Monday, 31 January 2011
Yellow Tracing Paper, Bill Cunningham et al.
Friends, the excitement begins tomorrow, and if you're like me, you're already quivering in anticipation of our Men's Shirt Sew-Along. Might I suggest a long walk and/or a cold shower?
Today I'd like to share some additional flea market finds to keep your mind on other things. First, do you know Bill Cunningham, the long-time NY Times photographer who rides through the city on a bicycle documenting fashion trends for his On the Street feature in the the Sunday Styles section?
Well yesterday I found a wonderful vintage copy of a book he published in the Seventies call Facades. It's made up entirely of photographs documenting more than two hundred years of women's fashion modeled by celebrity photographer and (current) nonagenarian Editta Sherman, also known as the Duchess of Carnegie Hall. For a period of many years, Bill collected antique and vintage clothing and accessories he found cheaply in second hand stores and the like (those were the days) and then Editta would model them for him in front of a building of similar vintage as the outfits. It's a wonderful book, not least of of all because Editta is neither young, svelte, nor conventionally beautiful; just charismatic, playful, and gorgeous to look at.
Of course, I immediately thought of a more conventional beauty (Didn't you?) who can also be found strolling the streets in the fashions of yesteryear, albeit new interpretations of same.
Sub sole nihil novi est, right? More pics from Facades here, and you know where to find Cathy (over in the MPB archives, on the right).
Readers, unable to resist the pull back to the Love American Style days, I also bought a few more of those $1 patterns:
A more serious purchase, in anticipation of tomorrow, was yellow tracing paper, a 50 yd. roll of which I picked up at the local art supply store for about $10. I've used drafting paper to draft a few slopers, but I have never traced a pattern before -- do you believe it?
Well I've learned how. While it takes a bit of time and focus, it is not hard. Nearly all the vintage patterns I've used are one size only, so I might trace the pattern either to preserve it or to make adjustments to it. But if you're starting with a multi-sized pattern (like nearly all contemporary patterns), tracing allows you to copy the pattern in one size while preserving all the others, should you ever want to make it in a different size.
This would have been very handy with my vintage Vogue toggle coat pattern, for example, which is quite rare. It never occurred to me: I cut the Small and Small it shall ever remain. I will be tracing my Negroni pattern.
So as you can see, I am already learning new things and the Sew-Along hasn't even started yet.
Which reminds me: one minor caveat before we begin.
I was checking out our Flickr group yesterday and I detected the distinct aroma of locker room. Friends, perhaps for the first time in Sew-Along history, a large number of our participants are men and the male-identified. Therefore I must request that we all observe a few basic rules:
a) Ladies, please do not walk around in a state of undress; b) Gentleman, the same goes for you; c) No smoking and please refrain from wearing heavy perfume; bath splash is acceptable; d) If you must exchange intimacies unrelated to men's shirts please take your comments to your own blogs and/or Flickr pages; e) Always leave the toilet seat in the down position. Signed, the Management.
Please get lots of fresh air and exercise today if possible and of course a good night's sleep is a must: We're going to need all our energy and mental focus in the days ahead. You might even want to sleep alone for the next few weeks if you catch my drift.
See you all on the morrow, patterns and scissors in hand!
"Rock Box" Track of the Day: The Blind Boys of Alabama, "Way Down in the Hole"
"'Rock Box' Track of the Day" is a series of weekday posts about each of the existing songs that are streamed during the "Rock Box" block on A Fistful of Soundtracks (4-6am, 9-11am and 3-5pm on Mondays and 5-7am, 9-11am and 3-5pm on Fridays). Each post provides info on a different track from the "Rock Box" playlist and points out the movie or TV series moment where the track is so effectively used.
Song: "Way Down in the Hole" by The Blind Boys of Alabama
Released: 2001
Why's it part of the "Rock Box" playlist?: The gospel group's cover of the Tom Waits tune was selected by Wire creator David Simon to be the theme during his show's brilliant first-season opening title sequence, which Andrew Dignan astutely described in a Museum of the Moving Image video essay as a sequence that "announces that The Wire is not a kicking-down-doors-and-busting-heads kind of cop show. The compositions are often off-center or partly out-of-focus, conveying world weariness and tedium on both sides of the divide."
Each subsequent season of The Wire would feature a different version of "Way Down in the Hole" in the titles. Season 2 episodes opened with Waits' original version, season 3 eps opened with a Neville Brothers version that was commissioned for the show, season 4 eps kicked off with a version that was also recorded for the show and performed by Domaje, a group of Baltimore teens, and season 5 eps opted for a cover by Steve Earle, who had a small role on the show as Bubbles' AA sponsor Waylon.
The Blind Boys version--the first piece of music that ever appeared on The Wire--was also the last existing song that was featured on the show. It accompanied the montage that concluded the series finale "-30-."
Song: "Way Down in the Hole" by The Blind Boys of Alabama
Released: 2001
Why's it part of the "Rock Box" playlist?: The gospel group's cover of the Tom Waits tune was selected by Wire creator David Simon to be the theme during his show's brilliant first-season opening title sequence, which Andrew Dignan astutely described in a Museum of the Moving Image video essay as a sequence that "announces that The Wire is not a kicking-down-doors-and-busting-heads kind of cop show. The compositions are often off-center or partly out-of-focus, conveying world weariness and tedium on both sides of the divide."
Each subsequent season of The Wire would feature a different version of "Way Down in the Hole" in the titles. Season 2 episodes opened with Waits' original version, season 3 eps opened with a Neville Brothers version that was commissioned for the show, season 4 eps kicked off with a version that was also recorded for the show and performed by Domaje, a group of Baltimore teens, and season 5 eps opted for a cover by Steve Earle, who had a small role on the show as Bubbles' AA sponsor Waylon.
The Blind Boys version--the first piece of music that ever appeared on The Wire--was also the last existing song that was featured on the show. It accompanied the montage that concluded the series finale "-30-."
John Barry (1933-2011)
My favorite element of the 007 movies--besides the women--is the score music. John Barry, who died earlier this morning at the age of 77, wrote 11 of those 007 scores and made them so enjoyable and listenable outside the context of those movies. It's hard to listen to Barry's rousing and cool On Her Majesty's Secret Service main title theme without going up to a mirror and kneeling and pretending to aim a gun--just like what Danny once did on Hustle when he rehearsed a heist to the tune of Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme blaring from a stereo.
I'm sure Barry would have rather been remembered for more than just Bond, so I'll mention that my two favorite non-Bond pieces of score music by Barry are the entire score from 1965's The Knack... And How to Get It and the theme from the Roger Moore/Tony Curtis buddy detective show The Persuaders!
"Another of the great composers has left us," tweeted Bear McCreary, who's currently scoring NBC's The Cape. "I'm cranking up The Black Hole in your honor."
Besides The Black Hole (an example of great opening title theme, schizophrenic and uneven movie--when I was a kid, I thought the Black Hole coloring book was more fun), I'm also fond of Barry's themes from The Ipcress File, The Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy and Game of Death.
Barry also appeared on-screen as orchestra conductors in a couple of movies he scored. He cameoed in the 1968 Michael Caine heist flick Deadfall, which Fox Movie Channel aired last week, and The Living Daylights, his final 007 project (the above photo is from his Living Daylights cameo). Barry's musical output dried up in the late '90s (his last screen credit was the 2001 WWII codebreaking thriller Enigma), but British musicians kept alive his work by sampling some of his film themes. Mono sampled an Ipcress File cue in 1996's "Life in Mono," Fatboy Slim crafted a memorable hook out of the guitar riffs of Barry's first major film theme, the 007-esque Beat Girl theme from 1960, in 1998's ubiquitous "Rockafeller Skank," and Robbie Williams introduced the You Only Live Twice theme to a new generation in 1998's "Millennium" (seven years later, another of Barry's Bond themes got a similar introduction to a new generation when Kanye West sampled "Diamonds Are Forever" in "Diamonds from Sierra Leone").
Vanity Fair's intriguing profile of Barry from two years ago offers great insight into what made Barry tick and why everyone from his Out of Africa boss Sydney Pollack to Michael Caine thought of him as a man with the Midas touch, especially when it came to music.
I'm sure Barry would have rather been remembered for more than just Bond, so I'll mention that my two favorite non-Bond pieces of score music by Barry are the entire score from 1965's The Knack... And How to Get It and the theme from the Roger Moore/Tony Curtis buddy detective show The Persuaders!
"Another of the great composers has left us," tweeted Bear McCreary, who's currently scoring NBC's The Cape. "I'm cranking up The Black Hole in your honor."
Besides The Black Hole (an example of great opening title theme, schizophrenic and uneven movie--when I was a kid, I thought the Black Hole coloring book was more fun), I'm also fond of Barry's themes from The Ipcress File, The Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy and Game of Death.
Barry also appeared on-screen as orchestra conductors in a couple of movies he scored. He cameoed in the 1968 Michael Caine heist flick Deadfall, which Fox Movie Channel aired last week, and The Living Daylights, his final 007 project (the above photo is from his Living Daylights cameo). Barry's musical output dried up in the late '90s (his last screen credit was the 2001 WWII codebreaking thriller Enigma), but British musicians kept alive his work by sampling some of his film themes. Mono sampled an Ipcress File cue in 1996's "Life in Mono," Fatboy Slim crafted a memorable hook out of the guitar riffs of Barry's first major film theme, the 007-esque Beat Girl theme from 1960, in 1998's ubiquitous "Rockafeller Skank," and Robbie Williams introduced the You Only Live Twice theme to a new generation in 1998's "Millennium" (seven years later, another of Barry's Bond themes got a similar introduction to a new generation when Kanye West sampled "Diamonds Are Forever" in "Diamonds from Sierra Leone").
Vanity Fair's intriguing profile of Barry from two years ago offers great insight into what made Barry tick and why everyone from his Out of Africa boss Sydney Pollack to Michael Caine thought of him as a man with the Midas touch, especially when it came to music.
Matlock: Season One (1986-1987)
Matlock - The First Season
Episodes:
01. "Diary of a Perfect Murder" (pilot)
02. "The Judge"
03. "The Stripper"
04. "The Affair"
05. "The Seduction"
06. "The Don: Part 1"
07. "The Don: Part 2"
08. "The Sisters"
09. "The Cop"
10. "The Angel"
11. "The Professor"
12. "Santa Claus"
13. "The Chef"
14. "The Author"
15. "The Rat Pack"
16. "The Nurse"
17. "The Convict"
18. "The Court Martial: Part 1"
19. "The Court Martial: Part 2"
20. "The Therapist" (First Appearance of Cassie Philips)
21. "The People vs. Matlock"
22. "The Photographer"
23. "The Reporter"
24. "The Doctors"
Related links:
Opening Theme: MATLOCK
10 Senior Sleuths on TV
150+ Mystery Series: 1841-2010
Retirement is Murder: 10 Senior Sleuths
Still Kicking: 10 More Senior Sleuths
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Last Sunday before Sew-Along stream of consciousness
Friends, have you ever seen the original version of The Thomas Crown Affair from 1968? I bought a used copy of the DVD at the flea market yesterday, having heard about what a stylish movie it is, and it is indeed quite glamorous. Faye Dunaway is fetching in styles familiar to any fan of vintage Sixties Vogue Paris Originals.
Lovers of taupe nail polish, this is the movie for you.
Otherwise it is something of a snoozefest, though not unwatchable, especially if you're a Steven McQueen or Michel Legrand fan (The Windmills of my Mind won the Oscar for Best Song that year). I read that the Persol sunglasses McQueen sports in the film were auctioned off recently for something like $60,000, which is a lot of money for a pair of sunglasses even today.
Anyway...
Other fun flea market finds include three yards of this vintage cotton fabric for $2.
I was originally attracted to it because it had a very distinct right and wrong side and I thought it would be perfect to use for my Sew-Along Negroni muslin.
It was a little stiff originally but after laundering and ironing it has softened up a lot. Does it look too much like something you'd pull out of a Dixie cup dispenser? Should I save it for something better?
I also found some wonderful old patterns for just $1 each. I picked up three but I may go back for more today. A vendor had an entire boxful of largely Seventies patterns that had likely belonged to the costume designer for Eight is Enough.
Have you ever in your life? The last time I saw this kind of foreshortening was in a Mannerist painting. And just think what a shirt in that vintage-airplane-and-hot-air-balloon pattern would cost today -- if you could find it.
Words fail me.
And then there's this.
If there was ever a Junior pattern that tacitly acknowledged the reality of teen pregnancy, I think this is it. You'll be relieved to know that this pattern includes matching "bikini pants."
I know more than a few of my readers were dressing this way back then, and probably well into the Eighties. At first I thought that girl was holding a yarmulke, but on closer inspection I think it's a 45 rpm record, no doubt Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves or Paper Roses.
Speaking of Marie Osmond, did you know she has her own Marie-branded Janome sewing machine? Apparently she's been sewing her whole life, quilting in particular. Who knew?
I have a soft spot in my heart for Marie Osmond I won't lie. Any Marie fans out there?
Oh, before I forget! -- If you have a few minutes: remember that video I posted yesterday of an Eighties-era commercial for the Nevele hotel in the Catskills? Well if you really want to laugh -- or cry -- read some of the feedback left by some of the Nevele's last guests on Trip Advisor (12 pages of them).
The titles of the reviews are a bit of a giveaway, from "Pathetic and Disgusting," "The Worst," and "Remember the Shining?" to the more nuanced, "No!!!!!!!!" Honestly, I nearly peed my pants reading them, so go now just to be safe.
Friends, it's time to get moving -- much planning in the works.
There is still time to join our Sew-Along Flickr group if you haven't already and I am delighted to see that you're getting to know one another there. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if some real and lasting relationships came out of all this or at least a hook-up or two, given the amount of activity under some of the discussion topics. Fortunately I'm a very laissez-faire moderator.
Does everybody have their fabric and pattern(s) at the ready? Hope so!
NOTE: You have only one more day (January 31) to get the 20% discount on the Negroni pattern offered at the Colette website if you're just joining us. More details here.
Happy Sunday, everybody!
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Sexy Valentine's Day Sewing or "Get a Room!"
NOTE: The following post is for ADULTS ONLY. All minors please return to your mines.
Mature friends, it should come as no surprise that Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and I was reminded yesterday (rather abruptly some might say) that a few of you may have joined the Men's Shirt Sew-Along with the expectation of having a completed shirt to give to your beloved as a Valentine's Day gift.
Readers, while we may be tying things up by Februrary 14, it's entirely possible we'll still be ripping out our placket seams on said date. I don't want to rush things.
Therefore I feel it incumbent upon me to come up with some alternative gift ideas for those who insist on sewing for the holiday rather than just forking over $10 for a Whitman's chocolate sampler.
As of this writing, all the patterns below are for sale on Etsy though no doubt they will disappear quickly, so don't delay.
For me, nothing says I love you like his and her terrycloth wraps. For those needing his and his or hers and hers, simply make two of the same pattern piece -- Easy!
A lovely evening no doubt awaits this committed couple, probably in a room like this.
For those too embarrassed to purchase the pattern above, a somewhat more demure version can also be had that includes a two-piece bonus bikini!
As you rekindle the romance in your relationship, you'll certainly want to stroll the quaint byways of remote Catskill villages in his and her gauze drawstring pants. Given the recent weather, bring gloves.
Girls, something sexy at bedtime is a must, but sexy can mean many things these days. For the bold...
For the more demure, what can be lovelier than a vintage negligee?
The vintage man will certainly want a pair of these:
Covered up with this perhaps:
Oh, Rex!
For the more hirsute, there's this cuddly ensemble. When did we stop tying our robe -- 1976, 1977?
Readers, I hope this has been a help to you. A shirt makes a lovely gift but it isn't terribly romantic, is it?
Would any of you like to share your favorite Valentine's Day memories with us today? Does it involve a sewing machine? I hope so.
In closing, are any of these patterns sitting in your stash, waiting for the appropriate occasion? The time is now.
Happy Saturday, love birds!
The Catskills goes Disco...
Friday, 28 January 2011
"Rock Box" Track of the Day: Harry Nilsson, "Jump Into the Fire"
Song: "Jump Into the Fire" by Harry Nilsson
Released: 1971
Why's it part of the "Rock Box" playlist?: It's featured in GoodFellas. Some IMDb research revealed that the track is also part of Bottle Shock, The Girl Next Door, A Good Year and a CSI: NY episode.
Which moment in GoodFellas does it appear?: It's one of six (!) existing songs in the unforgettable nine-minute "May 11, 1980" sequence that reportedly cost Martin Scorsese an arm and a leg... and a wing.
Last week, the music of Harry Nilsson--from his cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'" that was made famous by Midnight Cowboy to the charming original songs he penned for Robert Altman's Popeye--was the subject of an A.V. Club "Gateways to Geekery" piece. Below the article, several commenters cited "Jump Into the Fire" from Nilsson Schmilsson as the best part of GoodFellas.
The epic and apocalyptic-sounding "Jump Into the Fire" drum solo by Derek and the Dominos member and Gotham City police commissioner Jim Gordon is a great match with the cocaine-fueled descent of gangster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). In the frenetic sequence (hey look, it's a young Kevin Corrigan as Henry's wheelchair-bound brother--and there's Isiah Whitlock Jr. not saying sheeeeeeeeeiiiiit!), GoodFellas music editor Christopher Brooks mashed up the kickass Nilsson track with The Stones' "Memo from Turner," a live version of The Who's "Magic Bus," The Stones' "Monkey Man," Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy" and George Harrison's "What Is Life?" ("Ooh, that was an expensive scene," recalled Brooks in a fascinating GoodFellas oral history that GQ published last year). But the best piece of music during that sequence is silence. I'm referring to the ominous silence that surrounds Lois (Welker White), the smug and perpetually stoned babysitter/drug mule, as she pesters Henry about driving her home to pick up a lucky hat she can't fly on planes without, which leads him to his arrest. I love how Scorsese chose to leave that moment--the moment right before Henry gets pinched--unscored.
"He's one of the few people who knows how to match music and picture. It's not just about taking a great record and just slapping it up in there," said Scorsese fan Spike Lee in GQ's oral history. "That scene is directed, obviously, by someone who's used cocaine! Simple as that. And used it a lot. And if you've never tried cocaine, which I haven't, now I know what it feels like, after watching that scene."
All the other "Rock Box" Tracks of the Day from this week:
Aloe Blacc, "I Need a Dollar"
Spandau Ballet, "Gold"
Brother Noland, "Coconut Girl"
A Flock of Seagulls, "Space Age Love Song"
Released: 1971
Why's it part of the "Rock Box" playlist?: It's featured in GoodFellas. Some IMDb research revealed that the track is also part of Bottle Shock, The Girl Next Door, A Good Year and a CSI: NY episode.
Which moment in GoodFellas does it appear?: It's one of six (!) existing songs in the unforgettable nine-minute "May 11, 1980" sequence that reportedly cost Martin Scorsese an arm and a leg... and a wing.
Last week, the music of Harry Nilsson--from his cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'" that was made famous by Midnight Cowboy to the charming original songs he penned for Robert Altman's Popeye--was the subject of an A.V. Club "Gateways to Geekery" piece. Below the article, several commenters cited "Jump Into the Fire" from Nilsson Schmilsson as the best part of GoodFellas.
The epic and apocalyptic-sounding "Jump Into the Fire" drum solo by Derek and the Dominos member and Gotham City police commissioner Jim Gordon is a great match with the cocaine-fueled descent of gangster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). In the frenetic sequence (hey look, it's a young Kevin Corrigan as Henry's wheelchair-bound brother--and there's Isiah Whitlock Jr. not saying sheeeeeeeeeiiiiit!), GoodFellas music editor Christopher Brooks mashed up the kickass Nilsson track with The Stones' "Memo from Turner," a live version of The Who's "Magic Bus," The Stones' "Monkey Man," Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy" and George Harrison's "What Is Life?" ("Ooh, that was an expensive scene," recalled Brooks in a fascinating GoodFellas oral history that GQ published last year). But the best piece of music during that sequence is silence. I'm referring to the ominous silence that surrounds Lois (Welker White), the smug and perpetually stoned babysitter/drug mule, as she pesters Henry about driving her home to pick up a lucky hat she can't fly on planes without, which leads him to his arrest. I love how Scorsese chose to leave that moment--the moment right before Henry gets pinched--unscored.
"He's one of the few people who knows how to match music and picture. It's not just about taking a great record and just slapping it up in there," said Scorsese fan Spike Lee in GQ's oral history. "That scene is directed, obviously, by someone who's used cocaine! Simple as that. And used it a lot. And if you've never tried cocaine, which I haven't, now I know what it feels like, after watching that scene."
All the other "Rock Box" Tracks of the Day from this week:
Aloe Blacc, "I Need a Dollar"
Spandau Ballet, "Gold"
Brother Noland, "Coconut Girl"
A Flock of Seagulls, "Space Age Love Song"
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