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.

In which I discuss Rain and The Great British Sewing Bee

I am currently on a last minute trip around various ports of call in Europe with my Dad.  Let me clarify that I am not a secret Russian oligarch, or Bernie Ecclestone's third daughter.  This is all rather unexpected, but my father's favorite uncle is turning 90, having a last big blow-out party, and hence here we are.

A friend did point out recently that my life looks incredibly glamourous, indolent and somewhat ridiculous on Facebook and blog.  It doesn't feel quite so over the top in real life.  But yes, I see her point.

Let me also point out that it is currently raining, raining, raining.  We are in a very gorgeous lake resort, and right now the lake appears to be falling out of the sky.  Which works for me in a way; we LA types are starved for interesting precipitation events.

So that's rain discussed.

On to the Great British Sewing Bee.

I know that GBSB has been widely discussed in blog world.  I enjoy it for all the sewing related reasons that everyone has mentioned.  I'm also fascinated by the glimpse of self-effacing Britishness that I'd more or less forgotten about since moving to the US.  It's almost pathological!  I can't tell of it is a genuine lack of belief in one's self, or just that they were raised to think self-deprecation is politer than self-confidence.  Interesting.  I'm longing for an unexpected burst of arrogance from one of them.

And the presenter... I want to boot her off the set.  There's a little twist of something that doesn't sit well with me, like she can't understand why anyone would sew when they could be off getting their bangs trimmed.  Why have a presenter at all?  The two experts more than have the situation under control, and you can see how utterly irked they are by her.  Or better yet, have a non-professional home sewer as the presenter.  Maybe a blogger...?

That's my two cents for the day!

Thoughts on Mad Men?

1) Was that Tea Leoni in a dark wig?
2) Last season I suspected Betty was lying about being cancer-free.  Are her bizarre rape fantasies and sudden hair color change evidence that her behavior is being affected by a tumor?
3) How devastated is Megan going to be by the end of this season?
4) How much do we love Sally's snotty, arrogant teenage self?
5) Urgh. What a terrible period in fashion!
6) What was Don's magical experience in Hawaii?
7) Did anyone catch the Doctor's wife's Singer sewing machine in her bedroom?

Speaking of Hawaii....

We are staying in the most perfect retro-Mad-Men hotel on the Big Island.  My absolute favorite thing about our hotel is that the walls are decorated with beautiful, hand-sewn, Hawaiian quilts.  They are almost impossible to photograph, but I gave it a shot.

Active Seniors

My boyfriend calls this the corner of our house the "Retirement Home for Active Senior Sewing Machines."

I've never been a collector, but I seem to be accumulating sewing machines on a weekly basis.  The Singer is my aunt's 99k.  Alas the case was rotting away, and couldn't be saved.  Since it's very rare to find a case without a machine I'll have to come up with a clever solution if I want to sew with it (the 99k only works if it is in a case or a table).

The green-ish machine is my boyfriend's grandmother's New Home.  I've blogged before about how unassuming yet powerful it is.  I never used it because it was screwed into a very unstable table.  I'll use it more now I can simply set it on my sewing table.

And of course I am absolutely crazy to find a Featherweight.  They are all over ebay but I refuse to pay 200 bucks for one - or am i nuts?  What's a good price for a decent Featherweight?

I guess I can't give him s*** anymore about his collections of antiquated stuff; I'm clearly catching up with him.