Showing posts with label McCalls Sewing Book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McCalls Sewing Book. Show all posts

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Don't wear tiny vertical stripes or your pictures will look far out!

Today, I wore a white shirt with tiny vertical black stripes. Wow, the pictures came out crazy. Only one was even half way decent. The rest looked like I was wearing some sort of psychedelic moire fabric.
I didn't go anywhere today, so my outfit was very simply a shirt and jeggings.

Shirt: Dillards
Jeggings: JMS Walmart
 Yesterday, I tried on some Not Your Daughters Jeans. I was impressed with the fit, but not the price. They did look good and I haven't seen any dark brown jeans before that I liked. I want to think about it a couple of days before deciding about them. Have any of you ever worn any NYDJ's? What did you think of them.

Today's advice from the McCall's Sewing book is about what to wear to sporting events. Since this is football season, I thought it would be timely.
"For Sports:
Sportswear in our modern sense covers both clothes for sporting events and casual clothes in general. Naturally, participating in special sports requires special costumes. What you need for golf is wrong for tennis. As a spectator at sports events, choose comfortable, sturdy-looking  clothes. Separates, simple dresses and classic suits are always appropriate."
Did women in the 60's really wear suits to football games? I remember that as a student, the only time we really dressed up for football games was for homecoming.  And what the heck are "sturdy looking" clothes?  From crowd photos I have seen lately, hardly anyone wears very nice clothes to sporting events.  Do you attend sporting events and if so, what sturdy-looking clothing do you wear?

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Inspiration - Cameron Diaz and Some Fun advice from 1963

Today, I tried to put together a look reminiscent of one I saw on Cameron Diaz on InStyle.com.

Russian Look/ZUMAPRESS.com via
Of course, her jacket was Chanel and mine was Chico's and I am fairly certain she is half my size, but I think it came out fairly well.  I know my whole outfit cost less than her jeggings.
Jacket: Chico's - it has silver threads woven in it which look really pretty in the sunlight
Top: Chico's
Jeans: Faded Glory Walmart
Shoes: Think Sandals

Cameron also didn't have two Airedales who wanted to help with the photos.

Harry on the left and Jada on the right. Both thought something smelled really good on me.
Probably smelled scents from TJ's Burger House where I ate a salad for lunch,
but no doubt some burger smells landed on my jeans.
After looking at these pictures, I realized that I have gotten used to seeing myself in jeggings which make my legs look much smaller. These wider leg jeans look quite different, but they were the only ones I had that were a similar color to Cameron's. 
 
Yesterday, I went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store and bought a "McCall's Sewing Book."  It was from 1963 and as I started reading it, I realized just how much things have changed since then. Perhaps not the basics in how to sew, but definitely on fashion in general.  I plan to write a few more posts about some of the information in it but today I would like to share a couple of things.
 
In the first part of the book, there is a section called "Building A New You."  The "Figure Check" section asks you to "First study the general effect you present to the world." As in whether you are tall, short, fat, thin, droopy shoulders, and general posture. The statements that made me laugh are: 
"Are you well proportioned, or do you bulge in all the wrong places? Are you tall enough for your width?" 
I don't recall ever hearing any advice like this before. How do you figure out if you are tall enough for your width? Is there some magic mathematical formula? They didn't share that, but I am guessing I need to be a couple of feet taller.
 
One bit of advice they had in analyzing your appearance was this:
Because it is difficult to see oneself as one really is, don't rely on a mirror. A snapshot or two ... will give you a better answer. Flaws never seem quite so realistic in a mirror as they do in a picture."
I am not sure that I would agree that you should look for flaws, but I do know that a number of bloggers have said that a picture gives a much different view of an outfit that does looking in a mirror.
 
There were several other funny bits of advice as well as some interesting sizing charts in the book that I will share in the coming days.
 
I am planning on updating my blog list soon. If I don't have your blog listed in my "Interesting Blog" list, please let me know and I will add the link to your blog.