



If you like swing style jackets, you may like this one. Think Spring/Summer. Nope not a Winter coat! Carmelo Pomodoro for Vogue Attitudes gave us this one; Vogue 2668, (1991) featuring a jacket and a sleeveless dress with an alluring expanse of back exposed. In the same year, McCall’s gave us 5647; no dress, but a top, skirt and pants in lieu of a dress. However, check out the jacket. Very similar. Cuffs are different and the pockets on the McCall’s pattern are in the side seams. Both are nicely styled swing jackets that will work well with lighter weight fabrics.
Vogue 2782 (dated 2003) and McCall’s 8150 (dated 1996)
The Wedding Dress
I’ve gone through many patterns and I find it fun. You can watch fashion change over time on the pictures of those patterns. And, if you like history and have a good knowledge of history, it is interesting to see correlations in fashion.
When I go through patterns, I can see the different companies competing with each other; similar patterns, just a tad different so as not to be exactly the same. Then, as now, if you catch them you can obtain a less expensive version and I will show you some of the ones I’ve caught.

Seems quality and craftsmanship are in decline these days. Possibly one of the reasons I enjoy sewing and needle crafting. Not only do you get what you want, you get something unique and enduring and something of real value. Handcrafted items include the energy of love usually. And that energy becomes indelibly stamped for the ages.
In a visit late last year to the state of Texas, I met a young woman whom I found very pleasant, insightful, intelligent and artistic. We both shared an appreciation for Kahlil Gibran. We both enjoy working with our hands and being creative. She does crochet, but her stunning and artistic endeavors proved to be quite earthy. And earthy is the operative word! She is into creating stunning pottery.
I truly enjoyed sewing for my daughters. Sewing days were often crock pot or casserole dinners; it helped free up more time for sewing.
We had a lot of fun coming up with different outfits. The television show, “Little House on the Prairie,” was popular at that time and was an inspiration for some of the things we came up with. The Holly Hobbie craze was big too. We made a trip to the historical Virginia City, Nevada dressed in the Holly Hobbie outfits. My youngest daughter was in over-sized ego mode as strangers were asking if they could take photographs of them. An antique photography studio owner approached me and asked if she could purchase the outfits. I used Simplicity 5996. The sewing pattern consists of a dress, pinafore and bonnet. However, instead of elastic at the wrists, I made a band, buttoned cuff. There’s a similar pattern offered by Butterick; Butterick 3186
A few months ago, I wrote about Elias Howe, the man attributed with being the inventor of the sewing machine. When I did research on him I stumbled on a site run by Alex Askaroff of Sussex, England. He has a grab bag of information on his site, but if you are interested in or curious about antique sewing machines, he has quite a bit of information. He also has some helpful information on sewing machines as well. It was a fun site to visit as well as interesting and unusual. I highly recommend his site: Sewalot