Taking Le-Roy 5063 Out on the Town

Back in February, I bought some great fabric while on a trip to Manchester:

Rock n roll cotton!

I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do with it until a few weeks ago, when I got a yearning for a shirt dress. This coincided with buying tickets to go see JD McPherson, who I've become mildly obsessed with (Mr Needles is probably sick of being updated on trivial McPherson facts, whch I do several times a day). The perfect outfit for a rock and roll gig!

I had a rummage through my patterns, and came up with this Le-Roy from the mid/late 60's:

I know it's not 50's, but I made it once before a long time ago, and seem to remember it fit really well; besides, I hate all those rules about eras and so on. Rules are made to be broken!

Here's the finished product:

I added a few touches of my own, just to break up the pattern a bit. I cut the upper collar from a contrasting black cotton:

 And I added little black cuffs to the sleeves:

To finish, I lined the skirt with a simple cotton, and hand sewed around the button placket:

And on the night - the dress was perfect for a hot and sweaty gig, and I'd love to show you evidence of this, but I was so busy having a good time that I forgot to get Mr Needles to take pictures of me in it! Instead, here are a few shots I managed to get of JD and the band:

JD, in a rare non-wailing moment

Jimmy Sutton

And to finish, a puzzling non-sewing incident witnessed by Mr Needles and I while on our way into the venue. There was a bit of confusion on our part, and we mistakenly joined the guest list line, behind this dapper gentleman:

Nick Lowe, former member of Rockpile, producer of Elvis Costello, the list goes on...

Who was the producer of this album:

The Damned's first album, containing 'New Rose', arguably the first British punk single

We heard him tell the young guy in the booth he was on the guest list. 

Booth guy asked him 'whose list?' 

Mr Lowe answered 'JD's'. 

Booth guy asked his name; of course, he replied 'Nick Lowe'. 

Mr Lowe waited patiently while the guy in the booth flicked through various sheets, looking for his name. Meanwhile, I felt like shouting out 'Don't you know who he is?' I was sure someone would recognise him and wave him through! 

Unbelievably, Booth guy came back with the answer 'Sorry, you're not on here' and Mr Lowe moved off to one side, looking dejected. I felt embarrassed for him... I hope he got in because it was a great night. 

I'll leave you with video proof he should have been let in - JD McPherson and Nick Lowe on stage together in Portland. Enjoy!

Take A Stroll Around My Hoard of Patterns...

Pattern tower!

 Ahh...my patterns...where would I be without them?

I've been collecting sewing patterns steadily since the mid 80's, and now have just under 200, the majority of them from the 1950's and 60's. Almost all of them were found in charity shops and junk shops, mostly in the 1990's, before anyone had any real interest in them; as a result, I paid pennies for most of them. 

They are my pride and joy - if I had to rescue one thing if my house was on fire, after Mr Needles, I'd try to carry out as many of these as could manage! They provide so much inspiration, and have taught me so much about cut and fit; and I LOVE a good diagram. They also represent something deeper - they give what I feel is a true representation of what the masses wore, rather than the high fashion, luxury representations we see in costume history books and museum collections. This was the main reason I became so obsessed with amassing them. As part of my degree, I studied Fashion History, and got mightily fed up with looking at the clothes of the wealthy. It seemed to me that we were being peddled a false idea of what our ancestors wore, as the only fashions documented were those of the privileged, and the only pieces that survived were those that were worn little.

But hey - enough seriousness! Lets look at some of my favourites - 

I'm pretty sure this was the first one I bought, from a charity shop in Cambridge:

This was the first 'vintage' dress I ever made, in about 1987; I made the one on the right, minus the collar, out of some plain black cotton.

These are some of my oldest ones, from the 1930's:

As you can imagine, there aren't many around from wartime, but I do like this one, with its special instructions for coupons, etc.:

'Professional dressmakers are reminded that they must comply with the making of civilian clothing (restrictions) orders'

Here's one I've always wanted to make, from the more conservative part of the 1960's:

And then representing the 'Swinging' part of the 60's is this Blackmore Le Roy pattern:

Is that Jean Shrimpton with a small furry creature resting on her head? -

I rarely buy anything from the 80's, but I have one or two. If I threaten to make this one, make sure I get barred from Blogger:

Penguins and Martians! I love this collection of boys' and mens' fancy dress outfits:

And I wonder if there was much call for a Kimono Pattern Service:

Every now and then you come across a promotional insert, like this one for a measuring device/instrument of torture:

Finally, here's one I bought recently from Jaycotts - it's actually new! I'm thinking of making this one sometime soon -

That was a tour around my just a few of my patterns - hope you enjoyed it!