By Dr. Julie-Ann, on November 29th, 2011 In yesterday’s post, I talked about how I want to make some stoles to coordinate with my dresses and suits (when I finally get to them). I mentioned that in Los Angeles, I don’t normally need to wear a coat and I get tired of wearing cardigans. In the comments, Kathy correctly pointed out that a stole just won’t cut it in the northern part of the United States where it actually gets cold and snowy.
Even when I lived in the frozen tundra, I hated wearing coats. Hated them! I just can’t stand all of the extra bulk and weight and they never seemed to go over my suit jackets without feeling like I was wearing sausage casings.
Ingrid Bergman didn’t seem to suffer that fate when she wore a coat over her suit in Casablanca. And now I know why. As the 1930s Hollywood pattern below, available from The Cottage Way on Etsy.com shows, armholes were deeper and the sleeves were much roomier.
 Hollywood Pattern #1905, circa 1930s, Image courtesy of The Cottage Way on Etsy.com We’ll see if I ever take a liking to coats…as time goes by.
By Dr. Julie-Ann, on November 28th, 2011 As I mentioned in one of my Modern Retro Woman blog postings last spring, I want a stole!
In my imagination, I look like this (only blonde):
 This is what I wear when I'm cleaning the house. Donna Reed has NOTHING on me! We usually associate stoles with mink or some other animal fur but cloth or knitted stoles were worn all of the time during the mid-century. Much like a pashima, you might think of them as glamorous shawls.
When I lived in the frozen tundra, I made a giant black velvet scarf with fringe to wear with my coat when I wanted to dress it up a bit. I now wear it as shawl here in Los Angeles when we go out for the evening, but I still love the idea of having an actual stole that coordinates with a suit or dress that I’m wearing. And sometimes, I just get plain old tired of wearing a sensible cardigan when it is too chilly to go without an extra layer but it isn’t cold enough for a coat (which is 95% of the “Winter” in Los Angeles).
Here is a Simplicity pattern for a skirt and stole from 1953 being sold by Out of the Ashes Collectibles. I love that it is for every day wear and not an over the top glamorous gown:
 Simplicity pattern # 3712, from 1953; Image courtesy of Out of the Ashes Collectibles
And I can tell you from experience, making something rectangular is a whole lot easier than making a coat!
By Dr. Julie-Ann, on November 26th, 2011 This week’s adventure of “becoming Marilyn” has made it clear to me that she and I occupy very different planets. And that is probably why she is an icon and I’m not!
Perhaps it is because most of the Google images are from costumes or her looking like a sex symbol, but I really couldn’t find much that I would consider “wearable” in the every day world.
Ah well. It was fun while it lasted.
In her last movie,The Misfits , Marilyn dons work clothes appropriate for the Northern Nevada desert where the film takes place.
 Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable in The Misfits Fortunately for us, the sleeveless blouse was standard fare in the late 1950s and early 1960s. All we need to replicate the look is a pair of jeans that look good on us, some cowboy boots, and the shirt.
 Advance Pattern #7877; Image courtesy of Sandritocat on Flickr.com I doubt I’ll do the shorts and knee socks thing, though…
And thus ends our adventure into Becoming Marilyn-land. Please make sure you have all of your belongings as you step out of the boat and enjoy your day.
By Dr. Julie-Ann, on November 23rd, 2011 Although she was known for being a sex-symbol, Marilyn Monroe wanted to be taken seriously as an actress. In order to play up that side of her, she was often seen wearing more subdued clothing than her costumes when she was with her husbands.
Here is a photo of her walking with Arthur Miller in a black dress:
 Marilyn Monroe walking with husband Arthur Miller
This look of a more modest fitted bodice with a bell-shape skirt can be replicated using this Simplicity pattern in a wool crepe or rayon instead of a special occasion fabric (remember, it is often the fabric choice that determines the garment’s use) :
 Simplicity Evening Pattern; Image courtesy of reclark on Flickr.com
By Dr. Julie-Ann, on November 22nd, 2011
“Better Things for Better Living…Through Chemistry” ~ DuPont Slogan, 1935-1982
 Dupont News About Nylon Advertisement, 1948; Image courtesy of X-Ray Delta One on Flickr.com
When DuPont introduced nylon in the form of hosiery to the world in the late 1930s, American women embraced “the synthetics.” Today, synthetic fibers–such as nylon, polyester, olefin, acrylic, and modacrylic– account for approximately 56% of worldwide demand.
The primary difference between manufactured regenerated fibers and manufactured synthetic fibers is the raw material used. Manufactured regenerated fibers come primarily from cellulose (usually from trees) whereas synthetic fibers are usually made from petrochemicals.
Many people choose not to use/wear synthetic fibers because they are made from petrochemicals, a non-renewable source. And that is fine. I’m not here to tell you which fibers you should and shouldn’t use. I’m going to trust you to make the decisions that are right for you. That said, the amount of petrochemicals used each year to produce fiber is less than 1% of the total petroleum consumed in the United States each year (Sara J. Kadolph, Textiles, 1oth Edition). So, to answer the question posed in the title of this post, synthetic fibers aren’t petroleum guzzlers. In fact, they are actually made from the by-products of making petroleum.
Ironically, the environmental impact of creating synthetic fibers may actually be lower than natural fibers when water use, toxicity, pollution, and recyclability are taken into account (For example, China mills are notorious for polluting rivers with waste water from the manufacture of natural fibers). The truth of the matter is that the process of creating fibers–natural or manufactured–is not an environmentally friendly process. One reason there are very few textile mills left in the United States is because they cannot meet the strict environmental standards without having to charge more than Americans are willing to pay for their garments (there are other reasons, too, such as workers being cheaper overseas).
My purpose for writing this post is not to get people riled up and bad mouthing synthetic fibers. My purpose is that I want you to be informed about the fact that there are no easy answers when it comes to the choice of using synthetic fibers or not. But, realistically, with the price of oil trending upward, the arguments over natural versus synthetic may eventually be a moot point because of the cost to manufacture synthetic fibers.
Perhaps I’m just old and pragmatic. I try to make choices that support sustainability but I am realistic enough to know that I can’t eliminate synthetic fibers from my life completely. I have to do the best I can with the knowledge that I have while continually striving to learn more and do better.
By Dr. Julie-Ann, on November 22nd, 2011 Today is the second day of our playful exploration of this question: What would a nice, middle-class, homemaking, professor-type of a certain age woman wear if she were channeling a little bit of Marilyn?
Most people think of the iconic white dress from the scene in Some Like It Hot, where Marilyn Monroe stands over the subway grate and the dress blows up around her. They also think of her wearing form fitting “wiggle” dresses, similar to the one we looked at yesterday.
But Marilyn also wore suits:
 Wardrobe test
And, so, I offer up this early 1950′s suit:
 Simplicity 1278 Form Flattering Suit; Image courtesy of Patterngate on Flickr.com
What do you think?
By Dr. Julie-Ann, on November 21st, 2011 The much anticipated movie My Week With Marilyn, starring Michelle Williams, opens this week. The studio is offering a Becoming Marilyn Sweepstakes at their Facebook page, through November 27th, I believe. It includes a trip to New York, a makeover, and a $1,000 shopping spree at Bergdorf Goodman (in other words, you’ll be able to get a scarf and some other trinket and then the money is gone).
Like many, I am fascinated by Marilyn Monroe. The constant sadness in her eyes haunt me. I read her autobiography, My Story, and it was obvious that her mental world was crumbling all around her. Her version of her life was later contradicted by her many biographers. My grandfather met her while he worked at MGM and said “she was just too sweet to commit suicide.” He believed there was a conspiracy that resulted in her death.
Everyone has said that she just oozed sexuality and sensuality. I’m not sure that I want to actually ooze sexuality, but at my age, I wouldn’t mind confirmation that “I still have it.” And so, with that it mind, I decided to have a little fun and play with the idea this week of what a nice, middle-class, homemaking, professor-type of a certain age would wear if she were channeling a little bit of Marilyn.
Today’s entry:
I love the top stitching on the yoke detailing and the sensible pockets.
 Butterick 7231
By Dr. Julie-Ann, on November 19th, 2011 After yesterday’s puzzling dress, I decided to go the opposite end of the continuum and share a Vogue pattern couture design that has an obvious opening. I absolutely love the buttons that run all the way along the side front. There is no doubt about how to get in and out of this dress! This design can be dressed up with fine fabrics or made elegantly snuggly with a lightweight wool.
A lot of the New Look inspired dresses from this time period used kimono sleeves. With kimono sleeves, you get a “two-fer” because the bodice and the sleeves are cut out as one piece. You simply sew along the shoulder down to the tip of the sleeve and then the side seam from the waist to the tip of the sleeve. How well you can pull off a kimono sleeve depends upon your body type and how low the bottom of the sleeve hits the body. If the bottom hits too low, it can really add a lot of visual weight and make you look a bit stumpy instead of elegant (sadly, I know this from experience). You can resolve this by redrawing the bottom of the sleeve so it sits up higher and more closely resembles a set-in sleeve.
I think this dress would be perfect for a day of shopping and/or meeting a friend for lunch. What do you think?
 Vogue Couturier Pattern No. 670 from 1952.
By Dr. Julie-Ann, on November 18th, 2011 The days of Kodachrome Christmases are gone. But the photographs of eager children still in their pajamas on Christmas morning are burned into the collective memory of what a typical mid-century American Christmas was like.
Here are some vintage children’s sewing patterns so that you can recreate your own Kodachrome-inspired Christmas!
By Dr. Julie-Ann, on November 18th, 2011 If you’ve been following the Clothes Make Magic series on my Modern Retro Woman blog, you know that the 1950s iconic full skirt that gathers at the waist is not the best silhouette choice for women with “prominent” hips.
The green dress in this illustration resolves that problem by using inverted box pleats. The pleats are stitched down to the lower hip area providing a smooth line but then the pleats release to create the illusion of full skirted-ness.
As I continued to examine this dress, it occurred to me that there is no apparent way this woman can get in and out of the dress. My original thought was that there was a zipper along the left seam because that was common practice in the 1950s. But then I realized that there aren’t any side seams…at least according to the illustration. I’m going to go with assumption that the illustrator took some license and that there are, indeed, some side seams. But then, how did she get the neckline over her head? And back zippers don’t usually go through this type of collar. See the problems?
As for the dress on the right, I love the button opening on the bodice but the illustration makes it look like the skirt was poorly made and that is why it is pulling to the right (and, we won’t even ask what she is doing with her right hand out in public…).
What do you all think?
 Image courtesy of April Mo on Flickr.com
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