Best Purchase, Worst Purchase?

Friends, apropos of recipes for a happy life, I think it's essential for us to be able appreciate our successes and forgive our mistakes.  We're always doing the best we can with the information we have at the time, and yet how many people continue to punish themselves for errors of judgment made in the past even though it makes them unhappy?  I know I do!

Remember when you started sewing, how many items you needed to purchase in order to get started?  Relying as I did entirely on the beginner sewing book, Sew Everything Workshop, I accumulated a number of things recommended there that turned out to be a waste of money.  But what did I know?  Fortunately, these were minor notions, like the magnetic seam guide pictured up top.  I don' t think I've ever used that thing, I mean, what's the point?  The measurements are on your throat plate, and even if they're not, you can mark your seam allowance measurements with tape.  Please don't tell me you use one!

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about good sewing purchases and bad, my best and my worst.  There are so many of each, readers!

Here's a good purchase, my Black & Decker Digital Advantage iron.  I've used this iron regularly for two solid years and only once did I have a mishap, when it dripped water on my taffeta dress -- and even then it was entirely my fault: I hadn't let it fully warm up to the setting I'd selected; when it does, it beeps.  What a pity that the model has been discontinued and none of the new Black & Deckers are garnering positive ratings on Amazon.  If this one died I'm not sure what I'd do.

UPDATE: It looks like it's back in production -- and more expensive.



You're probably tired of hearing about my Brother 1034D serger -- another good purchase.  Readers, rest assured I do not receive any compensation for plugging this wonderful machine on my blog (though I'm not entirely closed to the idea, Brother).  This serger is easy to use, very well priced, and has a well-earned reputation as being a workhorse.  Even though I generally try to avoid buying new things, I have no regrets.



Which leads us into the topic of bad purchases -- in fact, the worst purchase ever.  That would be my vintage Huskylock 535D serger, shown here in its semi-permanent, last-stop-before-dumpster home at the back of my not very large closet.



Readers, please understand that I blame myself more than Huskylock for the endless frustrations this machine has caused me.   I bought it used on eBay knowing next to nothing about sergers, and it arrived without a manual, a presser foot or a thread stand (well, the telescoping antenna was intact but that's it).   It took me a week to track down the parts I needed and get the thing threaded, and longer to balance the tension.  Again, I was in the dark about serging.  When I finally got it working, I tried to serge over some denim flat-felled seams and....well, let's not even talk about it.  Basically, I blew $100 and countless precious hours of my life, but I learned something: don't bother with sucky old sergers missing essential parts -- ever.



The saddest part of it is, I STILL can't manage to get rid of it and this is where the happy life/forgiveness thing comes in.  I should just donate it to the Salvation Army with a taped-on sign that says As is, or For parts only, or For masochists only.  For all I know, the serging equivalent of Rain could repair the darn thing and be happy to have it.  The other option is to put it outside on the curb and run.  It's taking up precious closet space that could be used for so many other unloved, impossible-to-get-rid-of items.  I can't look at it without thinking, You idiot -- and I'm not talking about the serger. That Mickey Mouse phone was no prize either but I digress.

Getting back to the positive, here's another good purchase, my vintage Singer buttonholer.  Not all Singer buttonholers fit low-shank straight stitchers so if you're in the market for one, make sure you're getting the right model.  They make lovely buttonholes and are very easy to use -- and fun in an old-timey way.





Here's another good purchase, my Pfaff 30 sewing machine and table.



I paid $40 for this machine and I use it all the time, or I did until the plug snapped off.  I really should rewire the whole thing.

Back to bad purchases, this flat-felling foot.  Why did I bother?



Finally, there is the category of Jury's Still Out.



I am sorry to say that my Elnapress has not proven to be the life-altering ironing miracle I had been led to believe by a certain MPB reader who knows who she is and fortunately I'm not the type to hold a grudge   Kidding aside, I love the idea of the Elnapress, only I never use it.  It takes up more space than I really have, it takes a long time to heat up and even longer to cool down.  Maybe someday it will prove its worth --  like when I'm interfacing concert costumes for the entire Von Trapp Family.

Also in the JSO category...





But let's stick to sewing.

Friends, time's running out and I need to know: What is your best sewing-related purchase and (juicier fun, let's face it) what is your worst, the one that keeps you up at night and has you cursing fate every time you look at it?

Let the self-forgiveness begin!

MANNIX: THE FIFTH SEASON coming July 5

Coming to DVD this summer is the fifth season (1971-72) of classic P.I. series Mannix, starring Mike Connors and Gail Fisher:

The popular, long-running detective drama returns to DVD! MANNIX, the show about a tough and cynical private investigator, stars Golden Globe winner Mike Connors as the title character. Mannix is a hard-boiled and gritty detective who constantly defies rules and regulations and is able to take all the fist fights, high-speed car chases and bullet wounds that come his way in stride. Collectible 6 disc-set includes all 24 action-packed fifth season episodes.

Related:
Rock out with MANNIX!
Mystery TV Themes: MANNIX
Opening Theme: BARNABY JONES
Opening Theme: PETER GUNN
Opening Theme: THE ROCKFORD FILES

Have A Good Fried Egg And Have A Good Friday 2... HH(:

Making a Ginger Rogers Dress

What can you say about Ginger Rogers that hasn't already been said on a million other sewing/vintage style blogs?  I'll try to come up with something. I've actually written about her a few times, early on, here and here.

Growing up, I adored Ginger Rogers and the more I learned about her the less I liked her.   Aside from her politics -- don't get me started -- she apparently wasn't much fun to work/be/live with.  As recounted by someone I knew years ago who performed with her in Hello Dolly, she was very grand and very cheap, at least by that time in her life. 

But let's not let facts get in the way of fiction.  On screen, especially in the late-Thirties, early-Forties (her heyday), Ginger was wonderful fun.  Working women, especially, identified with her.  You always knew, whatever part she was playing in the film -- and she was usually a shop girl or dancer -- that she'd worked hard to get where she was.  Nothing had been handed to her, and she was tough, which endeared her to struggling Depression-era audiences.



And how lovely she looked.  Obviously she didn't dress herself, but she wore clothes beautifully, having been blessed with a lean and lithe dancer's body.   The films she made with Fred Astaire at RKO are classics and her on-screen contributions are equal to his, especially in the later films.  When they dance, I watch her.

Whatever her personality quirks, Ginger Rogers endured; she started in movies in the Twenties and was still working in the Eighties.  I saw her live at Radio City Music Hall in 1980 in her nostalgic one-woman (and a zillion effeminate chorus boys) show, and I remember being very entertained by it.  She even autographed my program!

Cathy has been begging me to make her a Ginger Rogers-style dress and I'm kind of eager to make one too.  The styles are easy to find: nearly any late-Thirties secretary dress from a pattern company like Hollywood or DuBarry fits the bill, and I recently found one that had a lot of the elements from the dress pictured up top, which Ginger wore in the Pick Yourself Up number in Swing Time, one of the very best of the RKO Astaire-Rogers musicals.

Here's what I recently bought on on Etsy:

Another shot of the Pick Yourself Up dress:

If you inspect Ginger's dress (you can click on it to supersize) you'll notice it has a fitted midriff yoke.  I may or may not try to recreate that.  This Hollywood pattern, currently for sale on Etsy, has a similar yoke, but I will not pay $35 for a vintage dress pattern.

Ginger's skirt is pleated and it seems to wrap across the front, below the midriff yoke (or does it?  If you inspect the top photo you'll see it looks like the layers overlap for additional fullness; in the video below not so much).  What do you think a dress like that was made out of, silk?

Anyway, this is what I'm thinking about sewing next, or soon, though things could change, as they sometimes do.

On an unrelated note, if you haven't contributed your recipe for a happy life on yesterday's post -- or you'd like some good instructions for whipping one up this weekend -- please have a look.  Some wonderful comments -- and a lot of wisdom -- were contributed.

Thoughts about Ginger/the Ginger dress?

Happy Friday, everybody!

Ginger as I saw her:



In her prime:

Exclusive... "At 85 She Never Looked Better" ...Marilyn Monroe 85th Birthday Celebration With Special Guest MM Photographer and Friend George Barris.... Andrew Weiss Gallery, 179 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills (:

George Barris with one of his legendary photos of Marilyn Monroe

Friends Marilyn Monroe and George Barris celebrating her 36th birthday on the set of the ill fated George Cukor/20th Century Fox film "Something's Gotta Give".  Sadly, this would be Marilyn's last birthday.









The Gallery's Judith Khakshouy, Andrew Weiss and Lily Yu

 George Barris is surrounded by (left) the Gallery's Rachel Colon and Lily Yu and to his right, daughter Caroline Barris & friend Len Glasser

Caroline Barris, George Barris, Peggy Russell and Len Glasser

The Hollywood Times' Bee Beyer and Peggy Russell



 Mdivani Monroe (right) of Zee Trenz TV and associate  Diana - you can see their great video coverage at http://www.ladieswholunchtravel.com/ (:



Rachel Colon and Judith Khakshouy

Princess Barbie and Shirley chat while doggie Angelica Houston listens in

Amy Condit, Leah Peterson and bf

Lily Yu and legendary photographer George Barris(:

A Birthday Greeting from Marilyn's half sister Berniece Miracle written in the 1950's courtesy of the  Scott Fortner Collection




 

Last nite the Man of the Hour was legendary photographer George Barris and the Lady of the Hour was his friend Screen Icon Marilyn Monroe at the Andrew Weiss Gallery in Beverly Hills.  Back in 1954 George photographed Marilyn when she was on location for Billy Wilder's "The Seven Year Itch" in New York City.  Many of his photos of her standing over a subway grating have become iconic images as well as the photos he took of  her in 1962 which were the last ones taken of the star before she died in August of that year.  Accompanied by my friend,  his daughter Caroline Barris and friend Len Glasser, George greeted the press, mingled with friends, well wishers and Marilyn fans.  He holds his memories of Marilyn in the highest light and always has a good word to say about her.  "I saw her picture in the newspaper and thought she really had something....  I went to the location where she was filming.  I was in the building where they were shooting and she was leaning out of the window and I started snapping...  She must have heard the shutter sound of the camera and then she  turned around, laughed and said  'I'll take a dozen' "....   Yesterday would have been MM's 85th birthday.  Besides the beautiful photos of MM the gallery also features birthday cards to Marilyn from fans around the world to celebrate her 85th.  The Marilyn Remembered fan club  worked together with the gallery to coordinate the card campaign  and the outpouring of love and sentiment for the late star is very touching...  It is clear that her star is shining as bright as ever...  Happy Birthday Marilyn!  Love, HH(:

"She was a nice sweet girl" recalls Barris.  The photo above was taken at the wrap party for "The Seven Year Itch" in New York at the St. Regis Hotel in 1954.

P.S.   About 3 years ago I hosted and produced a popular talk show trilogy about Marilyn featuring colleages and friends that knew her -  George wasn't able to join us on them but  I'm happy to say that they were widely seen on TimeWarner Cable and have been watched worldwide via the internet at http://www.harrisonheldstarmedia.com/ .  If you haven't yet seen them yet click Video at the top of the page to view.  Enjoy!  More shows are in the works.....  (:  

A never before seen photo of Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell and Production Associate on location for "The Seven Year Itch" directed by Billy Wilder.

Recipe for a Happy Life

Friends, let's not talk about sewing today.

I've been thinking a lot about the Alexander McQueen exhibit I saw on Tuesday, and why certain professions seem to create so much apparent unhappiness -- or attract those with a strong propensity for it.

It does seem that there's something about fame -- and grasping for it -- that creates misery.  The list of celebrity drug addicts, early deaths, and public breakdowns is a long one, and not just in the performing arts.

Wasn't it Nietschze who said that nobody who understands fame would want to be famous?

Certain fields attract those who are prodigiously talented, and their talent becomes the primary way they're valued.  People can't see beyond it (or beneath it).  Yet we all want to be accepted for who we are, not how well we perform or how much money we earn -- or can make for someone else.

Do you think -- based on what you've read or what you've experienced yourself -- that the field of fashion has more than its fair share of miserable people? 

I think any industry where competition is cut-throat and pressure to produce (artistically or financially) is tremendous, is bound to make people unhappy.   Fields that are focused on appearances, moreover, are apt to attract people who share those values.   Since aging is a part of life, professions that focus on chasing youth are not going to be healthy ones to grow old in.

It all comes down to learning how to love oneself, not for our talent, but for our simple existence.  We have to be OK as we are -- which doesn't mean we don't want more for ourselves, but rather that we don't need more to feel worthy. 

I think we love our pets more easily than we love ourselves.  We don't withhold love because our child is short, or fat, or not extraordinary as defined by the outside world.  We love our children unconditionally, at least until they start talking back to us.

Wise readers, how do you make your lives life meaningful and fun?  I know many people struggle with health or relationship problems and all sorts of personal setbacks, and yet still cherish life.

Is celebrity a recipe for misery -- or  are those who seek the spotlight the most emotionally needy to begin with, and therefore likely to be unhappy regardless of what they do?

A balanced life can be difficult to achieve today without consciously creating it.  I know many people whose professional ambitions have swallowed up their personal lives to the point where they have no time to pursue other interests or even cook for themselves.

The people I know, primarily from my past, who were the most achievement oriented have not turned into particularly loving people, alas.

Please share your recipe for a happy life with us today.  Take all the space you need.

Alexander McQueen show at the Met

Friends, I have neither the skill nor the familiarity with the subject to write a valid critique of Savage Beauty, the Alexander McQueen show at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, which I was fortunate enough to see yesterday.

I'm also not the right person.  Asking me to review the McQueen show is like sending Doris Day to review a Metallica concert.  (I actually had to ask Michael, who's sitting beside me at the moment, to give me the name of a heavy metal band, which only proves my point.)

Everybody has a dark side, I suppose, and Alexander McQueen's was apparently very dark.  He killed himself last year.  The Met cashes in on this, and the exhibit -- sponsored by the Alexander McQueen fashion house (owned by the Gucci Group), American Express, and Conde Nast (publishers of Vogue) -- has an exploitative, death-culty feel, though it certainly burnishes the brand.

Savage Beauty showcases approximately 100 of McQueens dresses -- mostly gowns -- and a wide array of accessories: hats, shoes, and jewelry, and many beyond categorization.  They are extraordinary costumes -- the types of outfits you see Lady Gaga wear in music videos. They are only distantly related to what I (most people?) would consider fashion, i.e, what people actually wear or how they aspire to dress. 

Clothing displayed in a museum exhibit is usually couture, which is custom-made for extremely wealthy clients -- red carpet stuff.  Opulence abounds.  And most runway shows these days are more about theater and garnering headlines than fashion. McQueen was a master of this kind of luxurious spectacle.

To me, the show is too big and, like a bad movie, hammers home its themes lest you miss the point: through much of it, macabre-sounding music plays in the background; the lighting is dark, the mood creepy.  Throw in some animatronic figures and row boats, and you'd be in the Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion rides at Disneyland. 

And just like a Disney ride, you empty out directly into the gift shop, where you can buy the book, the T-shirt, or some postcards.  Ka-ching!

See the McQueen show for the extraordinary use of unusual materials, including duck feathers, human hair, and every sort of S&M leather fetish accessory.  Enjoy the spectacle.  Expect to rub elbows -- if not more --with hundreds of other somewhat dazzled (dazed?) tourists.  Wear comfortable shoes.

When you're done, treat yourself to a trip to the Central Park Zoo, an ice cream cone, or maybe a ride on the carousel.  You'll need it.