I read blogs

I’m in a bit of a forties funk at the moment, as you may have noticed. Partly because I’m packing, there are going to be extensive renovation of the plumbing in our house and we can’t live at home for five weeks, starting on Monday. I’m not very happy about that. And partly because I started to read up on makeup history and got a bit submerged in the subject. I will try to pull myself together and write something interesting soon. Meanwhile I would like to point you to my friend Eva’s blog: Evas liv, med sömsmån. You may have seen her previous blog, Om stil, though it was only in Swedish. This one has both Swedish and English text.

Eva is a doctor in history with a special interest in fashion, both very old and not so old. She has a wonderful sense of style and I’m constantly in awe over her sewing productivity, especially considering all the other things in life she has to juggle with. She is also a very nice person and writes very well, so go and have a look!



(The name of the blog is a pun; liv in Swedish means both bodice and life, so the title can be read either as Eva’s bodice pattern with seam allowance, or Eva’s life.)

Guest blogging at Rose Water

Earlier this summer I was asked by the lady who runs the blog Rose Water if I wanted to guest blog in a feature called “Exceptional Vintage Ladies”. I have known her for years on LiveJournal and I was very happy to say yes. It is the first time I have guest blogged and it was great fun writing the post. So I urge you to pop over there and get a little glimpse into my home. Make Rose Water happy and leave a little comment. Go back and read about the exceptional lady for July, Eva Dress!

Du Barry Was A Lady (1943)

Of all the silly 40’s musicals I have seen, Du Barry Was A Lady (1943) must be one of the silliest. I happened upon it after discussing 18th century in the movies with Pimpinett and found that you can watch the whole movie on Youtube. Watching it was a bit of a revelation, because I had seen it before as a child. You see, when I saw Singin’ In the Rain as an adult I was very puzzled, because I had distinct memories of being largely an 18th century movie. Seems I had mixed the two movies into one- Gene Kelly stars in both of them, so perhaps it isn’t so strange. So I had great fun watching this movie!

The plot is very simple. Beautiful but poor singer (Lucille Ball) rejects true love with dashing, but equally poor dancer (Gene Kelly). Instead she plans to marry a newly rich washroom attendant instead (Red Skelton) instead. After a dream sequence where everyone is transported to the 18th century where Ball is Madame Du Barry, everyone realizes (despite that it’s Skelton’s dream) that true love is the most important after all.

A review of #4002 1944 Housedress, Decades of Style

Hello all! My vacation is over and a very nice time was had indeed. But now I’m back and hopefully there will a bit more action on this blog as well. One of my goals this summer, and something I will continue with, is to try to put an end to this terrible back log of sewing projects I have. To just work on one project at the time is not a good idea for me, I get bored and then I do nothing at all. So I have given myself the rule of finishing two dormant projects before I start anything new. I finished the green housedress that I will review some sentences down and I’m almost finished with an 18th century jacket I started a couple of years ago and when I need a pause from that I’m working on a 40’s raincoat with checkered lining. When the pink jacket is done I think I will finish the white washable dress that is at the annoying point of just needing a hem, buttons and buttonholes…

The housedress from Decades of Style was actually the very first garment I cut out for my wardrobe project. Then I got annoyed over something. Nothing important obviously, as I can’t remember what is was, but I didn’t touch it again until this summer.