Saturday, June 30, 2012

June Round-Up

Can the year really be half over? School has been out for a while, and I should probably revisit my school year resolutions list, but in the meantime, have some random links that tickled my fancy this last month:
  • This Cowbirds in Love comic. Cats and Star Wars and clever punning all in one! It doesn't get much better than that. Incidentally, if you enjoy punny comics about geekery and science (Sanjay is in med school, I think?), CiL is awesome.
  • I know this article about JoCo is super old (at least in internet terms), but I still found it relevant, even if I'm just a sewing blogger. I'm really sewing for myself, but I still love seeing what my readers have to say about a particular project. Whenever I finish a big/popular project, I'm kind of ruined for a few days, trying to figure out what to do next.
  • Trying to come up with inspiration for That's Sew Cinematic, I started wondering if there were any big Chinese-American film stars besides Lucy Liu. I don't know how I missed ever hearing about Anna May Wong, but wow, what a lady! Her story is heartbreaking, her outfits fabulous, and now I'm off to the library to find her films.
  • If I could, I would just dream up and make costumes like this for a living. These are astoundingly gorgeous and just out of this world. 
  • I've always thought hatting and millining were the same, so this article was a helpful clarification. And now I kind of want to take a millinery class!
  • This little newspaper clip on preparing to sew made me laugh. I do not try to look my most attractive when I sew! If my husband comes home in the middle of sewing, more often than not I'm in my unmentionables for quick-and-easy fitting. I like Gertie's suggestion of wearing a lab coat, though!
  • For those of you in VPLL's 1912 project, I stumbled across this pdf download of a book on Edwardian-ish-era underwear! It includes instructions on drafting corset covers and the petticoats and the like.
  • For those of you who are into fashion history, I really enjoyed this slideshow of extinct birds dressed in fashions from the year of their demise. Of the birds, I only recognized the great auk, but I was able to place the approximate era of most of the actual fashions. Also, did anyone else think of this gown when they saw the Carolina parakeet? I know it's the wrong year, but it's remarkably similar.
By Brian R. Williams, from here.
  • I really enjoyed reading Brooke's account of what it's actually like to work as a costumer. It's the kind of job I think would be amazing, and it turns out it is, but just with a lot of less amazing times in between the amazing ones. Which is kind of a lot like teaching, actually. 

I've finally finished my most recent sewing project -- a shirtdress! Unfortunately, San Francisco has reverted to its usual gray, overcast, faintly drizzly self, so I haven't been able to get pictures yet. I might have to just suck it up and freeze, though, like so many of you have to do to get Sew Weekly challenge pictures. Please forgive me for being a wuss...living in SoCal for so many years has spoiled me.

Lastly, thank you all for your kind reception of my mom's account of her time as a garment factory worker! My parents are out of town this weekend, but when they return I'll be sure to let her know you all appreciated her story. The fruitfulness of trying to explain blogging and subscribers again to my dad is still questionable, though...

12 comments:

  1. I loved your Mom's interview!

    Also a June item, I thought of you when I saw this: http://ollibird.com/2012/06/27/art-for-the-star-wars-that-i-used-to-know-video/

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  2. Thanks for the random links - lol, I love the one about preparing to sew! When I'm at home, I sometimes don't bother to change out of my pajamas, hehe.

    You would really enjoy millinery! I really need to do more of it myself because it is so much fun when I do a little project like a hat. I was lucky to learn a lot from a hat making expert years ago in a theatre costume shop.

    And thanks for the link back! I'm so glad that you like my little peek into the reality of costuming. =)

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    1. Heh, I doubt anyone dresses up to sew anymore! There are a couple millinery classes here and there that I've seen, but they are on the expensive side. How awesome that you got to learn from an expert!

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  3. Thanks for the newspaper clipping. That is hilarious! I'm a wreck when I sew and my apartment usually is too!

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  4. That photography project in Surrey is amazing! I had never seen here photos - thanks for the link!

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    1. Aren't they incredible? As another costuming blogger I know said, "I want to live in those photos!"

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  5. Have you heard about Michaela Conlin? She's a hapa on Bones, a show in which she works in a lab with a forensic anthropologist. There have been a few great moments when a piece of evidence pops up with writing on it from some Asian country, everyone looks at her to interpret it & she says 'I grew up in America, I can't read Chinese!' I've found it to be a really nice portrayal of a normal person instead of a stock Asian character.

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    1. I hadn't heard about that yet, so thanks! Yeah, I hate it when there are all these assumptions about how connected one should feel to one's heritage, but at the same time I wish I was better at reading/writing/speaking Chinese.

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    2. That's the difference- doing something because you want to & doing something because a stranger expects you to. I wish I spoke Chinese for the enriching experience & the healthy brain benefits of being bilingual, but unfortunately my grandparents didn't teach my mom. I've met Asians & non-Asians who expect me to speak Chinese. The sad thing is how these people think something's wrong with you if you don't speak that language, but at the same time they often don't speak their ancestral language(s).

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    3. Totally agree! That is indeed an important distinction. And I think we need to start marching up to redheads and ask "What are you? Do you speak Gaelic? You know, one time I saw a four-leaf clover!" ;)

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  6. Laura Hollick does some really great costumes too. http://www.soulartstudio.com/wordpress/

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