what's up pussycat?

Street fashion is going feline.

(from top left, stockholm, munich, mexico)

Pop Quiz #474 pt.2

The answer to the quiz is in two parts, both included here. First I'll give the answer, including what the multiude of marks implied on the second photo and then I have some comments on all the responses.

Part One:

The blue hash marks are related to the digitizing process (CAD). If patterns are made by hand as these were, they're entered into the system via digitizing. I did say this was arcane and I'd only seen it in one plant. As the person who digitized there was not a pattern maker or grader, the hash marks were placed to indicate where along the pattern edges she was to input a point for the computer to read it. On straight edges, you don't need any points entered, just corner to corner. In fact, having no hash marks on a line implied the line was straight; it also saved digitizing time. It's best to not digitize straight lines because the computer can draw them more exactly. Curvy edges need more hash marks and readings to draw the curves well. That's the first part of the answer to part one, but first:

Is it required to place these marks along the edge? I'd say not. If the person digitizing is a grader, pattern maker or someone who is very nit picky, you typically don't need to make markings. Digitizing itself though, is a lower level skill. If the work environment is heavy, why pay a higher wage pattern maker to do it, especially if there's a lot of digitizing to do? A pattern maker would get annoyed having to do something like digitizing all day long. They'd be underutilized. If it's a slower paced environment, sure, the pattern maker and/or grader could do it.

Now, the unnecessary multitude of blue hash marks on the second pattern piece (below) sent a clear message. Everyone who saw those marks bust out laughing.

The results are in . . . .

Lulu asked her blog readers to vote for their favorite vintage websites. And the winners are...

Dorothea's Closet Vintage
Sweet Cherry Vintage
Dandelion Vintage
Vintage-a-Peel
Denisebrain
Daisy Fairbanks
Damn Good Vintage
Vintage Secret
Fast Eddie's Retro Rags
Sydneys Vintage Clothing

'Old School' vintage rocks!
Thank you to everyone who voted for Dandelion Vintage. There are some great sites on the list.

Stylin' 8 year old

My kids just started camp, and a friend was saying that her now 8 year old daughter was mortified to still be carrying a character backpack sending my friend on a futile search for a girlie bag that wasn't too juvenile, but still youthful, and as per her daughter's request different from everyone else's bag. I believe her exact words were, "I have to have my own style mom!"
I ran right home, and e-mailed my friend a link to the Lug Mini Puddle Jumper in bubblegum pink.

Made from nylon, the bag is light enough that an 8 year old is only limited by the weight of her own possessions (though all that High School Musical stuff, hair accessories, pencils, and tchotchkies can get heavy!).
The bag has lots of pockets for all those aforementioned tchotchkies, as well as a cosmetic pocket with it's own mirror, and one of the most brilliant features of all, an insulated self cooler compartment. Perfect for bottles of water, snacks, and lunch. Her mom is considering one in a more grown up grey for the beach, because the cooler compartment is great for temperature hating electronics like a Blackberry, iPod, or iPhone...it's not just for kids.
The only drawback is that it is not a backpack, but the 8 year old liked that it was more grown up.
The Lug Mini Puddle Jumper in pink (or grey, or black, red, turquoise, or green) is $52 at Deva Shop. Get an extra 15% off at checkout for the month of July with the code "July08".

Fight the Powder? Not Anymore.

I don't know why I bought Clinique's Almost Powder Makeup. Well, that's a huge lie. I do know why: I bought it because the salesgirl was wearing a lab coat which made me believe anything she said, and she said that buying this powder would change my life. She also waved a free gift in front of my face and said it could be mine if I pre-ordered the powder (it has been documented here before that I have the willpower of a particularly impulsive Jack Russell Terrier).

And so, despite the fact that I have never bought or liked powder makeup, I became the owner of an allegedly life-changing compact full of it.


This poor impulse purchase languished in my makeup drawer for quite sometime until a couple weeks ago I realized that my usual tinted moisturizer was not doing so well in the summer heat.
The color didn't match my darker skin tone and the liquid formula was routinely transforming into a sweaty sludge.

Panicked at the prospect of choosing between no skin protection in the searing heat and spending another $30 on makeup, my mind flashed to the lonely green compact. It wasn't liquid, and it was already paid for. Perfect.

I brushed some on over my sunscreen and while it didn't save the polar bears, it kind of did change my life: it was light and flattering and evened my skin tone beautifully. It didn't turn into sweaty sludge on contact. It didn't clog my pores. It didn't make me look like Sean Patrick Flanery in Powder, which was a huge plus. (In other news, I just realized that Sean Patrick Flanery's initials are SPF--coincidence? no. way.)

Perhaps it's only so great because it's Almost Powder Makeup rather than Powder Makeup, but whatever the reason, I've been wearing it almost every day (heh, heh, see what I did there?). I'm pretty sure I'll go back to tinted moisturizer in the winter (the idea of scraping powder onto my ashen January skin is enough to give me nightmares), but for now, I'm quite happy with my excellent, impulse-purchased complexion.

Vanity sizing: generational edition pt.2

Apparently, our attempt to inflate the egos of the public has reached new lows; we're after babies now. My first generational edition was about geriatrics and whether pre WW2 women in Japan would describe today's clothing sizes as "vanity sizing". Today's generational edition is about infant's wear. This was the quote I found that brought this idea to mind:

Max now weighs 14.5 pounds. And yet, due to baby vanity sizing, he is wearing NB in the picture I took this morning of him in a white long sleeve onesie, brown pants, and a blue cabled sweater. All are labeled newborn. And he is 12 weeks and 2 days old.

Sizing to the mean (what "vanity sizing" really is) is an interesting question in infant's apparel. In many respects, the expression is the exact opposite of adults. Specifically, as wealthy people tend to be thinner than average, expensive designer fashion runs truer to "size" (smaller). However, it's the opposite with infant's apparel. In infant sizes, it's babies born to wealthier parents who are larger. In other words, while the median size for lower income adults is larger (than that of wealthy people), the corresponding sizes for lower income infants are smaller as baby size is an expression of general health.

LiLo has Peter Pan Legs & Man Feet

Scrolldown!

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These pants go way far too beyond skinny jeans. I barely recognize them as being denim (don't they kind of resemble a blue heather fleece?) And then we get to those sneakers. Lindsay looks like her feet belong on a teenaged boy. That ensemble is an insult to her fantastic patchwork handbag.

By the way, I was out of the fashion game for a while, and now cannot find this bag anywhere after a day's research - can you name it or the designer?