Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Spurn After Reading - The Crazy Daisy 50s dress

What's not to love a dress named Caprice? It makes me think of Capri, where I've never been. What if I wear Caprice on Capri, of course, that would depend on whether I could fit this dress in all its fluffy wonderfulness in my carry-on luggage or if I would have to pay to pack (not stuff) it in something considerable larger. But even if this dress never made it off the North American continent, that would be ok, as long as I wear it. Let me amend that: as long as I make it. I just go the 1955 instructions in the mail the other day, after I won it on eBay. It calls for woven edge silk organza ribbon, 10-12 150-yard spools and Morell L'Opera 6-7 balls in color to match the ribbon. Now I'm in a thrifty mode these days when it comes to knitting or crochet and crochet calls for tons of yarns, not unlike this project, but Hancocks has spools of narrow ribbon on sale for like 77 cents right now. Maybe that would work for me and my checking account. That would be just one part of my task. The other part would be to make about 600 two-inch double petal daisies on a Crazy Daisy winder. That would actually be easy to do, especially on a slo-mo no. 22 bus pacing through a post-game Cubs crowd at the intersections of Clark and Addison Streets. I'd probably be done with most of those petals by the time I'd reach my home. Really, I think 600 would go quickly if I just set my mind to it. Somehow, I see this dress as as wedding dress, and I'm not getting married. Not even close. But who needs a wedding to wear a dress like this? It would make a pricey trip to the grocery store more tolerable (our Cook County sales tax just went up). I'd be so busy getting compliments that I would have trouble getting all my coupons in order for the cashier! Who wouldn't like to have such troubles? I would.

Anyhow, this post is going to be super-sweet and short. If you know of any nice and not too expensive 1/4-inch ribbons that might work for this project, just let me know. I need like 1,500 yards worth. If you're interested, in the latest poll results, here there are: 66.7 percent of you have extra large fabric collections; 33.3 percent has what they consider small. Congrats to both groups! I belong to the extra-large collection group. If you're keen on vintage patterns, Woodland Farms Antiques is having a sale.

7 comments:

Shay said...

would ribbon yarn work? Hobby Lobby has it on sale just about every other week.

(btw I have..somewhere..a copy of a late 1940's wedding dress from a British magazine with the bodice made entirely from these daisies).

Mary Beth said...

Shay, I think ribbon yarn would work...as long as it's 1/4 inch wide...and I can make those daisies to gauge (2 inches wide). I'd love to see that 40's dress. I love those old knitting patterns with the daisies in the yoke of a two-tone top. Yummy!

Shay said...

Well...if you've got one locally, take a look at this week's specials. Moda Dea ribbon yarn is on sale for $1.99.

http://www.hobbylobby.com/site3/weekly/entire_ad.cfm?menu=1

Shay said...

Oops. Not Moda Dea, Yarn Bee. That's what I get for relying on memory.

Shay said...

and furthermore, it's furry.

(I checked it out on my lunch hour today).

Mary Beth said...

I looked at the flyer and saw that the yarn is furry...that would be different! However, I'm not driving out to the one Hobby Lobby in our area which is miles away. It's either Hancocks or Jo-Ann Fabrics, by golly!

Gretchen the Household Deity said...

What a wonderfully extravagant project! (I mean in terms of time, not money.) You'd have to wear it to the grocery store, but somehow I think it would rebel if you weren't also to wear gloves and maybe a wee little cloche. I am too impatient for the reward to undertake something this complicated, but I love to see others do so!