Hannibal Lecter

If anyone else was watching Hannibal we could momentarily geek out about how great the scene was last night when Abigail Hobbs took a bite of the dinner Hannibal was serving to his guests, looked at it blankly for a micro-second, seemingly realized it was human (having had a cannibal father herself), and simultaneously realized that she now could trust Hannibal with her Dark Secret (tm).

I'm still fascinated by Mads Mikkelson's Hannibal.  He is pure evil, but a kind of dark and enveloping evil that is incredibly seductive in a non-sexual way.  His interactions with other characters remind me of the picture of a leopard sweetly tending to and grooming a terrified fawn.  You know the next picture shows the leopard ripping the fawn's head off, but it's preferable to pretend you didn't see the last shot in the sequence.

Oh look, It's Me Made!

I am a pathological non-joiner.  My Dad has pointed out for years that I'd have more friends and a richer and more satisfying social life if I'd start playing tennis, join clubs and generally get out more.  For whatever reason that's not in my DNA, so of course I've avoided the Me Made phenomenon, even though I enjoy reading other people's blog posts.  This is odd because I nearly always wear Me Made clothes.  Today is a case in point:

Shirt was blogged about a few months ago; bog standard breton knit tee.  This skirt is unblogged because it seemed too "blah" to bother reporting. Yet on review I'm actually pretty stoked on it.  The fabric was a $2.00 remnant from Michael Levin Home Dec, and has a great denim look with a softer and more luxuriant drape.  I'm insanely proud of my pockets, which were a self-drafted detail.  Of course you can't really see them with the tee, ah well!

The facing is a remnant from an old Amy Butler fabric, but no, I'm not undressing at this point of the day, so you'll have to trust me on that.

So, bog standard skirt that I will probably wear to death.  Ok!

My boyfriend found me the most delightful Singer Featherweight, in almost virgin condition.  It is black, but in such good nick that I'm not bothered (originally I'd been gunning for a white one). I'll post some pics.  Latrice!  The sellers had mislabeled it machine in his ebay listing, but alas plenty of Featherweight fiends saw it, so it still ended up going for a healthy price.

My boyfriend also gave me a Winchester 1873 carbine, but I'm never sure how the gun stuff goes down on the sewing blog.  It is a pretty amazing piece so maybe I'll post a pic later.

Till then!

Amy Butler Alchemy dress, or, yet another green dress.

Another green dress. Who knew green was "me?"  This is fabric from Amy Butler's Alchemy line.  These fabrics are specifically for garments, and are fabulous.  This green cotton has the fineness of a Liberty print, really soft but tightly woven.

I'm going to humblebrag for a minute and casually mention that Amy sent me these fabrics herself.  We have worked together and been friends for years.  She does some pretty great care packages... Expect to see more of her Alchemy fabrics shortly.

My only "?" with this dress is that it might be improved with some sort of design element.  I'm thinking a contrast color, or texture.  Maybe piping? Or a contrast belt?  I love fashion, and am a tolerably good seamstress, but I have no sense of design.  What would you add to make this pop more?

I had a terrible migraine for the last few days, so you'll have to excuse the wan expression and tired eyes.  Migraines are my "thing" and they make roughly three days a month utterly miserable.  Oh well.

This is the pattern from BS's April /2013 issue and another great example of why I am a hardcore Burda freak.  It fit pretty well as a straight 38.  I had to shorten the straps as usual, and I also see that the front is a tad too wide.  Next time I'll narrow it a little. But otherwise it fits nicely.  No lining, which is so against my usual sewing rules.  We'll see how it holds up.

Mad Men thoughts of the day:

I hope Megan hires a killer attorney and that she gets away with the apartment, her dignity and eventually her sense of humor (though I suspect that will take a while).  I had hoped that Sylvia would confront Megan with the affair, so that Megan would see the real Don and not idolize the fake one. I suspect Megan will never really understand her husband and how could she when he has no interest in understanding himself.

How despicable is Don now?  I love how he has completely transformed from the magnetic but borderline sociopathic Don of the early seasons into a sad relic of bygone glory.  MM has done a brilliant job of showing how a person can slowly slide from relevance into obsolescence without even realizing it.  Sylvia's dated style mirrors this.  She is a visual reminder of a world that felt more comfortable and predictable for Don.

Thoughts of the day!

Random Questions that need Answers

1) Am I the only one watching Hannibal?  It's sick and creepy but Mads Mikkelson is brilliant.  He has an unreal appearance - it looks like someone sculpted him out of wax with a scalpel.  He's both fascinating and horrifying in a way that makes him perfect as Hannibal Lecter.  I sense this show isn't going to make it to Season Two, which is probably a good thing given since it's basically a prime-time slasher movie, but I'm still sad about its likely demise.


2) Must Cats kill Birds?  My cat brought in a beautiful little yellow songbird today.  It was still alive; I got it away from the cat and held it on my palm till it had recovered enough to fly away.  Then ten minutes later the bloody cat brought it again. This time dead.  Bastard.  I've used claw covers before (the cat sits under the sofa for three days, slowly pulling the "permanent" claw covers off of his claws).  Tried keeping him inside (he yowls till I cave and let him out). Feeding him more (the vet says he's obese). I might try a collar and a bell if I can find one that breaks away easily.


3) Are sewing blogs pushing up the price for good Singer Featherweights?  My boyfriend offered to give me a white featherweight for my birthday, but they seem to be going for ridiculous prices on Ebay.  Is a white featherweight really worth over $400?  **** interesting tidbit **** I used to have a white Featherweight! My grandmother lent me one in 1993, then took it back in exchange for a "better" new machine - a Polish made piece of junk.  How I wish I'd had the foresight to keep the Featherweight, which I'm guessing was eventually thrown out.  I only remember this when I saw the green and white box that white Featherweights come in.


4) Do other people Facebook stalk their frememies?  I go through stages of being fascinated by FB friends who I don't really like that much.  It doesn't feel like a particularly useful way to spend the day but I suspect I'm not the only person scrolling through photo albums and status updates and feeling satisfyingly judgey about other people's blindspots and poor choices.  Scrolling through their friend's FB pages triples the satisfyingly judgey feeling.

5) Great Gatsby, Yea or Nea?

Ellsworth Kelly and Sewing in Vogue

I'm so old that I can remember when Vogue ran fashion stories made up of clothes sewn from Vogue Patterns.  The last time this happened was in the mid-90s, but lately various editions of Vogue have tentatively dipped their toes back into the idea of "sew it yourself."

This month's issue has a small article on a dress that Ellsworth Kelly designed, first in the 1950s (right) and now with Calvin Klein (left).  Apparently he bought lengths of cotton, gave it to a friend (depicted) with strict instructions to sew it to his specifications.  She disobeyed, giving the dress a longer, Dior-ish, look.  Personally I think the dress is way chicer the way she sewed it, but Kelly had a minor conniption,  and forgot about sewing, patterns and clothing (and probably his friend) until now. You can buy the dress for a chunk of change, or make it yourself, with Burdastyles' 1/2013 pattern:

What do we think?  I like the idea of using up small remnants of fabric, but am keenly aware that this could go horribly wrong, like Friday night meatloaf; Lots of random ingredients congealing into a sticky and unappetizing mess.

The new Vogue also had these fabulous sweaters and coats, designed by the Woolmark contest winner.   I adore the coat on the top right.  It seems to be dip dyed, and the effect is fabulous.  Maybe it is time to get a little more creative with my yarning.

Effing Morning Chorus! And Vintage Coat Patterns...

I'm staying at my Mum's house in rural Wiltshire, it's a beautiful, Druidic, standing-stone-ish corner of the world, and every morning, at the very first shimmer of dawn, a thousand song-birds burst into an extravagant, joyous celebration that they've lived through another night.

It's a wonderful, thrilling, soul-stirring confirmation of natural beauty and the joy of life.

The first morning.

After six days, and a realization that no ear-plugs in the world will keep out a flock of trilling song-thrushes, one is thinking dark thoughts about song-bird pie, and aggressive cats.  This shit is loud!

Urgh. Yet not urgh.  I love birds.  And there is something magical about the explosion of nature every morning.  At the summer solstice they start around 4am, and my Mum, when she can't sleep, will walk to the little copse at the end of the lane to be completely immersed in the exuberance.

I'm looking forward to getting home though.  I seem to be stuck in a funny cycle of travel and disjointed disruption.  I have things to do but not much is getting done.  It's time to get back to work and back to a regular life.

Things happen when I'm disjointed.  Last night I was wandering through ebay while watching A British Detective Drama (the only thing ever on TV over here), and somehow I bought three almost identical Mod Coat patterns from the 60s.  Little purchases that tally up to something more substantial.

here's one of them:

And another:

and another:

All photos from Vintage Pattern Wiki I believe

I suspect my obsession with coats is some kind of unconscious acting out about the whole "Southern Cali" thing.  Like if I sew enough winter wear I'll end up living somewhere with a winter again.

Does anyone remember an episode of Oprah where she was advising bankrupt women about their finances? All her guests were terminally cash-strapped or flat-out financially screwed, and O was clearly going to a life-changing, "come to Jesus" sweeps-week moment.  I particularly remember a women whose one huge weakness was craft supplies. She could hardly make rent but compulsively spent at Michaels and Jo-Anns. Oprah had fun with that and I suppose she would have fun with me too.  None of these were expensive but collectively they add up.  But that's another whole blog post.