Everything but Sewing

Friends, we've been honest with each other since the beginning so why change now?  I've had a busy week full of all kinds of sewing-related excitement, but when it comes to actual sewing, um...not so much.

Cathy's Comeback Dress remains a very gathered skirt awaiting a bodice -- and a crinoline.

 

I'll be honest: when I solicited feedback about it, your polarized opinions left me feeling uncertain.  Should I ignore the flowered-bodice people, or the black-sateen-bodice people?  (And what about Miss Sassy Lassy, who very publicly changed her mind and sounded absolutely 100% convinced both times?)  On Wednesday I even bought new fabric -- a shiny woven synthetic in the exact moss green that appears in the rose print and let me tell you side by side they looked awful.  I'm out $3 and I'm not even sure whom to blame (I hate that).

I fear Cathy may have to go to the show on Sunday in something else entirely, or perhaps not go at all.  Her most recent texts suggest that she did indeed catch her Trailways bus out of Springfield at dawn and should be arriving at Port Authority Bus Terminal sometime in the late morning.  Who knows what condition I'll find her in?

And apropos of outfits, the Vinyls are building a substantial wardrobe that's nothing to sneeze at.  Look what arrived only days ago:





Have I mentioned that Ken and Allan are more narrowly built than Brad, Ben, Grant, and Brett?  They can't really share clothes, apart from a few loosely cut shirts.  Obviously Mattel found Ken's original build too slight for the free-loving, macho Seventies and I get that.  But did Ken have to have bigger feet too?  (I mean, where were they walking?)  Or was the big feet thing just a vulgar inside joke among the doll design team?

Here's Brad, newly attired, and that is a men's outfit, right?  I mean, it was part of the same Ken clothes lot I won on eBay and it fits and all, but I don't know...were men's pants ever that flared in the Seventies?  Could someone look this up please?



Oh, and before I forget: it seems there are more Ken dolls on the way -- this time a donation from a  decluttering MPB reader (which sounds like an oxymoron).  There's nothing this blogger loves more than freebies, but I think I may have to draw the line soon.

Michael has new clothes too.  Debbie's shirt arrived yesterday and friends, the girl can sew -- not news to anyone who reads her blog.  In fact this shirt was so perfect -- cut, color, and construction -- I really just wanted to send it back.  I mean the effrontery of some people.  (AND she had the nerve to tell me don't look too closely at this, don't look to closely at that --  and of course when I did, everything looked flawless.)

Curses!

I don't entirely understand Debbie's motives, but every package she sends (oh yes, friends, there have been others) come laden with all kinds of extras -- spices for Michael, treats for the dogs and, most recently, something for me (it's about time).   I think she's slowly trying to integrate herself into our family unit and I won't say she isn't succeeding.  I'm hoping an open invitation to a NYC weekend on the air mattress will satisfy her.

I should add that Michael loves, loves, loves the shirt -- he's wearing it to the opera tonight -- and only requests that Debbie's next outfit for him include one of these.

Birds of a feather, those two.

As far as my wardrobe goes, yesterday I showed Kenneth King my final Negroni shirt, you know, the one with that creepy floral baby bassinet pattern?  He proceeded to make a few minor corrections to it -- directly on the shirt with me in it -- with one of those "disappearing" fabric pens that hasn't disappeared yet.

At least he didn't autograph me.  Artists!





So there you have it, readers: new clothes for the dolls, a shirt for Michael, fitting adjustments for me, and nothing for my cousin but eight yards of rose-print sateen gathered to a piece of bias tape.

Finally, I cautiously solicit your advice once more.  What do you think of these shoes?  There are all kinds of color variations available nowadays, but 1) do you you think they're too much (style-wise not price-wise) and 2) do you think black and white is the way to go if I am going to go at all?  (They also come in buff suede-and-leather combos.)

Increasingly I seem to be taking my style cues from my Ken dolls and I'm concerned about that.

Seriously, though: men's saddle shoes -- yea or nay?

Ciao for now!