery stitches, as well as some cute ways to combine these stitches.

Also, it has instructions for applique and some sweet, very 40s floral applique templates, as well as monogram templates for all your handkerchiefs, pajamas, and linens.

I think the illustration style from the 40s is so cute, but the way everything has a face is a little funny to me.  A few examples:

And finally, a bit of pre-feminist imagry:

She's an angel, you see, because she made the table cloth, napkins, and the meal.

I've posted more pictures from this book on Flickr, so have a look!

Cover Judging: The Blue Rose

If you ever want to get lost for a few hours (and you live in Logan), I recommend Books of Yesterday.   When you walk in, you'd think it was a normal, if a bit crowded used book store.  And you wouldn't be wrong, if you kept your wanderings to the first floor.

However, if you were to venture into the vast basement, you would find yourself surrounded: books on closely-spaced shelves, books piled on tables, books stacked underneath tables, books strewn about the floor, books hidden in a tiny old storage room.  It's a labyrinth of used and vintage books - the sheer volume is overwhelming.  You could spend an entire day there and still you wouldn't have sifted through half of the paperbacks in the basement.

Yesterday, I went in, hoping to find some vintage sewing or knitting books (which I will discuss later).  I was going to leave after I'd found a fab 1940s sewing manual, but the pull of the Basement was too strong.  Which is why, a few hours later, I found myself sitting on the floor, sorting through hundreds of Harlequin romance novels - five shelves' worth!  There was a dearth of Cover Judging material, to be sure, but I only bought one:

First Glance: I want her hair.  And her coat.  Also, I think I might need color contacts.  This edition was published in 1957, which seems about right, insofar as I'm in love with the fashion on the cover.  Compared to the other passionate embrace-style covers, The Blue Rose is decidedly cute.  It's also part of a trend I noticed: all the pre-1980s books prominently featured our girl on the cover.  Her fella is seen either in profile, as here, or in a smaller background illustration.  It's interesting, because it's the exact opposite now - often, the heroine isn't even featured on the cover, the better for her to be your stand-in.  I'm not sure where or why the tide turned, but it would be interesting to look into.  Anyway.  Score: 4 out of 5

Title: The Blue Rose could be any number of things: a boat used to run away from a domineering father who is arranging an engagement to that awful Percy Danforth; a restaurant where the lovely and quirky waitress catches the eye of a super-strict business man who just needs a little love to bring him to life; an off-off Broadway theater where our girl stars in a sparsely-attended play while a shy fellow sits in the back, holding a rose and working up the nerve to talk to her every night.  I like it when the title inspires me to make up corny plotlines.  Score: 4 out of 5

Back of the Book: 

Oh.  Another girl named Rose.  I think that brings the total up to four.  I'm trying to decide if this blurb is implying that Stephen has some dark, dangerous secret - it does say that Rose "feared" they may have made a "terrible mistake".  And yet the cover is so darn cute!  Maybe Stephen's dark secret is that he is already married, but he keeps his mad first wife locked in the attic, an unhappy reminder of the time he spent in the Caribbean.  And maybe Rose will run away and have some kind of odd relationship with an emotionless minister who wants her to go with him to India, but she'll return to Stephen and find him blinded as a result of the housefire created by his insane first wife.  And he'll be all deformed, but she'll decide to love him anyway.  And maybe that's why we only see his face in profile - because the other side is burned and craggy!  I think I just figured this all out.
But I feel like this story might exist somewhere else . . . Score: 3 out of 5


Final Score: 11 out of 15, qualifying for the Silver Deveraux, but with special awards in Adorability and Styling.

It's Utah Halloween!

Happy Utah Halloween, everyone!

This is my witch costume that I wore to work yesterday.  We had a NON-PARTY social gathering which was Harry Potter-themed - complete with a golden snitch, the Hogwart's house banners, and candles hanging from the ceiling.  I made chocolate frogs for the non-party - unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, but you can buy the molds on Amazon here. 

I threw together my costume the night before: black skirt, shirt, and cardi, nearly every necklace I own, tie-dye scarf, blue tights (which I knew I would wear eventually when I got them for $2 at Target), and my star shoes (which are far too small, but very witchy indeed).  I borrowed my brother's jazz hat and pinned some feathers, lace, and a brooch to the brim - it ended up being the best part.

Iona's closet doors are open again!

I've started missing my flowers, so after an extended break, I've decided to re-open Iona's Closet: Etsy edition! 

At the moment, it's full of all the old favorites - colorful felt headbands and fancy ribbon flower necklaces - but there may be a few additions in coming weeks, so be sure to check in.

In the meantime, stick around these parts and look forward to more sewing/knitting posts, inspiration walls, and of course, more Cover Judging! 
xx, Maren

New Dress Sunday

My new fall/winter dress is done!  (Mostly)

The Grandma Carole Pose - all the 50s/60s-era pictures of her and her sisters show them standing like this, all in a row.

It's taken me so long to complete that I had to wear it today, even though I've not finished the belt. I found some old fabric-covered buckle kits on Etsy and I'm excited to have a ladylike, perfectly-matched belt for this dress.  I just haven't had the time to finish it yet!

The dress pattern itself wasn't terribly complicated - it was all the details that took so long. The pattern I have is made for a gal about a size and a half smaller than me, but I was actually excited to learn about pattern grading.  The article I found most useful was from Threads Magazine - it has a good reference picture for cut lines and a chart with common "spread" amounts. 


This is the first time I've made a muslin, also.  For the most part, I've just done a pin-fitting with the pattern pieces and for simple modern patterns, that's fine.  However, since I had to grade this pattern and transfer the pieces onto muslin anyway, I thought I'd give it a shot.  I was glad I did, because the waistline needed to be let out more and the bust needed taken in (those 50s girls with their tiny waists and big busts!).  Also, the sleeves ended closer to the shoulder than I wanted, so I was able to adjust that and make them into a longer cap sleeve.

The pattern had no instructions for a lining, so I just made a second dress out of lining and attached it at the neckline interfacing.  It ended up working and made the dress feel "finished".  Other time-consuming, but ultimately good things I did: twill tape at the neckline to help the notch lay flat, hand-stitched the hem and the arm openings, and "hand-picked" the side zipper for an added vintage touch. 

The wool gabardine is just the right weight for fall - it's heavy enough to be warm, but it's not so heavy that I couldn't wear this into spring.  I ordered too much, so I might make a skirt with the leftover.  Overall, I'm really happy with this dress - I think it's lovely and I'm proud of myself for learning a few new things in order to make it!

Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale

I love seeing the different editions of well-known books.  Even when they get it wrong (yes, I mean you, The Twilight Saga: Wuthering Heights), it's interesting to see different interpretations of stories I know.  Which is why I love the various translations of Harry Potter that the library owns:

These are the Spanish and German translations of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, respectively.  It's fun to see the different Harrys, but it's so interesting to see what events from the story make the cover.  In the Spanish language version, we see the golden egg that's a clue in the Tri-Wizard Tournament as well as the horses from Beauxbaton.  In the German version, Harry is flying around the dragon, trying to get the golden egg.  (Also, his glasses are that super-tiny, super-cool German style.)

However, the version that's most perplexing to me is the Italian version:

Obviously, wizard chess plays a part in the Philosopher's Stone, but where does ROUS come in?  And why is Harry wearing a rat hat?  And perhaps most disturbingly, why is Harry wearing Slytherin house colors??

The cover is kind of off, but the Italian Harry Potter offers something the others don't: illustrations!

Cover Judging: Jamaican Sunset

From the author of The Pirate and His Lady comes . . .

First Glance: Clearly, our fella is the centerpiece of this cover and I'll get to him in a minute, but first, let's talk about his lady. It's rare that the heroine appears on the cover - even more rare that you can see her full face. Of course, the purpose of the lady in these novels is to be a surrogate for the reader - often you'll find that while her clothing enjoys rich descriptions, her actual features do not. Which is why our girl on the cover deserves some notice: were I to read this book, I would not be able to place myself in her role, as I do not have dark, curly hair nor do I have a lobotomized stare.

Now, on to our hero . . . LOVE HIM! When this book came through, I immediately fell for those well-defined features, accented with the world's best mustache (perhaps those who make it a life pursuit to study mustaches can tell me what this one is called). Not only does his facial hair recommend him, but that hair: falling in dark, sculpted waves past his collar. Clearly, this is a romantic hero for the ages. Score: 4 out of 5

Still in Circulation: Art Nouveau Typographic Ornaments

Some books remain shelved, hiding amongst more relevant or popular titles. Even the well-versed staff are unaware of their existence, though they are Still in Circulation.

Earlier in the week, the cover of this little oddity caught my eye:It may have been the colors, which are even more garish in person. The font also intrigued me - I always pause for interesting or old-timey lettering. It seemed like such a strange book for us to have; most of our books on typography are relatively new, with chapters on Adobe Illustrator and the like. I'm not sure why we've kept it, when other books from its era have phased out. But it turns out, I'm glad it's there.

Isn't she beautiful?

Moving past the hideous cover, the typographic ornaments (aka clip art) are really lovely - and copyright-free, as the intro page informs me!