A Simpler Time

Was it ever really all right to wear giant bowls of fruit on one's hip? And those sleeves! My inner five year old Carmen Miranda is in LOVE.
If this were my size I would totally buy it and make it.
If it is your size and speaks to you, find it here.

Burda Tracing Time

Today I have a rare couple hours to myself, so I'm am tracing a couple patterns that I need to make from Burda's latest issues. The dress on the cover of the latest caught my eye. I am tracing it as a top, as I don't need the long sleeve top option in Virginia in the summer. It must be cooler in Germany than here. They show lots of long sleeved options for summer. (I'd faint from heat stroke if I wore some of their ideas: sequined pants and long sleeved silk high necked tops? In the summer? Really, Burda? It must be a cultural thing.)
Then I have to do an FBA, using my trusty copy of Fit For Real People, adjusting dolman sleeves. It looks pretty voluminous in the picture, so it may not need much at all. Although, on the other hand, that model is a wisp of a thing, whereas I am considerably more voluminous than she is. I'll lay a pattern piece on top of of the traced pattern of a similar top that I have already adjusted and see where I need more room.
The blue fake wrap skirt from last month's issue caught my daughter's eye, (as well as about every other thing in that issue. If you want your daughter to get interested in sewing, show her that issue. Lindsay T says the same. She made a dress for her daughter that is awesome.) My daughter has begged me to make it for her. So I will trace that too. Plus from this month's issue she likes the shirtwaist dress, the two high waist buttoned skirts and another dress. I hope I have enough tracing paper.
The other choices for me are this blue dress
and the red one.

I can't decide which I like better. Mr. Hunting Creek likes the blue one but also expressed appreciation for the red one. (I would also like the lace bedspread, and the diamond necklace in the box but that's not an option. What story are they telling here? Are they lying on the bed contemplating unwrapping that dress because of the fancy diamond necklace?) Their photographers and stylists have an interesting sense of humor. Maybe if I were German I'd get more of their visual jokes.

Don't forget that tonight we will do a drawing for the purse pattern featured earlier this week. Drop a comment on that post if you'd like to be in and sign up as a follower of the blog to be eligible for this drawing and the following ones later this month.
Happy Sewing!

This Should be A Dress Pattern

When I was scrolling through the new patterns, this one caught my eye. I called my daughter over.(She is the final arbiter of all fashions chez Hunting Creek. If she doesn't like it it doesn't get made) She agreed. McCalls 5851 should be a dress pattern, not a tunic.
Wouldn't it be nice in pique with pretty lace on top? Or in a pretty floral? Or in creamy white and even longer as a wedding dress, or any other summer color as a bridesmaid dress? Also I feel obligated to buy any halfway decent pattern that has separate pattern pieces for different bust cup sizes. This sort of gesture should be strongly encouraged.
She and I will make one (or more) for summer to test our theory.
What are you sewing for summer?