my secret robot army

Vintage tv

2012-02-23T18:42:00.001+11:00

I have become completely addicted to two 1940s television series: Bomb girls (a Canadian drama set in a munitions factory) and Land Girls (BBC nostalgia exercise). Both make the work look a little like a picnic but the costumes are dreamy and I’m awfully fond of the characters. My own vintage soap operas! Yesterday we picked out some new glasses for me. As I can’t live without them we thought it was time I got some in a more vintage style. We were going to SpecSavers but after spending an hour and a half there, getting my eyes tested and being fitted with faulty then incorrect contact lenses, we went to a much nicer optometrist in Elwood. Two weeks until we pick them up! No sneak peeks. We also collected Kim’s new reading glasses – in a late 1940s / 1950s style. And he looks gorgeous in them. Wedding dress Plan C arrived. It’s my grandmother’s ball gown from the 1930s. Burgundy embossed velvet in immaculate condition. Wedding dress Plan A still hasn’t been sorted. Nor has Plan B. But it wouldn’t be a war wedding if things weren’t done in a rush. In other scary news – the bank ate our money. They assure us we’ll get it back in two days. In the meantime things are a little scary. Good thing we’ve stocked up on cat food!- Toodle Pip!

The girdle - yay or nay?

2012-02-20T19:20:00.001+11:00

Well my pretty What Katie Did girdle arrived and I took it out for a test run. I'm not sure if it's a success or not. I couldn't find any reviews of it online so in the interests of sisterly support I thought I'd let you know how I found it.You can ride a bike in it.This is a must for me. Sure there are comfier things to ride in but it's not that bad. My wide legged jeans are certainly a whole lot worse. No drama in the girdle at all. Unless it's 40 degrees. It's quite comfy.Once on, I didn't really notice it too much. It's a bit like having a hug. Nice and snug but not restricting at all. You can certainly move around in it.The fit.I bought a size 16. I'm exactly the measurements they suggest for this size. BUT, I suspect it would be better if I were a bit fatter. I expected it to give me a smooth line under a dress and, to be honest, I think it bulges out a little when there's not enough of me to stretch it tight. Ha! A reason to put on more weight!Sitting down.This looks bad. I think the problem is the boning. It's gotta curve somehow when you sit down, and with my girdle it curves outwards not inwards, if you get my drift. Makes me look lumpy where there ain't no lumps. Sure, under a slip and a cotton dress who's to notice. But I got this to wear under crepe and I'm not sure that's going to work. The evidence.Well I never thought I'd be posting an image of me in my underpinnings online but it's helpful to see what things look like on a real girl - not a burlesque star!

Some of those lumps are my French knickers. Girdle plus French knickers = fail. Oh and then there's the issue of going to the toilet. I haven't got that one quite sussed yet!. So I spent the day dying for a cup of tea but too scared to have one! It can be done, it just takes time! Toodle Pip!

February 19 1942

2012-02-19T19:22:00.001+11:00

My grandad (mum's dad) Keble Stephens spent his war laying telegraph lines and setting up signals stations from Fremantle to Darwin. Most of the time being spent in the middle of nowhere in Western Australia. During this time he - most illegally - kept a diary. While he was away his new bride, Connie, moved back in with her parents, spending only the weekends at her new home. She regularly sent him long letters and parcels of food.He and his crew were given 12 months rations then set off in trucks into central WA and headed north, sleeping in cinemas and shearing sheds on the way. They passed plains of 6 foot termite hills, deserts of spinifex before the river gum plains and billabongs of the Kimberley. They got about in shorts and not much else (41 degrees!) Spent their time shooting bush turkeys or roos for dinner or prawning in the billabong. They used their grenades to catch fish. Made cakes with crocodile eggs. Learnt how to throw a boomerang from the 'boongs' and 'nigs'. (In later years he annotates his diary to apologize for the terms, but that was how they spoke then.) They caught a Joey and kept him as their mascot. Came down with 'dingy' - dengue fever. Got up early and had siestas after lunch. Endured the wet season - no mail, no rations got through by donkey - but waterlillies cover the billabongs. Planted a veggie garden. Played bridge with the station owners. Were wakened by Japanese planes flying 'reckies' ( 'Tojo's hear! Wacko. No damage. 13 bombs') Battled the flies ('the flies are beyond belief. There are literally millions of them. They crawl into your nostrils, on your lips and into your ears. The moment a morsel of food is exposed it turns black with flies. What a joint.') Played basketball with American medic units. Drank beer in Darwin (pub sign: ' no beer served after 4 bombs'.)Eventually they moved on to Melbourne, spending time at the Dugout Allied Services Club - which I believe was downstairs at the Capitol Theatre in Swanston Street. War's end and he marched rough the streets of Melbourne in the Victory parade before finally, after weeks of waiting, caught a train home to Perth.- Toodle Pip!

Valentine's Day

2012-02-15T17:57:00.001+11:00

Because it's not all about the wedding! We don't really do Valentine's day - though I did get a special bunch of flowers. But lately I've been thinking that I really need a love heart in my life. Look at Tuppence H'appeny, who made herself a special V day dress based on one worn by Ginger Rogers.I've been oohing and aahing over these.

I'm pretty sure I need something like this! - Toodle Pip!

Flowers

2012-02-15T17:27:00.001+11:00

I popped into the local florist on my way home from work. They're always lovely and when I popped in last year they were really relaxed and said they could get me what ever I wanted for the wedding. And what I wanted were water lilies because that's what my nanna had. Turns out I can't have whatever I want. I can have roses, gerberas, lilies or orchids. To which I say meh! But that's ok because mum suggested her old Fitzroy florist, Vasette.

They were super professional and will send me an email photos next week. I'm supposed to send them pictures of the kind of thing I like. Which is now giving me a headache because all bunches of flowers look beautiful! I'm a fan of the picked from my garden / shoved in a jar look. And kim doesn't care what flowers i get (apparently it's a girl thing) so now i have to make a decision all on my own... And you know how well that's worked for me so far. Expect a poll soon.Toodle Pip!

1930s dress

2012-02-14T17:27:00.001+11:00

Made from a late 30s pattern but cut to a more 1940s length. 30s dresses are really long! I took over 7 inches off the hem to make it just below the knees. I hand finished this with invisible stitching which I have to say is my best ever. Buttons are vintage from l'Uccello. Made while I was on my holidays. Very proud.Kim continues to organize his part of the wedding most efficiently. I'm still waiting for fabric samples before I can order my dress. Bit nervous making! And I'm pretty sure Kim is going to look more glamourous than me. Wedding registry is sorted. Must go to florist soon!

Crafternoon

2012-02-12T17:25:00.001+11:00

Just home from a crafternoon tea at the library. It was BYO and the ladies brought some amazing projects. So much talent and such a willingness to share and admire. I love the handcrafting community. I know that I wouldn't be sewing now if it weren't for the online community that shares their skills. It was awesome fun and all they could talk about was doing it again. Yay! Now so tired I could cry.- Toodle Pip!

Nowhere near organized

2012-02-07T19:01:00.001+11:00

My young man has been super busy with wedding plans. Busy researching, busy shopping and, really, because I've had a sneak peek, busy looking pretty damn natty. I've done nothing. I did just get around to ordering this:

Not the bra bit (much as i'd like a What Katie Did vintage style bra, the thought of shopping online for a bra before a wedding just fills me with fear and dread and I just don't think I'm up for that kind of stress and palaver). But I do need a girdle that isn't black. I'll be wearing a slip and all but just in case, I must still be ladylike and I'd hate for anyone to see my black garter belt. Plus, a girdle pushes you in and out in all the right places! Because we're busy busy saving for the wedding we're not shopping for anything else. But I think these 1930s style dance shoes are part of my future. Aren't they gorgeous! How Ginger Rogers are they?!

Toodle Pip!

Our hols!

2012-02-04T18:14:00.001+11:00

- Toodle Pip!

Holiday plus!

2012-01-30T18:30:00.001+11:00

We motored down to mum's place the other day. It's a loooong drive. We stopped for tea in Geelong and we will never be stopping there again.

Bogans and traffic jams worse than King's Way. Mum's place was great. Many types of cake and biscuits, saying hello to the horses and the chickens, doing quizzes and watching the tennis. And eating the most ginormous fish and chips at the beach. Mum did us a roast lamb too. Yum! We also found a great place in Warrnambool for tea - Brel et Piaf. No photos yet. Imagine beautiful beaches, cows in a paddock and a country garden. And the cats were all fine with us going away except Lyle got into a fight and has an abscess and George nearly purred himself senseless when we got home. Tired now. Only one day of holiday to go...Put a deposit on wedding rings today!- Toodle Pip!

Happy new year!

2012-01-24T12:55:00.001+11:00

Happy Chinese New Year! We celebrated with an absolute feast! And here's the first Chinese American film star, Anna May Wong. So hard to chose which picture to use - she's just so beautiful!- Toodle Pip!

New dress!

2012-01-22T19:09:00.001+11:00

New seersucker dress. Made from mail order pattern 1st Prize 1767. Mail order patterns come with virtually no instructions. Just one or two pictures and a lot of arrows. This was my first time sewing scalloped edges and my first hand blind stitched hem. It's such a lovely airy dress to wear. I'm in love with seersucker and the fabulous sleeves. The yoke was a tricky one so I'm terribly proud of my handiwork.

Finished this just in time to take tea with my ladies Nicole and Jo. A lovely day. I need more lady friends! My eyes aren't closed in the photo - I'm looking at a pussy cat!

If I had a billionty one dollars...

2012-01-21T11:25:00.001+11:00

I recently discovered how to use a thimble. Daft, I know. Turns out I've been hand sewing all wrong. I picked up some tips from a super serious tailoring site. Luckily, mum gave me a vintage thimble last time I visited and it fits perfectly - now I know it goes on the middle, not index, finger. Another tip is to hold the needle way down towards the tip, as far from the tip as you want your stitch size to be. I really need to practice!Thimbles go back to the 1st century AD and they are considered highly collectible (collectors are known as digitabulists). And no wonder. Look at this beauty in a wooden, acorn shaped holder.In Victorian times thimbles were given as love tokens, which I think is a charming idea. And I take a size 9. Just letting you'd know.And check out this little guy! How cute is he? He holds pins, a thimble and thread reels, with a little drawer for buttons.- Toodle Pip!

Tea ride

2012-01-16T18:35:00.001+11:00

Finally got sunny here! So we went out for several pots of tea, interspersed with brief rides. Personally, I preferred the 10 year drought. We went on long rides all the time. These days it's wind and rain all summer long. And I've discovered something cycling related that Kim can't do. He's useless as a wind break. It's like sitting behind a blade. Hopeless.Stopped in at l'Uccello for some vintage buttons and French embroidery thread.

Popped in to the City Hatters, the one underneath Flinders Street Station, to find a fedora for Kim. Despite the charm of the store and their long history, both the service and the range were disappointing. Hello online shopping. We also stopped by Spotlight for some thread and a zip for this dress

Look! A bolero! - Toodle Pip!

Slightly obsessed...

2012-01-11T16:12:00.001+11:00

...with playsuits! I am so almost on holidays! I'm going to watch lots of movies, read and sew. And watch the Australian Open - which sparks my annual obsession with cute little sports outfits.

Joan Fontaine and Rosalind Russell in The women

Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in Dancing lady

Bloomers!

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This Plan B!

2012-01-10T17:15:00.001+11:00

Hurrah for etsy! I've had my eye on Time Machine Vintage because she's got crepe in her stash.

She's got a few patterns that are contenders and hopefully a fabric sample is in the mail soon. Phew! For a moment there I turned into a scary anxious bride. Sorry folks!- Toodle Pip!

Plan B? What Plan B

2012-01-09T19:03:00.001+11:00

I'd had a bit of trouble looking for fabric for my wedding dress. I was looking for some crepe. It's very common for 40s dresses as it has a wonderful swing and drape to it. It is almost impossible to find in Australia. You can get wool crepe - which comes in such exciting colours as black and navy and costs....$70 a metre! You can get silk crepe which is too fine and needs to be dry cleaned and costs ...$70 a metre! You can get satin backed crepe which is two heavy and has an unpleasant crepe finish. But no polyester easy to care for heavy enough for a dress crepe. I found a store online selling polyester crepe, in magnificent colours. Hurrah! So I ordered a sample to make this pattern, so I could see what it might look like for the w dress.

I bought the grey and I was all excited about going to L'Uccello to by some vintage red trim. Parcel arrived today. I ordered what was labelled crepe. What i got is crepe de chine. Not at all the same thing. They said it was dress weight. Maybe if you were making a dress for a fairy. It is everything I hate in a fabric. Slippery, light weight and slightly shiny. And so far I don't have a plan B. Oh dear.- Toodle Pip!

The secret dreams of dressmakers

2012-01-08T20:03:00.001+11:00

Today I worked at AP library, where I discovered we'll be subscribing to Selvedge magazine, which covers a lot of sewing history. I've my eye on this back issue, which covers women's uniforms, land girl outfits, make do and mend and tailoring of ww2.

Plus, the magazine sells stuff. Look at this serious gorgeous set of notions. This is sewing porn.Before you ask, beeswax is used for hand sewn buttonholes and point turners help you get a nicely sharp collar. Sigh. Want. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Some sunny day

2012-01-05T18:54:00.001+11:00

New year, new branch - needs a new dress!

This is 1945 Simplicity 4727 made with fabric mum gave me for Christmas.

It clearly needs a bolero - regardless of what you anti-bolero people think. It's going to be red and gorgeous. The one on the right, not the weird vesty one.

This week I started at MP and I've been busy as a bee chucking things out. Funny branch, MP. It's a real oddity. It's so spectacularly unnecessary. I need to think of ways to make it valued. I suspect it may involve a lot of chatting.

Good thing is that I ride my cruiser to work. I manage the run in high heels, through there are a few pin up moments when my dress rides up to show the top of my seamed stockings! And my sweetie meets me after work to take me out to tea. And yesterday I got an extra treat - a 10 disc box set of Benny Goodman. I'll have to marry the man! (my sweetheart, not BG). And I must thank him for taking my photo because, while he was stoic, I bitched and moaned about getting eaten by mozzies.

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Harry high pants

2011-11-26T09:00:00.001+11:00

Oh wow! Dita has designed an underwear range for Target. Want! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Bummer

2011-11-25T21:52:00.001+11:00

I had a good week, even though I lost my cat (he turned up!) and it turns out I'm not as over my work budget as I thought I was (phew!). So everything was looking good until the last hour of work when everything went pear shaped in a big hurry. Then my taxi took 40 minutes to arrive. Then the taxi driver said my cab charge was invalid. Then Kim convinced me to go for a ride and we meandered along the foreshore. Lovely!
Now I have to try not to think about work for the rest of the weekend!

(and now blogger won't post a picture of the sunset at the beach. And it was so pretty!)
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Bridal patterns

2011-11-18T11:19:00.001+11:00

A book of bridal patterns from UK mail order pattern company. Clicky clicky for bigger pictures.

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Fight for a free internet

2011-11-17T16:31:00.001+11:00

Not my usually topic but as a librarian I can't be silent on this.

A bill is currently before US Congress that will effectively censor the Internet.

Please read on....

Right now, the US Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world's Internet -- creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even groups like Avaaz!

Under the new law, the US could force Internet providers to block any website on suspicion of violating copyright or trademark legislation, or even failing to sufficiently police their users' activities. And, because so much of the Internet's hosts and hardware are located in the US, their blacklist would clamp down on the free web for all of us.

The vote could happen any day now, but we can help stop this -- champions in Congress want to preserve free speech and tell us that an international outcry would strengthen their hand. Let’s urgently raise our voices from every corner of the world and build an unprecedented global petition calling on US decision makers to reject the bill and stop Internet censorship. Click below to sign and then forward as widely as possible -- our message will be delivered directly to key members of the US Congress ahead of the crucial vote:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl

For years, the US government has condemned countries like China and Iran for their clampdown on Internet use. But now, the impact of America's new censorship laws could be far worse -- effectively blocking sites to every Internet user across the globe.

Last year, a similar Internet censorship bill was killed before reaching the US Senate floor, but it's now back in a different form. Copyright laws already exist and are enforced by courts. But this new law goes much further -- granting the government and big corporations enormous powers to force service providers and search engines to block websites based just on allegations of violations -- without a trial or being found guilty of any crime!

US free speech advocates have already raised the alarm, and some key Senators are trying to gather enough support to stop this dangerous bill. We have no time to lose. Let's stand with them to ensure American lawmakers preserve the right to a free and open Internet as an essential way for people around the world to exchange ideas, share communication and work collectively to build the world we want. Sign below to stop US censorship, and save the Internet as we know it:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl

In the past months, from the Arab Spring to the global Occupy Movement, we've seen first hand how the Internet can galvanize, unify and change the world. Now, if we stand together, we can stop this new attack on Internet freedom. We've done it before -- in Brazil and Italy, Avaaz members have won major victories in the fight for a free Internet. Let's take the fight global, and mobilize to defeat the most powerful censorship threat that the Internet has ever seen.

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Good people

2011-11-15T17:18:00.001+11:00

People can be good. I came home to find six people outside my back gate. From experience I knew this was undoubtably cat related. I tried to sneak in the front gate but they caught me. And yep, there in the middle of the huddle was little Jack cat chatting his head off. Half the people thought he'd been hit by a car, the other half thought he was a starving stray and had gone home to get him some cat food! Mortified, I assured them that a) I did take care of him b) that he ate like a pig c) he had dementia and it's affected his balance. But thanks anyway. It was very kind of them and Jack gobbled up his afternoon tea like the greedy guts he is. Over the last few days i've been touched by the care people have taken with Jack. Our neighbors have been making sure he doesn't wander too far and I'm pretty sure he's getting snacks from a few households. he's a very lucky old man.

I wrote this yesterday. Today I'm a little annoyed by caring people! I was walking home from work when I saw two young chaps carrying a cat case. My, that looks a lot like Jack. But of course, how could that be? Except of course, when I got home my little cat was no where to be found. This isn't the first time but we have a dense garden and he's as deaf as a post so can be pretty tricksy to find him. On the off chance, I called the vet. Yep, someone had taken my cat to the vet. Apparently, a group of people had gathered on the footpath, some one was feeding him and they all decided he was a sick abandoned cat. He'd been given even MORE food at the vet - the little pig! So now he has a new blue collar with bells on it and a GIGANTIC tag that says he's ok, just very old! What an adventure! He's now happily on my lap watching Xena, safe and sound!
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War bride

2011-11-13T18:23:00.001+11:00

Wedding plans are coming along! A date has been set - April 15 - so organise your baby sitters now! There's a wedding dress shortlist and i'll be buying some patterns next week - sorry, no sneak peeks! I'm going to be a sensible war bride and get a day dress i can wear on other occasions. I've found some fabric online that should be okay. My dressmaker in Bairnsdale has agreed to do it and has even sent me a facsimile of a 1940s bridal fashion guide to get me inspired. The restaurant has been booked and I must say, choosing the menu is going to be great fun! Flowers are organized. We just need to do the invitations and start paying for things (ulp!)

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The library Blitz

2011-11-04T16:51:00.001+11:00

My library looks like it's suffered bomb damage. We're in the process of replacing most of the shelving and rearranging the collection. It's a BIG job and i've been working like a Trojan - moving acres of books, constructing shelving, and supervising a team of staff who are doing a lot of the grunt work - while trying to keep the library running and everyone happy - though I may have missed a few things on that last point! I come home tired, dirty, with broken nails and a sore back. At least it's easier than war work. I would have done long hours, say 9 - 6pm four days a week, 9 - 9pm on Friday and 9 - 1pm on Saturday - not to mention swing shifts and no public holidays. And if you're in the land army the hours are even longer, the work even harder. Then you have to queue for food! So, I may not be doing munitions work - but I'm still pretty tired! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wishful thinking

2011-10-30T19:51:00.001+11:00

Sorry for the absence. I got bogged down in horror films...

My dad was in town on Saturday so we got up early for breakfast at Batch. I went a bit crazy and had potato rosti - a hearty dose of carbs to start the day. We then trotted off to town which was full of folks heading out for Derby Day. I do so love the racing season. Everyone dressed all ladylike with some beautiful hats on display. And of course, this lady...Dita!

There were race commentators calling the crossing of the traffic lights outside Flinders Street station - and the lady in the red fascinator has hit the lead. Which was so amusing we all forgot to cross the road. I popped in to L'Ucello for some buttons for my new sun dress. I love going to the Nicholas Building. There's the last manned lift in Melbourne and I love closing the double wrought iron doors. L'Ucello, the vintage haberdashery store, could be my favorite place in the city.

While it's fun to fossick, if you ask Kim for help, she knows just which box to pull out from under a table and finds just what you were looking for - in my case some bright red vintage buttons. I've been working on this sun frock

For which I have a billion acres of this fabric

The material can only be described as bouncy. The bottom layer stretched as I cut and sewed it so the pattern isn't matched exactly, though I defy anyone to notice it. You'll notice that the bodice and straps are similar to my swimsuit and again I had a huge fitting issue. The top was just inches too big around the bust. I've taken it in but I don't know, I could be rapidly falling out of love with this dress. Particularly when I turned around and noticed the back is too low cut for modern bras. Sure, I could keep the bolero on but then my beautiful buttons will be hidden! In any case the weather in Melbourne is still completely miserable so who knows if i'll ever get a chance to wear it!
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Double feature - Before I Hang and The Boogie Man Will Get You

2011-10-17T18:27:00.001+11:00

I love Boris Karloff. I think he lifts any movie he is in. And some of them certainly need lifting.

Before I hang features Karloff as a gentle doctor who is jailed for a mercy killing. While in prison, a supremely understanding prison warden gets interested in his research work and agrees to set up a lab. Karloff can work there with a scientist until the time comes for him to be hanged. Together they work to develop a serum that will reverse the effects of aging. All for the good of mankind!

Hours before the hanging they complete the serum. To activate it they need to mix it with some blood. To save time they use the blood of a recently hanged murderer. I know... but they were trying to save time. And with nothing else to lose they try it on Karloff. All seems good but it's time for Karloff to hang. Just as he's being marched off there comes a call from the Governor. He's saved! Hurrah! Off he goes home.

All is well until... creepy hand movements and Karloff becomes a killer! He goes around killing his friends, driven by the blood of the murderer. This was actually not a bad film. Karloff plays the scientist as a sweetly doddery old man and his physical transformation into a killer is well done. The creepy bits here are doctors in shiny black leather gloves, big needles and giving blood.

This one's a comedy. Like much 1940s humour you've got to be a fan of the era to endure most of it. Again, Karloff is a daffy old scientist. He's doing experiments to create a race of super beings to help the war effort, using traveling salesmen as his test subjects. Peter Lorre plays the local sheriff who gets interested in the profit making potential of the scheme. Bodies pile up. Lorre and Karloff are fabulous together. They obviously have a deep affection for each other, having worked together a number of times. I suspect there's a fair amount of ad-libbing going on, as Lorre was apt to rant on once he got on a roll. It's very sweet and endearing and I just wished I could have seen more of the two stars together.

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Sunny Queensland!

2011-10-11T13:46:00.001+11:00

Wasn't so sunny after all!

Things started off well with a platter of fish and chips! The next day there was an awesome tropical storm so our trip to water world - and the debut of my 1940's swim suit - was cancelled! The day turned out sunny and fine anyway and we sat around eating sausages and salad at a BBQ.

Next day was super sunny and I got a bit sunburnt. (If you decide not to take your parasol with you to Queensland because it seems like too much drama please, please think again!) We caught the City Cat - a ferry along the river. It was lovely and we got to look at all the grand old Queenslanders lining the riverbank. We stopped off for brunch - yummy Italian savory mince - so good both Donna and I will be having it again for dinner soon! Then we went for a wander along Southbank - where the not very OHS conscious Brisbane City Council have built a pool and beach. Donna and I took our shoes off and paddled our toes.

The day was actually a lot sunnier than it looks here! We had homemade lemonade and then more food! And a laze beneath a tree by the river. Brisbane is so green and lush, though there's still plenty of evidence of the floods. I saw bush turkeys and lots of parakeets and ibis and all the jacarandas were in bloom.

There were lots of trips to the park and playtime with Gussie - who, I must say is a very chilled out kid. I had such a relaxing time - I feel very rested. It was great to simply hang out with Donna and just blather on. I do miss her!

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Operation Bathing Beauty - finished!

2011-10-07T09:33:00.001+11:00

After the slight setback of giving away my sewing machine power cord, I've finally finished my bathing suit. I must say, I'm not super pleased with my sewing on this one. I decided not to hand stitch the shorts waistband and I think that lazy moment was a mistake - though thankfully a hidden one. I also had to take the over dress pattern in a crazy 6 inches. In retrospect I should have been bolder and taken it in even more. The top feels a bit gapey but not immodestly so. I did do an awesome job hand sewing the lining around the invisible zip. All set now for some sunny times in Queensland!

In other news my hats have started arriving. Probably a bad time for me to start wondering if hats suit me or not! Seeing a parcel arrive at work is always exciting but there's something special about unwrapping a hat. Open the box, undo the velvet ribbon, peel back the tissue paper and race off to the mirror - it's all so delightfully feminine. My most successful hat is the little one with a chrysanthemum (my favorite flower) given to me by my stepmother. Just need to make an outfit to go with it!

On my way to sunny Queensland! Have a good weekend!- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Wolf Man

2011-10-06T13:10:00.001+11:00

It beats me why anyone would want to watch horror films during the war but horror films there are. In England, production and distribution of horror films were banned for the duration. But in America, Universal Studios churned out a series of great films, building on its successful films of the 1930s (such as Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy).

Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright.

1941's The Wolf Man cemented contemporary ideas about werewolves. It wasn't the first werewolf film - that was Universal's own Werewolf of London - but it was the most influential. The atmosphere is great, all ancient buildings, gypsies and mist smoked forests with menacing leafless trees. The werewolf legend presented in the film is not ancient lore - it's all the invention of director Curt Siodmak, a horror movie master, including the bit about werewolves and the moon.

Lon Chaney Jr is a regular guy who gets bitten by a wolf in the woods one night. The wolf is Beal Lugosi (in a sadly brief cameo) - a werewolf. Now Chaney feels a change upon him and is transformed into a savage beast. Chaney does regular guy well and, most effectively, he's tormented by guilt and regret for the things he has done while a werewolf. You certainly feel empathy for his character, with it's troubled soul This role was the making - and breaking - of Chaney. It made him a B grade star and fated him to be typecast forever.

Maria Ouspenskaya, as the gypsy, is fabulous as ever. Claude Rains is Chaney's father, a little improbably, but he does a sterling effort. You'll also find Ralph Bellamy as the police detective investigating the mysterious deaths. And you must credit Jack Pierce's wonderful job at makeup.

A classic. Most enjoyable!

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AWOL

2011-09-26T20:09:00.001+10:00

Turns out 40s horror films aren't my cup of tea. They require, not nerves of steel, but the patience of a saint and i've realized that I've really got to prioritize my film viewing these days. I do, however, have a lot of time for Boris Karloff so he'll be getting a blog post all of his own. In the meantime I've got the Godfather blu ray boxed set to watch. And at 3 hours each that's a lot of screen time. And a bit less Xena time.

Operation Bathing Beauty has stalled because i've lost the power cable to my sewing machine. But I have been buying some hats as a special birthday present for myself.

No cycling because Melbourne in spring pretty much sucks. Very jacket on jacket off. And far too windy for bikes. I've read Nella Last's War (filmed as Housewife 47). The film is supposed to be quite sympathetic, but the actual war diaries reveal her to be a bit of a pain. Still, I do love accounts from the home front and the book was fascinating. I also read another of Simon Garfield's war diary compilations. Great stuff. Very revealing of the attitudes of the people of Britain towards the war. Quite sad - they're all cross about endless government precautions so early in the war - unaware that the situation is going to get so much more serious.

RIP VI

2011-09-13T16:37:00.001+10:00

Always one to over commit myself - it's a new blogging challenge! Reader In Peril! A bit unseasonal for me, this is to celebrate the northern slide into autumn. Hosted by Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings, this challenge is to explore the supernatural, mysteries, horror, gothic and dark fantasy. Learning from the war read a long (books read to date = 1) and Paris in July (my books all turned up in August) I am taking up the movie watching challenge.

This time, I'm not going to post a list of what I intend to do, as chances are I won't be able to get my hands on many of them. But I'll give you a theme - 1940s horror films! There's going to be a lot of Boris Karloff going down! Wait till you see the dvd covers! Spooky!

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Happy birthday to me!!

2011-09-12T17:47:00.001+10:00

I turned 38 on Friday. And I officially had the Best Birthday Ever! I love birthdays. In my family it's all balloons and sparklers and excited phone calls at 7 o'clock in the morning. I could barely sleep with excitement! I woke up early, crept out of bed to take a sneak peek at my presents and feed the kitties. I ended up waking Kim early so we could start celebrating. I got the day off work and spent it in my pajamas sewing. I made a start on Operation Bathing Suit, armed with two patterns and an acreage of muslin. Turned on crap tv - I sew better with some undemanding noise. The next thing I knew it was 6pm and i'd made a muslin swim suit. It was actually a lot harder than i thought it would be. Those 40s gals sure had some talent. Not too sure about the fit but that's ok because I have plan b.

I made a muslin of the dress version. I don't think much of the sizing because I had to take over 6 inches from the bodice. Still a bit iffy out which one I'll go with. Not sure i've enough board short fabric to line the dress AND make shorts to wear underneath.

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Land Army Girl - the final

2011-09-08T17:29:00.003+10:00

Another cooked breakfast! More knitting, reading, chicken feeding.Pinching cuttings from mum's garden - violets, forget me nots, mint and thyme.

Learning to knit! I didn't do so badly. Except for the bit where I practiced picking up dropped stitches. Forgot to knit them once i'd picked them up, which made a bit of a hole...

Inspecting the fruit trees. They pruned the orchard rather late so no blossoms just yet.

Saying goodbye to my lovely mum!

On the plane to be demobbed! Train trip down - several hours and the better part of my sanity. Plane trip - 1 hour! Got a wee bit scared taking off, but thought that Kim's dad must have done this hundreds of times and while he was going to bomb Germany, I was going home!

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Land Army Girl - part 3

2011-09-08T17:29:00.001+10:00

In which we suffer a disappointment. And eat even more...

I have no idea what we did on Saturday. We started with a cooked breakfast - Maggie Beer's oat pancakes with stewed apple. I think I read, looked at mum's beautiful garden and had a nap. The big treat - we were headed out to see a swing band in the evening! I felt like a proper Land Army Girl getting my glad rags on.

How happy we look! So full of enthusiasm for the night ahead! So unaware of what awaits us... That's my mum's new car by the way.

Firstly, of course, we needed feeding. We set off for an hour's drive to Hamilton where we had a booking at the only restaurant in town. Wonderful cream of pumpkin soup followed by a pear and apple tart with Maggie Beer ice-cream the flavor of which escapes me (yes, there is a bit of a MB theme, I think because we're so close to the South Australian border).

Off to the arts centre for a night of swinging. Was a bit anxious at staying up past my bed time. Seats were a bit squishy, but never mind. There was a supposed to be a folksy support band but how bad could that be? Big bass section ta da and we start! It's not a swing number but never mind. Then a chap gets up and starts telling jokes. Odd. Then he starts to sing a Cole Porter song. Except he can't sing. Muffled giggles from our seats. Then a lady comes out and sings the Girl from Ipanema. Except it's not a swing song. And she can't sing. Muffled laughs turn to worried frowns. Joke man comes back, tells a joke and sings a 1950s novelty song. Uh oh. Then they get their trumpeter out and she sings It's Too Darn Hot and she is so absolutely fantastic that we make the mistake of getting excited. Because back comes joke man to introduce the folk band that are really a pub band and really really loud. With a fiddle player. The crowd goes wild. They start a Cat Stephens song and we flee into the night! We've been there half an hour. At least I got to bed on time!

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Land Army Girl - part 2

2011-09-07T18:44:00.001+10:00

In which we understand the value of curators and our heroine eats too much...

My very tolerant family took me to a World War 2 'museum' in Portland - otherwise known as a heap of old stuff shoved in a room all higgeldy piggeldy. Oddly it was in an old water tower. No war connection, just an old tower they had lying around. You can see the quality of exhibits above. Really, it was rather endearing and there were a few good bits about the war in Portland. And a beautiful view from the top.

Then we were clearly in need of more food. Yummy fish and chips and lashings of Ginger beer!

Then off for a brisk constitutional along Shelly Beach - which actually is pretty much devoid of shells. In the 1930s they took them all away for shell grit for chickens.

Mum, Steve and no shells.

Mum and I did a quick tour of the local op shops having heard rumours of the Wall of Buttons. No special finds but we did go to a great craft shop to pick up some blue wool for this...

My wonderful mum is knitting me this, another 1940s pattern from Stitches in Time. And because we were practically fading away by this time mum cooked us a roast lamb dinner. With lemon meringue pie! Yum! And we watched Hitchcock's Young and Innocent (1937) based on a Josephine Tey mystery. Then time for bed.

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Land Army Girl - part 1

2011-09-06T17:29:00.001+10:00

Join the Land Army for fun and fitness!

This weekend I was a poster girl for the Land Army, spending the weekend down at mum's place in Bolwarra. That's down the Great Ocean Road near Portland in Western Victoria. I left after work by train. I'd gotten myself in a bit of a tizz and though I started well with a nice chat with a lady who'd grown up in a Communist run internment camp in Croatia before emigrating to Australia, I soon got myself in a right state. Whizzing through the darkness, with nothing to see but your milky reflection in the window, way past my bedtime, explaining to someone that no, I wasn't in fancy dress... Onto the bus, on and on. Arriving in black out conditions in Narrawong. Eventually I was tucked up in bed underneath a mountain of blankets (it's very cold there!) with a hot water bottle. I'd forgotten there were glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and I went to sleep with the Southern Cross at my feet.

The next morning I woke to a cooked breakfast.

Fed the chickens! That's Elsie, Vera and Pizza Head. Guess which chicken is Kim's?

Collected eggs.

Watched out for bombers!

Gave the horses a snack.

All before lunch time!- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Curvy Kitty - Land Army Girl

2011-08-31T19:36:00.001+10:00

I'm off on holiday!

Heading off to the station after work to catch a train to Warnambool, then a bus to Narrawong, then a drive to mum's place, arriving in the middle of the night. I've already packed two books and there's the promise of a hot water bottle awaiting me. It's going to be a weekend of chickens, horses, cooked breakfasts and Wellington boots.

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Hunkydory!

2011-08-29T19:38:00.001+10:00

Phew! Lost book drama over. Turned out I never even brought the books home from the library. Which is rather good because I discovered one of them now fetches $2500. Yikes! So the weekend turned out all tip top and boompsadaisy!

Time for some spring fashion inspiration courtesy of the 1940 spring Sears catalogue. Clicky clicky to see bigger pics.

My future has plaid in it.

And gingham!

Bolero jackets! Red, white and blue!

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Bad day for a librarian

2011-08-27T18:48:00.001+10:00

I know that it should have been a good day, picking up my ticket to Bolwarra (visiting my mum next week - hurrah!), stopping in at Spotlight to pick up some fabric, buying a pattern (admittedly for an overcoat, but it had a hood and so was not to be passed up). Then I had the afternoon off. I read some Ngaio Marsh and watched North By Northwest. Which I didn't like. Largely because storm clouds of doom hung over me all day. Somewhere between my desk and my backdoor I lost sone library books on Friday. Not just any books but books from another library. That are out of print. That are rare. That are pretty much non replaceable. Ye gods! What have I done?!

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Operation Bathing Beauty

2011-08-27T18:13:00.001+10:00

Phase one of Operation BB is underway! Pattern has been bought - an Eva Dress repro of a 1941 pattern.

Fabric also bought - cotton, on sale at Spotlight. Board short fabric, for the little shorts that go underneath the skirt, sourced - thanks to Donna in Queensland! She's making a special trip so yay Donna! The vintage pattern specifies silk jersey - which retails here at $60m. I don't think so!

(sorry but i had to take the photo on my phone, my photographer being a work - it's actually very bright and sunshiny fabric)

The last thing I bought from the US took a month to arrive. I really don't understand US Postal. They managed to organize a cycling team but can't actually deliver any mail on time. Delivery dates and postage costs vary seemingly at random. So I may or may not get the pattern in time for my Queensland adventure in October.

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Springy sprungy

2011-08-22T17:05:00.001+10:00

Hurrah! Spring is almost here! Unless winter is just teasing us (in Melbourne it's quite possible). Sunshiny sparkly days that we've spent mucking around on bikes and sitting in the sun drinking coffee. I'm looking at the winter fabric I've got left in my stash and wondering if I can whizz something up or leave it til next year. About now I get excited about spring sewing and the gorgeous repro 30s and 40s prints that are available. My big project over September is to have a go making some bathers.

I'll be off to Queensland in October and need to look glamorous poolside! which ones do you think?

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New pattern

2011-08-17T19:06:00.001+10:00

Next on sewing pile is this black number with the peplum, chosen by my young man. I've some burgundy crepe set aside - what is conceivably the last lightweight crepe left in Melbourne. Somehow fabric stores here just don't stock it anymore and I don't think satin back crepe is fluid enough. I made a muslin of the bodice on the weekend (yes, I learnt my lesson!) and will be adding a bit of length to the waist. I'm hoping I can cut it out next weekend, in between hosting an antique valuation session at the library and going for a ride if the weather is fine (i.e. unlikey).

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Whirlwind weekend

2011-08-14T20:35:00.001+10:00

Yes, I started the weekend early! I took Friday off to Yell for Cadel.

I trotted off to Fed Square with thousands of other people to see Cadel Evans. I had an excellent spot where I could see both the stage and the big screen. Yay for being taller than most people! I waved my little yellow flag, murmured a ladylike hurrah and even got a bit teary. And what a nice chap he is too. I've never seen him so relaxed and cheerful. A very exciting day.

Saturday morning I went for a ride with my friend Michael. Tried out the new S Works. What a sweet bike. It's less twitchy than my Parlee so even though super light and responsive I was filled with confidence. It's a real honey and I can't wait to get out on it again. Though it turns out that Michael's idea of a slow ride is very different to mine.
I made a bit of a goof with my social calendar and only a lucky txt alerted me to an afternoon tea i was running late for. So i went from sporty to glamorous in ten minutes! I got treated to a scrummy vegan spread that was absolutely delicious. And I drank more wine than i've ever had in my entire life. Plus champagne cocktails in vintage glasses. Spoilt!

I was going to ride again this morning but ended up doing the ironing, reading an old mystery and watching a war movie (When Trumpets Fade which I thought was rather good but short I - though i was setting my hair at the time so it's possible I missed bits). Now Kim is cooking dinner and I get to relax with a cat on my lap. Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Nancy Wake

2011-08-09T16:48:00.001+10:00

I don't normally cut and paste but I've pinched this from the UK Mirror newspaper. This is about war hero Nancy Wake who died yesterday. A truly remarkable woman.

SEEING her being pushed gently around the gardens of a London nursing home, it was difficult to believe the frail old woman in the wheelchair once delighted in killing any Nazi in her way – with her bare hands.

Yet Nancy Wake was a Second World War super heroine, a Resistance fighter and secret agent so feared by Hitler’s war machine that she was top of the Gestapo’s most wanted list.

One of the most decorated Allied servicewomen of the war, Nancy was glamorous and ladylike – until fighting broke out, when she was reputed to act like “five men”.

Her famous exploits included throwing a grenade into a crowded Nazi cafe and, on a mission to blow up an ammunitions dump, killing an SS sentry with a single karate chop.

The fearless femme fatale is credited with helping to save the lives of thousands of Jews and Allied servicemen during the war by setting up escape routes through the Pyrenees.

And she played a key role in D-Day by leading 7,000 French Resistance fighters in missions to sabotage enemy installations in the run-up to the invasion.

Yet despite the Nazis’ best efforts – and a five million franc bounty on her head – Nancy always managed to evade capture, leading to her being codenamed The White Mouse by the Gestapo because she was so infuriatingly elusive.

Australian Nancy, who died on Sunday just a few days before her 99th birthday, was awarded France’s highest honour, the Legion d’honneur, Britain’s George Medal and the US Medal of Freedom for her extraordinary exploits.She was also the inspiration for Sebastian Faulks’ 1999 novel Charlotte Gray.

It is the story of a Scottish woman who joins the French Resistance during the Second World War and was made into a smash-hit film starring Cate Blanchett in 2001.

In accordance with her wishes, Nancy’s body will be cremated privately and her ashes will be scattered next spring at Montlucon in Central France, where she took part in an heroic 1944 attack on the local Gestapo headquarters.

Yesterday world leaders rushed to pay tribute to her after her death in a London hospital following a chest infection.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said: “Our nation honours a truly remarkable individual whose selfless valour and tenacity will never be forgotten. Nancy Wake was a woman of exceptional courage and resourcefulness whose daring exploits saved the lives of hundreds of Allied personnel and helped bring the Nazi occupation of France to an end.”

Her biographer Peter FitzSimons said: “They called her La souris blanche – the White Mouse – because every time they had her cornered she was gone again.

“Part of it was she was a gorgeous-looking woman. The Germans were looking for someone who looked like them, aggressive, a man with guns, and she was not like that.”

David McLachlan, president of the Returned and Services League of Australia, said: “She was very much involved in providing information for the planning of D-Day.

“She parachuted back in behind enemy lines after she’d been back to England. The Gestapo hated her, wanted her, more than anybody else. She was an incredibly brave woman.”

In one of her final interviews, aged 80, Nancy proved that, despite advancing years the feisty nature which made her a legend was still very much alive.

She said: “Someone once asked me, ‘Have you ever been afraid? Hah! I’ve never been afraid in my life.

“I loved killing Germans! I hated the Germans… I loathed and detested them, and as far as I was concerned the only good one was a dead one. And the deader the better.”

Calmly recalling the moment she karate-chopped a Nazi soldier to death, she said: “It had been raining and I thought that would be good because I wouldn’t make so much noise but I must have made a bit, because he turned around as I went to give him a karate blow and stuck his dagger in my arm.”

When asked what happened to him, she drew a finger across her throat and said: “He had it.”

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Nancy moved to Sydney, Australia with her family when she was only two years old.

At 16 she ran away from home and worked as a nurse. Then, with £200 she had received in an aunt’s will, she travelled to New York, and London, where she trained as a journalist.

In the 30s she worked in Paris as a European correspondent for America’s Hearst newspapers and in 1939 met and married wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca.

In 1933 in her work as a journalist, she went to Vienna to interview Hitler.

Nancy was shocked while she was there to see Jews chained to huge wheels, being whipped by Nazi troops.

The experience had a profound effect on her and proved to be the turning point in her life. Realising what a danger Hitler posed to the world, she devoted herself to defeating the evil she had seen.

In 1939 when the Second World War broke out she immediately joined the French Resistance, starting as a courier carrying everything from simple messages to hi-tech radio parts.

She used her native cunning and beauty – being openly flirtatious – to overcome the suspicions of German guards to get through checkpoints.

Nancy soon graduated to spiriting downed Allied pilots or groups of Jewish refugees from one “safe house” to another until they reached the base of the Pyrenees, the gateway to freedom in Spain. She once said: “Freedom is the only thing worth living for. While I was doing that work I used to think it didn’t matter if I died, because without freedom there is no point in living.”

She once cycled more than 500 miles through several German checkpoints to replace codes which her wireless operator had been forced to destroy during a German raid.

Once the Gestapo almost caught her – but she shot her way out of a roadblock and managed to escape while bullets whistled around her ears. Then, at the sixth attempt, she managed to flee over the Pyrenees to safety in neutral Spain.

Her husband Henri was not so lucky. After being arrested by the Gestapo he refused to divulge her whereabouts or give an account of her activities and was executed. Nancy later said: “I will go to my grave regretting that. Henri was the love of my life.”

After escaping to Spain Nancy came to Britain and joined the Special Operations Executive, before being parachuted back into France on April 29, 1944. She became a vital liaison between London and the French Resistance.

Known by partisans by her codename Madame Andree she co-ordinated Resistance activity before the Normandy invasion and recruited more people to fight Germany.

French fighters later recalled how, to teach the male Resistance leaders to respect her, she would challenge them to drinking contests and was always the “last man” left standing at dawn. Referring to blind French Resistance hero Jacques Lusseyran, a partisan once told a British officer: “Madame Andree is braver than Jacques, and Jacques is the bravest man among us.”

After the defeat of Nazi Germany Nancy was among the first into the newly liberated Paris – but was still in a fighting mood when she got into an argument with a waiter.

The waiter thought he had won the confrontation by saying he would prefer to serve the Germans than the likes of her and her noisy friends. Nancy reflected on this for a moment before leaping to her feet and knocking him senseless with a right hook.

As soon as another alarmed waiter rushed to his fallen colleague with a glass of brandy, she grabbed it, drained it in one gulp, thanked him with the word: “Merci,” and strutted out of the door.

After the war Nancy continued working for British intelligence in Europe until 1957, when she moved back to Australia and married British fighter pilot John Forward.

While there, she unsuccessfully stood for parliament and, in 1985, published her autobiography The White Mouse.

It became a bestseller and has been reprinted many time since.

In 2001, four years after John’s death, she moved back to Britain.

Despite receiving the highest decorations from the French, British and Americans, she was for years denied a medal by her home country, Australia, on the grounds that she was not fighting for any of the Australian services during the war.

In her later years, Nancy was contacted on numerous occasions by the Australian government but she repeatedly rejected their offer of a medal.

When she was asked about this in April 2000 she was typically blunt.

“The last time there was a suggestion of giving me an Australian medal, I told the government they could stick their medals where the monkey stuck his nuts.

“The thing is if they gave me a medal now it wouldn’t be given with love so I don’t want anything from them. They can b***** off!’’

It was a typical outburst but three years later she mellowed and accepted her Companion of the Order of Australia, humbly saying: “I hope I’m worth it.

“I hope I will be able to live up to the oath that I have made to my country.

“And the people in it and those that will come after us.”

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Sunday movie matinee

2011-08-08T18:49:00.001+10:00

I watched a really good movie yesterday but i've already forgotten the title of it... Oh dear! So I'll have to talk about the other film I watched.

After reading Brodeck's Report I decided to take a break from the war. What better than a movie from the Depression! Actually this isn't as grim as it sounds. Take a look at this!

Wouldn't you go and see this? This is Gold Diggers of 1933. It's Warner Bros follow up to 42nd Street and it's a fabulous frockfest.

It's a great cast with Ruby Keeler and dreamy Dick Powell, in his pre noir crooner days.

The fabulous Aline McMahon

Sassy Joan Blondell and Guy Kibee. Look at that lingerie!

Ginger! Which is why we're watching it really.

And girls!

Girls!

Girls!

Yep, thats Busby Berkeley being saucy. I've always really enjoyed this film. The female leads are so strong and sassy and it really is a feel good film. It's very frank about the Depression - no one's got any money. The songs are great, the costumes enough for me to abandon the 40s and there are some hilarious lines. It also features the very moving Forgotten Man number - a protest against government treatment of WW1 veterans.

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A new shirtwaist

2011-08-04T20:43:00.001+10:00

My latest sewing! Though I have a bone to pick with the pattern grader on this one. I've made heaps of Simplicity patterns from the 1940s and I've never had to alter any of them. They're a perfect fit! So of course I didn't make a muslin first (I know! Stupid me.) This one turned out to be too short in the waist. It's also a bit voluminous around the waist, all cunningly disguised by a belt. Would I make it again? I actually love the way it looks on, so yes, definitely - with a proper fitting next time!

Bottle green gaberdine and vintage 40s buttons from L'Ucello.

My latest set. Three hours at the hairdresser. One night to fall out. I'll be sticking to my home sets in the future!

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Brodeck's report

2011-08-03T19:16:00.001+10:00

I started this book yesterday. A friend came to visit and I wondered how rude it would seem if I kept reading. I came home today and put the kettle on. Started to read. Read on and on - the tea unmade, the cats unfed, the light in the room dimming. And now, having finished, I'm not sure how to speak of it. Brodeck's Report is a beautiful, sad and horrifying read.

For now I'll give you the publisher's synopsis while I think about how to tell you about it.

From his village in post-war France, Brodeck makes his solitary journeys into the mountains to collect data on the natural environment. Day by day he also reconstructs his own life, all but lost in the years he spent in a camp during the war. No-one had expected to see him again. One day, a flamboyant stranger rides into the village, upsetting the fragile balance of everyday life. Soon he is named the Anderer, "the other", and tensions rise until, one night, the newcomer is murdered. Brodeck is instructed to write an account of the events leading to his death, but his report delivers much more than the bare facts: it becomes the story of a community coming to terms with the legacy of enemy occupation. In a powerful narrative of exceptional fascination, Brodeck's Report explores the very limits of humanity.

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July in Paris - detection on film

2011-07-31T12:52:00.001+10:00

Quai des Orfevres directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot is a real treat. Ambitious singer Jenny Lamour is not above being courted by a lecherous old sleaze if it will further her career. Her weak husband is consumed with jealousy and pursues them to a rendezvous, intent on killing the old man - only to find him already dead. Detective Antoine investigates the dance halls of 1940s Paris to track down the killer.

The story was ostensibly based on that by Belgian crime writer Steeman, but when the time came to write the script Clouzot couldn't get his hands on a copy of the book so he wrote what he could remember, which wasn't much. The film has a snappy script and wonderful pacing. It fairly zips along. It's also a little racy! Here's lots of lingerie on show and a strong lesbian character played by the beautiful and feminine Simone Renant. The film is a policier, a story of an investigation. And like much of the French detective literature I've read, it's less a who dunnit than an exploration of character. In the spirit of Simenon, Clouzot shows real compassion towards his flawed characters. They are weak, naive and conniving but are treated sympathy and humanity. Which is a little surprising as apparently the director was a real bully on set.

The film offers a fascinating glimpse of Paris dance halls - burlesque stars, singers, performing dogs - with weary coat check girls and harassed managers. The director describes the investigation as documentary - in which cases it provides a wonderful insight into police methods of the time. You can just imagine Maigret in such a setting. There are cynical crime reporters, tired homicide police, resigned prostitutes and defiant crooks. Fascinating.

The movie also features some of the best 1940s hairstyles ever!

The Man on the Eiffel Tower, however, is simply turgid. It had a troubled production and the lack of sure direction shows. It was also filmed using ANSCO Reversal film, a technique to rival Technicolor. Sadly, the film stock has deteriorated to a murky brown. Yucky. Laughton is a dreadful Maigret. Dismal. It's almost a cliche to say so, but if only Hitchcock had got his hands on it! There were some nice hats in it though.

I followed this with more Maigret - this time with Michael Gambon in the title role. I didn't mind this, though i've not seen many other Maigret's to compare - many of the others aren't available with English subtitles). He's certainly compassionate and I liked his relationship with his team. Madame Maigret, played by Barbara Flynn, really comes to life. The series was shot in Hungary, which is an adequate stand in for Paris, and is set post war but pre New Look (maybe 1948 before Dior's new fashion became widespread). I do suspect it's not period perfect. I'm halfway through the 12 part series and it's like a gentle Foyle's War.

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Paris in July - Murder in Memoriam

2011-07-29T16:58:00.001+10:00

Having a bit of trouble with my French book supply so we're skipping forward a few decades to a work written in 1984.

Didier Daenincxx's Murder in Memoriam caused a furore when it came out. It covers two pretty hot topics - covered up police brutality against Algerian French at a 1961 Paris demonstration, in which hundreds of unarmed protestors were killed, and collaboration during WW2. It was this historical angle that attracted me to the book. Sadly, despite some truly shocking historic incidents, Daenincxx does nothing with his subject matter. Two dark moments in French history and their shameful cover ups are outlined but not fully explored. They just kind of sit there as two isolated lumps in a very thin story. There's no characterization, no atmosphere - and coming from a diet of Simenon this really shows. There's not much of a mystery either but I've come to expect that from French detective stories and I don't mind that so much, I can tolerate the ginormous holes in his plotting. It's a pretty slim novella with very plain, perfunctionary writing. I was most disappointed.

This book won the French Prix du Roman Policier, largely I suspect for Daennicxx's courage in broaching a taboo subject. The book is credited with being a catalyst for forcing the French to re-examine its past by trying Nazi collaborators and making President Mitterrand declare 16 July a day of national reflection on fascism and racism. Pretty big claims.

As an agent for change, the book was clearly successful - though to an outsider it appears to be a timid attempt at a cry of outrage, this perhaps reflects how difficult it was to even raise these matters. As a work of literature however, it falls short. Shame, because there's a powerful story here that needs telling.

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DVD haul

2011-07-24T20:09:00.003+10:00

There's a seedy looking dvd store in the city, down near the high end camera stores on Elizabeth Street. Once inside, avert your gaze from the sizable x rated section and you come across b grade movie nirvana! Looking for Jimmy Stewart's worst film? Of course you are! I couldn't resist Pot o Gold with Jimmy and Paulette Goddard. Described by publicists as the 'the swingiest, singiest, danciest, romanciest movie of the year'! Who could resist that? If you're a Victor Mature fan, why, they've got the lot (guaranteed shirtless scene in every one). And if I ever get into Westerns or Biblical epics, I've hit the motherlode.

How about 1930s serial Tailspin Tommy?

Or 1942 Captain Midnight?

Yes, I find this stuff irresistible. There is also good stuff hidden amongst this. I'm eying off Samuel Fuller's Hell and High Water, Lana Turner's Keep Your Powder Dry (ok, maybe calling that good is a bit of a stretch, but it's a tribute to women's war work and there's not much of that) and Fritz Lang's Hangmen Also Die (screenplay by Bertolt Brecht). Plus we found a copy of the long awaited Apocalypse Now full disclosure blu ray.

We also stopped into JB and picked up Detective Dee - based on an 18th century Chinese detective series - loved the books and the movie features Hong Kong pop star Andy Lau so how bad can it be? And the Red Baron - daring do in the skies!

Lots of movie fun!

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Le Tour

2011-07-24T20:09:00.001+10:00

Yay Cadel! And hooray it's over because my nerves and stamina weren't going to see me much further. I pretty much got dropped on the first stage and the last week's been too nervous making. We had a friend over last night and there was a lot of shouting at the tv. Good thing our neighbour's a road cyclist too. One more late night and then we can get some much needed rest.

It was also my chap's birthday this weekend and we've been very very busy. Lots and lots of treats! So I didn't get time for reading or DVDs. I'm having some time management issues! This month I was all set to catch up on some minor authors from the Golden Age of detective fiction. I had an enormous stack of books ready. I was also going to take part in a war book /movie readalong (Hiroshima Mon Amour) I think i'm having French New Wave fear so I've been putting off reading and watching it. I'm sure there will be long silences in the movie and it will be very sad and I won't understand it. Then I decided to take part in Paris in July. And now everything's getting a bit out of control.

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July in Paris - Gaston Leroux

2011-07-21T10:12:00.001+10:00

Gaston Leroux's Mystery of the Yellow Room (1908) is considered one of the best locked room, impossible mysteries ever written. You know the story - a crime takes place in a locked room, in which it is appears certain that not a single soul has entered or left.

I've read the Yellow Room before and not enjoyed it but thought, in the spirit of my investigations into French detective fiction, that it deserved another go. Readers, I hated it. I must say that I'm not a fan of the genre. Locked room mysteries, by their very nature, require outlandish solutions, such that any criminal would be a nincompoop to attempt.

People are still not entirely convinced about the honesty of policeman so our detective is a journalist, Rouletabille. His approach is that of Holmesian deduction - reason above all! He also shares Holmes irritating trait of intellectual superiority and snobbery. And he withholds clues! Not playing the game at all! I'm also particularly unimpressed by the character of the noble, sensitive female who clearly knows who did it but refuses to speak (she crops up quite frequently in detective fiction of this era). Ladies, there is no reason for this! Speak up and we can all go home.

What this work does do is further the development of the detective novel. It combines the creepy otherworldliness of the gothic thriller with the clear logic of Sherlock Holmes. It also makes use of a journalistic style to continually challenge the reader - there is a rational explanation to this seemingly supernatural crime. This introduction of a journalistic style appears a number of times around detective fiction of the era and has a number of effects. It adds a level of veracity - for all that the style seems sensationalist. to the modern reader. It also adds pace and urgency to the story. You feel as though you are getting updates hot off the press. The challenge to the reader is a new feature - sure, some clues are withheld, but it's the seeds of the puzzle mystery, where the reader is invited to be the detective.

I've also been disappointed by my second Garboriau mystery, The Blackmailers (1907). It starts off as a locked room mystery but quickly becomes a tale of...well, it becomes a bit of a mess really. What I applauded earlier in Monsieur Lecoq as swift energy in the narrative here comes a cross as ill conceived and hasty. I feel that not a lot of care has been taken, I'd readily believe that this was scribbled on the back of an envelope! I confess, I didn't finish it. I simply didn't care about the story or the characters and the mystery wasn't really very mysterious. There is strong evidence again of the influence of earlier French fiction of the turn of the century - family scandals, illegitimate children, blackmail and people fleeing the country wrongly accused of crimes - the whole melodrama. There's a more marked enthusiasm for disguises - which is somewhat endearing but really, the detecting side of things is quite ludicrous. And the writing is just plain bad. Quite a disappointment. It was, however, a popular book in its time. Again we see the influence of Vidocq - readers are interested in the outlandish thrill of the trace, exciting disguises and all the crafty ruses of the cunning detective.

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Paris in July - Claude Aveline

2011-07-18T16:57:00.001+10:00

I'd like to tell you about Claude Aveline but there's not much about him in English. Wikipedia offers this - Claude Aveline, pen name of Evgen Avtsine (19 July 1901 – 4 November 1992), was a writer, publisher, editor, poet and member of the French Resistance. He was friends with director Jean Vigo. One of his works inspired Camus to write The Outsider. He wrote his first mystery novel in 1932, The Double Death of Frederic Belot. I don't seem to be able to find any more and it's been a little hard to get my hands on library copies in English. I'm not sure if what I've read is typical.

I've just finished The Fountain at Marlieux (which I think was written in 1954). The mystery is small and the detective, Inspector Belot, appears only briefly. Yet for all that I liked it. Like many French mysteries, the focus is on character and place. A celebrated Colonel, forced into retirement, returns to the village of his childhood. An old friend is distressed that his daughter has retired to a convent. The question is why? Despite the time of it's writing, the story seems set in a much older age. The setting is lovingly evoked and you'll be transported to a country village. The detecting, such that there is, is based on intuition rather than evidence. People talk and the truth comes out. It is an overwhelmingly sad story. Much of it is about the passing of time - the slipping away of childhood, the fall from grace of a hero, the loss of parents and probably, in a way, the passing of the French Empire with the uprisings in Algiers. There seems to be a far greater influence from literary fiction than English novels of the same period. A sorrowful psychological study.

I'd very much like to read further works by Aveline so will have to see what I can track down.

A visit

2011-07-16T21:24:00.001+10:00

Mum came up from the country for a few days and I took some time off work to escort her around Melbourne. She was doing some talks at libraries about her book Macrobertsonland - on Melbourne chocolate magnate Macpherson Robertson.

We went to Glenroy (eeek!) and we went to some other place that took about an hour to get to. I can't even remember what library it was now. It was a long way out anyway.

I forwent the opportunity to hear the talk yet again at the City library (where they served champagne! What public library can afford champagne?? Jealous!) we spent alooooooot of time on public transport. During the middle of school holidays...

A visit from my mum is really just one long afternoon tea. We require frequent fortification. I don't think I'll need to eat anything sweet for the rest of the month. We also did a fair amount of shopping and I got spoilt rotten! Highlights were several trips to Journal in Flinders Lane (excellent source of tea for the weary traveller), some absolute bargains at the closing sale of Readers' Feast bookstore (actually, that's quite sad - but I did very well out of it) and my first visit to the absolutely gorgeous Kim at vintage haberdashery store Lucello, in the beautiful and crafty Nicholas Building. It was love at first sight. Millinery flowers, embroidery thread, ribbons and trims... Sigh... all so pretty and inspiring. I picked up some truly gorgeous vintage buttons and will soon be popping back for some repro feedsack. And the 40s dead stock rouge. And the little Eiffel tower needlework scissors.

Oh and the other treat was at the Provincial Hotel. Mum conducted a walking tour through Fitzroy (I admit, I skipped that bit) and then finished it off at the Provincial - where I arrived just in time for tea and dessert. The chef read the book, was inspired by MacRobertson's chocolate creations and did his own interpretations. We had a chocolate trio - pistachio caramel with bits of chocolate 'sand' on top (I don't know what it was but it was yum), a syrupy liquor sploshed version of the classic Cherry Ripe, and a blob of chocolate that, when prodded with a spoon, oozed with grapefruit ice-cream. Yum. Yum. Yum.
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July in Paris - Monsiuer Lecoq

2011-07-12T19:54:00.001+10:00

The first stirrings of detective fiction were undoubtably influenced by the colourful (and slightly fictionalised) memoirs of Eugene Vidocq (and I quote freely from Wikipedia!) a former crook who subsequently became the founder and first director of the crime-fighting Surete Nationale as well as the head of the first known private detective agency. His memoirs were extremely popular and spawned a rush of pulp criminal memoirs, setting the stage for much of the interest in detective fiction that was to follow.

I've borrowed the memoirs from the library before but not found time to read them. I have the work on request so hopefully we'll get around to them in time for our July readings. Suffice to say that the image of the detective in France of the 19th century was that of a rogue, an underhand spy or informer well versed in the way of the criminal classes. Though it became unlawful to recruit former criminals to the police force in 1833, the prevailing notion was that you needed to set a thief to catch a thief.

It's in this context that Emile Garboriau wrote his popular Monsieur Lecoq mysteries. We first meet Monsieur Lecoq as a minor character in L'affaire by Emile Gaboriau (1866). He too is a former criminal turned detective. In subsequent works his past is tidied up - it is suggested that he merely planned elaborate crimes, but did not enact them. The Orcival Crime, File 113 and Slaves of Paris followed. Then in 1869 we get Monsieur Lecocq, telling the story of his first case. What 's work gives us is the first police procedural. The process is haphazard, opportunities are lost but on the whole it is recognisable - and this is quite exciting.

The police force was just coming into it's own. Cities were growing, the criminal underworld expanding. Into this maelstrom steps the new detective, master of reason, science and evidence. The detective is to become associated with ideas of progress and modernization, of bringing illumination to a dark underworld. He will be honest and trustworthy. You can see the cross over in Monsieur Lecoq. There is the now virtuous Ledocq, but also the petty, jealous and backstabbing Inspector Gevrol.

Garboriau declared that he wanted to bring close scrutiny to his works - and he does. We follow footprints, find caught threads and minutely observe the facial expressions of the accused. (And yes, Conan Doyle acknowledged the influence!) We also get a cracker of a street chase, down Parisian lane ways, shadowed doorways, brawling bars with dirt floors, by carriage and by foot. There is a tremendous amount of energy to the narrative and I must say Garboriau throws his detective some awful runs of mischance, bad luck and plain mistakes. The energy is infectious and I found it hard to put the book down to go to work (NOT why I was late this morning!)

A word of warning - this is a two parter. You get a solution to the mystery but not a resolution. I'll certainly be tracking down the other Lecoq works to continue the adventure.

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Care package

2011-07-11T17:01:00.001+10:00

A surprise at work! A care package for me!

Jumper knitted by my mum from a 1940s wartime pattern. Crazy lady hair courtesy of the wind and rain on my way home. Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

July in Paris - Arsene Lupin, gentleman thief

2011-07-04T21:30:00.001+10:00

'If you were a French newspaper-reader of pre-1914 Paris, you took your Lupin between sips of Pernod at cafe-tables on the boulevardes: you allowed him to entice your idle eye away from neighboring columns about Bleriot's channel-crossing or the assassination of Archduke Charles' (British critic William Vivian Butler)

I would have liked to have followed the development of the French crime novel in chronological order but when you're at the mercy of public libraries you'll have to read what you can get. Here we'll step back from Simenon's policier novels to look at turn of the century French crime writing.

Maurice Leblanc began his writing career with realistic works influenced by Maupassant and Flaubert. In 1905 he was commissioned by the publisher of Je Sais Tout journal to write a story in the mould of Arthur Conan Doyle and Doyle's brother in law Hornung (author of the Raffles series). Leblanc created Arsene Lupin, gentleman-thief.

Well groomed and debonaire, Lupin steals from the rich and gives (a little) to the poor. He is the master of disguise (this in the era before fingerprints). He delights in a challenge and is always ready to show off. He is, above all, a charmer. There is a definite element of humor in his escapades. The stories are treated in a way as an elaborate joke - with Lupin chuckling as he escapes with the booty.

It's speculated that Leblanc was influenced by real thief Marius Jacob (an anarchist who vowed never to kill and only steal from the rich - yet there were other gentleman thief characters around, which seems a more likely factor. You can also see the influence of fictional rogue Rocambole. Leblanc himself pointed to the works of Edgar Allen Poe as a major influence and you can see this in the fantastic nature of the crimes (Poe has a significant role in the history of French crime novels and deserves a blog post of his very own) - but it would be hard to see how else.

The Penguin edition, Arsene Lupin, gentleman-thief, translated by Michael Sims, is something of a 'best of'. As much of Leblanc's work was serialized, this book is made up of short stories and covers tales from the early to late period. It also includes an encounter with Sherlock Holmes. Leblanc included Holmes in several stories - though after an exchange with Conan Doyle's lawyers, he appears as Herlock Sholmes. In my opinion these stories are best forgotten. The remaining stories are very engaging - Lupin is a delightful character.

The Penguin edition is prefaced by an excellent essay - in which I learn that, such was Lupin's fame, Agatha Christie briefly toyed with the idea of creating Hercule Poirot in his image (and what a loss that would have been!) Like Maigret, Lupin was the subject of many films. He has inspired a Japanese manga and anime series (the best of which, The castle of Cagliostro, was directed by one of my favorite anime directors, Hayao Miyazaki). Only this year, Guerlain released a fragrance in Lupin's honor! And of course, it goes without saying that the Lupin tales led to the creation of The Saint.

They're not really mysteries as we know them. Lupin specialises in the impossible and there's many a 'locked room' theft. It all requires a huge suspension of disbelief but it's such awfully good fun. You'll be shaking your head wondering how he'll pull things off. In the later stories he takes on more of a detective role. Whatever the situation, he's a real charmer.

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July in Paris: Georges Simenon and Maigret

2011-07-02T21:01:00.001+10:00

If Agatha Christie is the Queen of Crime, Simenon is surely the King. His Inspector Maigret (and his pipe) is one of the most famous detectives in literature. Simenon wrote hundreds of books (often three or four a year), from which over fifty films and television series have been made.

Simenon wrote his first Maigret 'official' novel in 1931 (there were a many anonymous works but he considered them outside the main sequence). His early commercial work was proof read by Collette, who did much to create his style. She urged him to cut adjectives in favor of a sparse, lean prose. Not a word is wasted. ('I have always tried to write in a simple way, using down-to-earth and not abstract words.') Simenon famously wrote his novels in about ten intense days, leaving him physically exhausted. He'd start with a theme, chose a location and then his characters, all before devising a story.

Simenon's focus is human nature. His characters, however fleetingly glimpsed, live and breathe. He looks at them straight on, in all their squalidness, but with pity. As important as his characters is atmosphere of place. Place is so important to Simenon that you can get maps and tours of the locations of his novels. Though born in Belgium, France - and particularly Paris - was his true home.

I've never been a huge fan of his work. I go in expecting a classic mystery and get something else. It's perhaps inevitable that I would compare his work to that of the British authors of the Golden Age. There is no similarity at all! The Golden Age was typified by the problem puzzle. In Simenon's work, mystery isn't the focus. You're not presented with clues and invited to solve whodunit. British mysteries of the same period are genteel affairs, in an upper or middle class milieu. Simenon takes you straight to the gutter. His characters are long time criminals, gangs and prostitutes.

His themes are bigger too - escape, honest communication between individuals ('The fact that we are I don't know how many millions of people, yet communication, complete communication, is completely impossible between two of those people, is to me one of the biggest tragic themes in the world.'), the 'essential humanity of even the most isolated individual' and the sadness of being human. Not quite Ngaio Marsh!

To kick off Paris in July I'll be starting with two works, Maigret at the crossroads and Maigret and the enigmatic Lett. So far, it's a real treat. It's perhaps a cliche to talk about atmosphere with Simenon but this is fabulous stuff. He does so much with so little. The crime aspect is slightly over the top but I don't mind. We're not here for a mystery. We're here to dive into the criminal world of France. I'm just learning about Maigret, commissaire of the Paris Brigade Criminelle. With his trademark pipe, he is not a brilliant detective, but patient, methodical and unrelenting- and not adverse to punching an opponent. He does seem to drink a lot, but is not a drunk. As his character develops through the series he apparently becomes more psychological in his approach - he relies on his knowledge of the human character to solve the crime. He appears to be a weary, solid figure - aware of the sadness of the world and compassionate and unjudgemental of the criminals he encounters.

Loving them so far - and best of all - there are about 70 more to go!

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One more sleep

2011-07-01T20:55:00.001+10:00

Until le tour!

I want a yellow suit!
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Paris in July

2011-06-29T18:25:00.001+10:00

Always one to plan ahead, I've just decided to take part in Thyme For Tea and Bookbath's Paris in July blog celebration of Paris and all things French. Which means I have one day to get myself sorted. I'll be putting aside my war books (probably NOT what they had in mind) to focus on my first love - vintage mysteries. I've spent the evening reserving library books (which may mean that my Paris in July becomes Paris in 2012 - you never can tell when those inter library loans will come in!) To give the National Library time to decide if they want to lend me some 1940s books I'll start with Simenon's Maigret as I've got a few of those kicking around the house. So far the potential reading list includes:

Maigret and the enigmatic Lett / Georges Simenon
The double death of Frederic Belot / Claude Aveline
The blackmailers / Emile Gaboriau
Arsene Lupin, gentleman-thief / Maurice Leblanc
Fantomas / Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain

I've had to broaden my notion of both 'vintage' and 'mystery' as I am at the mercy of translators and the Australian library system. So I have two backup films - Rififi (technically a heist film but I've got a copy so that makes it an emergency contender) and an unknown film based on an early French mystery novel whose name escapes me and which I've currently loaned to my mother. I do remember seeing a film of Fantomas but it might be pushing it to find a copy in an Australian library.

All this while watching le Tour! Please join me in all things French this month - be it cooking a meal, listening to So Frenchy So Chic or hanging out with Proust. Leave a comment and let me know what you've been up to!

(Links to the other blogs will come once I can get my hands on the laptop. Blogger app - she no like links.)

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Lost: 1 puppy dog

2011-06-27T19:16:00.001+10:00

I took this green Bakelite fellow out to work today and it fell off my cardi somewhere. I've looked all over the library and he's just gone. I'm so sad.

As a pick me up I bought myself a copy of Ballard's Empire of the Sun. I read this over the weekend and I think it's fantastic. So so much better than Spielberg's film. I read an article Ballard wrote about the film - let's just say that it was markedly diplomatic! The book, about Ballard's own experiences as a child in a Japanese internment camp in China, is remarkable for it's lack of sentiment. To say it's about loss of innocence is to sell it short - it's a far more complex tale than Spielberg would have you believe. Despite the horrors of the camp Jim thrives in it. The book isn't about the heroism of those that experience war, but about the dreadful things we'll do in in order to survive. It's extremely powerful and illuminates a theatre of WW2 that is rarely discussed. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Unsatisfying reading

2011-06-26T19:02:00.001+10:00

I spent the weekend reading. It seems ages now since I watched a film. My first book was, frankly, irritating - as I suspected it might be so really, I don't know why I bothered. Though I'm a huge fan of thirties and forties mysteries, I've never really been a huge fan of Dorothy Sayers. Her central character, Lord Peter Wimsey is a pompous, elitist, show off. I do not like him. Miss Sayers appears to be in love with him. A colleague at work assured me that the new books in the series, written by Jill Paton Walsh, were rather good. To my regret, I succumbed. Thrones, dominations is irritating. Peter Wimsey and his wife spend far too long agonizing over their feelings. When their not quoting John Donne. Still I persevered. Presumed dead is set during 1942, so I was feeling quite hopeful. I do suspect that Walsh is aware of the more irritating traits of her characters as it appears she's made an effort to tone them down (whether or not you feel this is appropriately true to the original books is another matter). Thankfully, Peter Wimsey is absent from the beginning of the book, the sleuthing being undertaken by Harriet, Wimsey's wife. I didn't mind this part. But then Walsh has missed the mark in her depiction of war time England. There are shades of The man who knew too much that really just appear as lack of originality. Much is made of the undervaluation of women's work, then the independent actions of Harriet are completely eclipsed by Wimsey's return. The wealthy Wimsey's are continually shown to be buying under the counter - which wasn't funny, but something to be resented. When Wimsey makes reference to his family about the coding work at Bletchley Park, this was just too much for me - first of all he would never have known about it, secondly, he would never have mentioned it. Grrr. It was a bit like a theme park version of the war. Which is no matter if what we're here for is a good old fashioned mystery. But we don't get that either. It seems Walsh was having so much fun with her 1940s window dressing that she lost interest in it. And so did I.

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Silence of the sea - part two

2011-06-26T17:07:00.001+10:00

I've just finished a book in which the words 'semantic', 'extratextual' and 'Gestalt' feature with distressing prominence. I haven't delved into this sort of stuff uni. I find it intensely irritating. The book was The Silence of the Sea by Vercors - a major Resistance work of occupied France. The book itself wasn't the tricksy part - actually there is a bit of a problem with it and I'll get to that in a bit. The problem was the essays that accompanied it - they were longer than the actual work! Makes my head hurt.

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Bakelite!

2011-06-22T18:02:00.001+10:00

In the mail today - my first piece of Bakelite. It's a belt buckle and I love it. Just need to decide what fabric to make the belt from.

The music of angels

2011-06-21T18:26:00.002+10:00

June 21 is Fete de la Musique! All over the world Alliance Francaise organises free music in unexpected places. This year we worked with them to present two classical music performances at the St Kilda library. It was my first day back at work and we'd arranged the afternoon in a bit of a hurry so I was a bit unsure about what was actually happening (and if I could cope!) I needn't have worried, it was beautiful. We had students from the Australian National Academy of Music who live in the old South Melbourne Town Hall. A chamber group performed music by Bach and Mozart - so beautiful you could cry. Then students from the Melbourne Conservatorium sang ancient music. I've never heard the library so quiet as when they started with an austere 13th century religious piece. Magnificent. And people turned up. Phew! Now = tired but happy.

Holiday!

2011-06-20T20:50:00.001+10:00

Ah! All the exciting places I didn't go on my holiday! I spent a relaxing week on my sofa, largely in my pyjamas. I read some 1930s mysteries by Josephine Tey, caught up with Xena and did lots and lots of sewing. I finally conquered the jacket of doom! I must say i'm quite pleased with it and yes, lining and all, would be willing to sew it again. I tried a new shirt pattern, which was such a breeze that I made a long sleeved version, which wasn't a breeze at all - I suspect that I shall be getting the scissors out and it will soon be a short sleeve shirt. But that's ok, i now know how to do cuffs. I made a skirt which I'm not thrilled with, think I need some more practice there. I made a winter dress, the collar of which nearly killed me. And a summer dress that I love! (Yes, I know, summer dress... It started life as a shirt.) Plus my mum came up from the country! Yay! We went out to dinner at Kamel which was yum, had Thai takeaway and talked knitting. Best of all, she'll be up again in a month's time. Last day of holiday. So sad.

Curvy Kitty and the jacket of doom

2011-06-05T17:57:00.001+10:00

Things have been all topsy turvy this week. I had one sleepless night and for the rest of the week couldn't sleep until the early hours of the morning, only to wake far into the afternoon. And it's not as if I did anything late at night, but lie there fretting about not sleeping. So I was determined to get stuff done this weekend. I recently topped up my sewing stash at the Spotlight sale. I picked up some bottle green pinwale cord to make this 1945 jacket.

I've gone for number 1 with bishop sleeves and a collar. Unusual for a 40s pattern, this one suggests a lining. With guidance from some sewing blogs I drafted a lining pattern. The lining fabric, el cheapo bemsilk, was a nightmare to work with. Very slippery and tending to fray. (I was about to say I'll never work with silky fabric again but I'd love to make some lingerie.) Everything went wrong with this pattern. I sewed up my lining then melted it with the iron. Unpicked and salvaged what I could then cut a new piece. Except i forgot i was working from a different pattern for the lining so had to unpick and recut again. Luckily there was just enough fabric! Then I sewed the collar on crookedly. Turns out cord gives a bit when you sew so you have to start from the middle and sew out in both directions. I must have unpicked that collar four times. Then I couldn't attach the lining to the back neck facing. Took me four goes before I realized it was just like sewing princess line seams and that I had to cut wedges into the unsewn fabric in order to stretch it out. Phew! I'd be very happy with the lining - it makes for an instant proper finish - if i wasn't so worried about all the fraying that might be going on underneath. All that's left now is to attach the waist band, cuffs and decide on the buttons. For a proper finish i really should do bound button holes but i've never done those before and am a bit over sewing challenges right now.

Just noticed the lining sleeves are on back to front. Sigh.

Tired and grumpy

2011-05-30T18:41:00.001+10:00

I don't do so well without my 10 1/2 hours sleep! So we're going to cheer things up with some pre war glamour. French perfume, silk slips, fur coats and yards of fabric! American high society store Lord and Taylor of Fifth Avenue - Christmas catalogue 1941. I'm very sorry lovely person who scanned these images but - bad librarian - I don't recall where I got them.

-

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Some inspiration for my mum

2011-05-27T21:15:00.001+10:00

Referencing, of course, Ms Hepburn.

My mum wears a lot of trousers and is looking for some classic forties style.

I have the blouse from this pattern, and I admit it's my favorite, even nicer than the ones I make. It has nice darts at the waist so you can wear it untucked. Can't wait to have a go at the trousers.

Here's a version of the shirt in a soft knit. Bit plain on the fabric front I think. Not sure about taking the fullness out of the sleeves either. But you can see the shape.

The trousers made up.

Another shirt you can wear untucked.

Look at the detailing! Actually, I'd like to make a shirt like this. How hard can it be?

If this had darts at the waist this would be the most perfect shirt ever. That colour! Those flowing sleeves! Note the 40s limit on buttons.

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Flame and Citron

2011-05-26T19:38:00.001+10:00

This film about two members of the Danish Holger Danske Resistance Group is heartbreaking. Flame and Citron carry out assassinations of Danes who collaborate with the Nazis or inform against other Resistance fighters. Of course, there's a traitor in the midst but this is handled with more originality and honesty than you may have seen before. This is a film about ethics. What action is appropriate in war time? How are you to deal with committing violent actions you would ordinarily have shunned? Should you resist if it leads to reprisals against innocent people? How are foreign powers to deal with Resistance activities that may put military operations at risk? What I thought honest was the depiction of various Resistance groups, each with their separate political agendas (also done well in The Secret Army). Very sad, very handsome to look at and highly recommended. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I can't go out tonight

2011-05-24T20:01:00.001+10:00

Bert Hardy 1948

Because I have to wash my hair! For a girl from the 40s this is a completely valid excuse. Washing and setting is an ordeal, so you're probably going to only do this once a week. First brush your hair (100 strokes of course!) If your hair is dry, heat up some oil on the stove and rub it through your hair, massage into your scalp and wrap it up in a hot damp towel. You rinse this out with borax (now known as a skin irritant. You wouldn't have had a shower, so your stuck with a basin. You may not have had shampoo, just regular soap bar or flakes - and not much of it at that (you'll need your ration book!) No conditioner then, so you may have used a homemade treatment of vinegar (for brunettes) or lemon juice (blondes), egg if you're lucky, maybe a commercial spirit tonic or some bay rum. My Good Housekeeping says you then need to rinse it four or five times, until it squeaks. You probably don't have a hairdryer at home so you have to wait for it to dry by itself. This bit takes a while. Beauty magazines recommend sitting in the sun. Then there's the set - this takes even longer! I cheat a bit here and start with hot rollers. After an hour or so, I then set it in pin curls. I use mousse because I haven't got around to going to Circa in Fitzroy to pick up setting lotion. In the 40s you may have made your own with beer or linseed oil. You might go to the hairdressers every three to four weeks for a perm, so you're probably just perking it up. Sadly, my hair has lost all of its natural curl, so I set my hair in pin curls every night - as lots of women did. A bit of a drag but I do it while watching tv. Then tie it all up with a silk scarf to combat the frizz (thanks to the ladies at the Fedora Lounge for that tip). I start this process on a Saturday morning, Saturday being my movie watching day. I then pop a knitted turban on and leave it like that for the weekend. Phew! Pre war ladies would go to the salon about once a week I think.

Modern Beauty Shop 1942

Penny's Beauty Salon, getting a perm. Cold perming came in in the early forties but this scary contraption was still in use.

What a name! 1945

Greater love hath no man...

2011-05-22T18:15:00.001+10:00

...than to lay down his life for a friend. A line from war memorials across Australia. And the theme of the 1985 television series The ANZACS.

The notions of mateship and the ANZAC legend have been abused by Australian politicians since the 80s. So I was a bit suspicious that this was going to be cringeworthy. I'd also heard that it stuck the boot into the British high command - but while it seemed a tad like caricature at times, it was for the most part accurate (well, from what I do know of WW1 which isn't exactly my specialty) particularly the attitude of the British to the Australians at the battle for Pozieres. Actually, from an historical perspective, this was pretty accurate, as you'd expect with well known historian Patsy Adam Smith on board. Even the sillier episodes, such as the American troops stealing Australian uniforms to fight on July 4 - true!

I was expecting the larrikinism and lack of respect for authority to be overplayed. But it was a bit like hanging out with my grandad - that's the grandad who punched out his commanding officer in Signals Intelligence, not the grandad who used to go fishing with hand grenades while stationed in Darwin. So I found this series very entertaining and, by the time you get to Binyon's Ode at the end, moving.

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Hello Mr Mailman!

2011-05-19T21:33:00.001+10:00

Today I got some cheering packages in the mail!

See that gorgeous hooded shirt? It's not part of the pattern. Damn you Simplicity! I reckon I could fudge it, but still.

Vintage buttons! Buttons make me happy!

More Scottie dogs! Just can't get enough of them. I wore this today and was warm and toasty.

Patriotic wartime brooch. And the best parcel of all... from my mum!

The finished vest! From a 1940s pattern in the book Stitches in Time. Vintage 40s buttons from the Button Bower. My mum's the best.

So today was a happier day. Though I'd be a lot happier if I didn't have two crazy cats chasing each other through the apartment. I don't know about the neighbor killing the cats but if Lyle doesn't stop pacing I might have a go.
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Cat drama

2011-05-18T16:59:00.001+10:00

Someone threatened to kill our cats last night. We tried to talk to them about it but got a whole heap of scary abuse. This person lives in a nearby halfway house for troubled youth; there's drug and alcohol stuff as well as anger and aggression issues as well. So when they threaten our cats we take it seriously. We ended up calling in the police and while they were supportive, it doesn't really protect our cats or our home. I'm going to try to keeping the cats inside but I don't know how well that will go down and I can't do that forever. I'm scared and upset and don't like feeling unsafe in my neighborhood.

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Bucket loads of goodness!

2011-05-17T09:13:00.001+10:00

See these outfits? They're from a Japanese pattern book. A Japanese pattern book that I WON!! Thanks to the fabulous Adey of the Sew Convert blog - a fantastic dressmaker from Singapore. And that's not all I won, some Japanese fabric that's as cute as can be.

But hang on! This isn't forties! I know. I entered the competition to see if I could win it for my friend Donna. She's been talking about taking up sewing and I know her MIL Margaret is an absolute whizz. So I thought this might be a nice treat to get her inspired. Except I'm looking at that second fabric and thinking how sweet it would look for patch pockets. Sorry Donna, I might be snaffling that for myself!

The online sewing community is amazingly supportive. You can find all sorts of inspiration and advice. If I ever get stuck with a vintage technique, there's someone I can turn to for help. Yay for the internet! using BlogPress from my iPad

Loving dogs more than I ever thought I would

2011-05-16T18:56:00.001+10:00

Mine all mine!

I'm loving these little guys. They're wooden brooches from the 1940s - plastics being in short supply. L O V E them!

Crepe de chine for which I paid an absurdly small sum. Plaid with frisking Scotties. I was going to make a shirt from it but I'm liking the idea of using it to line a jacket - my secret little flash of puppy dogs inside something sombre. Lining was a no no during the war but let's not worry about that.

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Kanal

2011-05-15T18:54:00.001+10:00

I've just watched a profoundly bleak Polish war film, Kanal. This is an impressive film on many levels and I'm completely astounded by it. A few months ago the library splashed out on the entire Criterion Collection, which means that I have access to war films from the occupied countries. Andrzej Wajda's Kanal is a brilliant example. This film was made in 1957 and is an extraordinarily bleak and honest film. It's interesting to compare is to the mock heroics of American war films of the same era. And this film IS bleak. After a marvellous opening tracking shot we are introduced to a platoon of the Polish Resistance, in the dying end of the Warsaw Uprising. We are watching their final days. And the sense of doom is palpable. These men and women face certain defeat, and they know it. There are no blind heroics here. Just blind panic and fear. Surrounded by Germans, out gunned and without hope, the group flee to the sewers. There is a painful scene as Resistance members enter the sewers while panicked civilians are held back. And we already know their fate. The Germans are clearing the city building by building, shooting those they find. The cinematography is fantastic. Long tracking shots of a ruined city, as if the destruction is so complete, so vast that the camera can't take it all in. The scenes in the sewers are suitably claustrophobic. The group disintegrates. They get lost, delusional from fumes and lack of oxygen, with Germans gassing the tunnels, throwing down hand grenades and shooting those that emerge. There's a bit of what seems like gratuitous baring of skin - there are women messengers and in this it is accurate - but this only serves to highlight their desperation, and the depths to which they have sunk as Daisy's loveliness is besmirched by the shit she wades through. The group's goal becomes simply to breathe clear air and see sunlight. And the Germans deny them even that. The screenplay was written by a Resistance member - whose character appears as the leader of the Resistance group- and there is a confronting honesty to it. In all, a masterpiece. It's part of a war trilogy and I can't wait to see the others.

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Scottie dogs!

2011-05-14T09:12:00.001+10:00

Scottie dogs used to be super popular during the 20s, 30s and 40s. Myth has it that this was due to Roosevelt's puppy Fala - who certainly did a lot to boost the breed's popularity - but the truth is that Scotties were popular from after WW1. During these decades Scotties turn up on everything. Famous Scottie dog owners included Shirley Temple, Humphry Bogart, Bette Davis and Dorothy Lamour. And Eva Braun, but I don't think we'll use her as a guide. And of course, there's FDR and Fala. This dog was so famous a fight it had with another dog was reported in Time Magazine. Roosevelt made the famous Fala speech, where he countered rumors that he'd sent a destroyer to pick up the dog - at the cost of several millions of dollars.

Then there are the pin up puppies...

Textiles

Tea towels

I don't know if you can see but apart from the buttons there are Scottie dogs on the skirt too.

Appliqué! I'm going to try this. If I can. The quilting and the pin tucks look a bit tricksy.
Home wares...

I'm besotted! Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Brown paper packages

2011-05-11T20:53:00.001+10:00

I love mail. This darling package was from The British Homefront on etsy and contained a hair tidy. Like this -

So now when I set my hair in pin curls I can still look respectable! Perfect for sneaking out for a cup of tea on the weekend.

This is a Leeloo find. Yes, I did make something similar last year, but it's still languishing on my dressing table, sans brooch backing. And I have to admit, this one is far cuter.
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Tea - take two

2011-05-10T18:01:00.001+10:00

From the ridiculous to the sublime? After Friday's tea debacle today I had one of Melbourne's best tea experiences. Better than the art gallery? Well it doesn't have the same gravitas - you could leave at home your hat and gloves - but I think i've just discovered a good reason to visit Albert Park. AP cafes are a bit meh - over priced and with a few airs that I think are quite undeserved. Meet Hausfrau - the sister store of a popular Yarraville cafe. Isn't this pretty?

Sailor Lily and I had a fine time with chocolate brownies and a custard filled doughnut. Naughty!
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Vests and VE Day

2011-05-09T19:12:00.001+10:00

I spent VE Day at the library before coming home and pretty much camping in front of the heater. Brrrr! I've been struggling with a book on Allied deception plans for two months. This is one of my favorite topics but I don't seem to have much staying power - I just keep putting the book down. I watched a few documentaries, most enjoyably Spitfire Women about the female crews that flew warplanes from factories to air bases during WW2. Magnificent women and a very inspiring story. I sometimes wonder what war work I should have done. It happens that I don't know how to fly a plane so that's out. Munitions work pays well but the hours! And the danger! I will confess to being naively enthusiastic about the Land Army. All those knitted vests and overalls! The work was very very hard though, and the women faced a lot of prejudice in country areas. So I have to face it, I'd be in admin. I can type like the wind and file like a demon. Plus I would have had a uniform and that would have looked quite smart.

My new land girl vest. Not exactly an eBay steal but worth every penny. Actually it's still cheaper than buying a new one. My wonderful mother is currently in a knitting frenzy! She's been brave enough to tackle a vintage patten from the book Stitches in Time. She's started with a vest which we thought would be easiest but it turns out that those forties lasses really knew how to wield a knitting needle because it's been bit hard and I know there's been a fair amount of unravelling going on. But isn't it pretty?

I'm sure mum will want me to emphasize that this is a work in progress! But the end is in sight. Now we've just got to choose some buttons! Then I really, really need a new cardigan. I wish I knew how to knit but feel i've left my run a bit late. I really should have started while mum lived in the city.

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In which I visit a haberdashery store. Or two.

2011-05-07T18:41:00.001+10:00

Yesterday I went to a workshop on change management. I learnt that you don't always learn a lot at these things but it never hurts to get a reminder and it did give us a space to talk through a few projects we've got coming up at the library. I then learnt that getting let off early on a Friday is a real treat. I hardly ever go into the city - feel like country folk getting all fancied up to go 'into town'. I was with Sailor Lily so we popped down to Degraves Lane for a pot of tea, truly the most disgusting tea experience I have ever had. Filthy crockery, like major yucko, and a teapot half - that's right, HALF - full of tea leaves. Maybe half a box of Twinings tea. I know I'm a tad fussy about tea, but really! Plus they first tried to serve the tea in a glass. And you know how I feel about that. We ended up with espresso cups which wasn't exactly an improvement.

I then went to lincraft because they were having a sale. Here I learnt that Australians must be a nation of bogan sewers. The half of the store that wasn't tacky satins and sparkles was fleecy tracksuit material. I did manage to find something dress worthy. Maybe not winter dress worthy but come spring, this is going to be a treat.

I'm already calling it my picnic dress and I know I'm going to make a red bolero jacket with some of the fabric as a bias edging. Forties fabric bolts came in very narrow widths. This is one of the reasons their fashions have so many panels and seams in them. But it does make it a bit hard to estimate how much fabric you'll need with today's wider fabric widths. So I always panic and buy too much. Don't worry, said the Lincraft lady, you can always use the extra fabric making the skirt fuller. At which i got to say - heavens no! Don't you know there's a war on?

Back in the days when I was Ready To Wear, I used to loathe shopping. These days I get quite a kick out of it. I stopped into a store to try on mauve leather gloves. I tried on a pair of shoes - where I learnt that not only am I prepared to pay a squillion dollars on a pair of high heeled peep toes with a mass of frippery flowers on the toes (they didn't fit) but that I had one stocking on inside out (seamed stockings have a right and wrong side) and a ladder in both of them. The shame! I popped into Cleggs where I learnt that there's no longer any such thing as seam tape but that old ladies use lace. I don't think that scratchy nylon lace and nylon stockings are going to play well together so I guess I'm going to be trawling etsy for vintage dead stock. But I did get served by a lovely steam punk lady in a corset and bustle.

Made by me. I'm going to learn to pose better.- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Mistakes

2011-05-06T20:32:00.001+10:00

Mr Male Pattern Boldness is having a jeans sew-a-long. I must say I'm tempted. I did stop to check out the denim selection at Lincraft and it's all stretch. Independently, the words 'stretch' and 'denim' are enough to fill the novice sewer with fear. Put them together and you've got something that I'm certainly going to rush into without much thought for my abilities. Much in the same way I made this dress (my first), with princess seams (my first), and pockets (my first) and all without pattern instructions (again a first). How hard could it be?

I know that this luck is going to fail. Probably once I go all out and buy really expensive fabric. Which is where the denim comes in. It ain't cheap. Which is enough to sink the heart of a girl who might have just gone and spent rather a lot of money on this pattern.

All of a sudden ready to wear is looking pretty good.

Freddies of Pinewood. Want!
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Weddings!

2011-04-29T15:28:00.001+10:00

With a royal wedding it's time to revisit some favorite movie weddings:

Elizabeth Taylor in Father of the Bride (1950)

Gene Tierney in Razor's Edge (1946)

Joan Crawford in 1937's The Bride Wore Red...

...which is really more about this number!

Myrna Loy and William Powell in Double Wedding (1937)

And of course, How To Marry a Millionaire (1953)

The original run away bride! Ginger Rogers in It Had To Be You (1947)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (1957)

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ANZAC Day

2011-04-25T18:47:00.001+10:00

What a beautiful day for ANZAC Day! No dawn service for us this year but a nice sleep in, watching some of the march, then off on a jaunt to the other side of the river. We had a lovely stroll along Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. We popped into shops to look at overpriced vintage clutch purses (but so pretty!), try on some hats and look at frilly knickers. We picked up some stuff at bike stores then found a table for two under a plane tree for tea. Very relaxing! And everyone is so polite over there - no beggars, no crazy people!

We then trotted off to Chapel Street to do some boy shopping - we bought a new Mac and a camera - which is a super duper professional one! Today is last day of our long holiday so I'm going to catch up on some war movies.

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Easter bunny!

2011-04-24T20:31:00.001+10:00

Happy Easter! I've been super busy eating chocolate, watching old movies and sewing up a storm. I've made two shirts, a rather tight skirt (must stop eating chocolate!) and some jimjams. A friend came over with some proper Jewish chicken soup. While we were cooking Lyle came in proudly bearing a rat. Nice. While I was taking it out to the rubbish I found George with another one and while trying to save it from becoming cat food the little beggar bit me. Ouch! From now on the little critters are going to have to save themselves because it really hurt and I was worried about getting really sick (no lockjaw so far!) Not much fun.
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2011-04-19T19:50:00.001+10:00

I am now officially a sewer - I have a stash!

Had a day off work to spend with my sweetie. We slept in, I watched an episode of Xena with the cats, before we headed off to Prahran. We went to our regular cafe at the markets, where I had the biggest Anzac biscuit I've ever had in my life - so big I came over all thrifty and wrapped it up in my hanky for later. Then - excitingist of excitings - I went to Spotlight. There was lots to choose from and I got some bargains. Mainly cotton for shirts, a new skirt, a dress and a pair of pajamas. Yippee! My favorite part is button shopping. Though the fabric bit was a bit stressful. They cut the fabric and I completely panic that I've not bought the right length. My young man has been on at my to treat myself to a fabric shop for a while, and he's right, I love sewing and now vow to do it more often. It was so nice to spend time with Mr C, and now we're having our favourite dinner - yakitori chicken. Yum! I also bought a few secret treats on etsy - but that's a surprise for when they arrive!
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Half watched movies

2011-04-17T16:12:00.001+10:00

God I hate Spielberg. I dragged myself through Empire of the Sun and he just confirmed for me yet again that he is one of the least original, banal directors ever. And people LOVE this film. Grrrrr.

I then watched a series of Damien Parer's news reels. I must confess that I didn't give this my full attention, not because the footage isn't moving, but because, if you're an Australian, you're probably very familiar with his work. It features some of the iconic imagery of Australian forces during the war - notably on the Kokoda Track. Parer actually won Australia's first Academy Award for one of his news reels.

I've been thinking I'd like to do the Kokoda Trail trek - but people die on it even these days so I'd have to do a tremendous amount of training!

Also got around to watching Melville's Silence de la Mer - one of his first films. Based on a famous Resistance novel published by the underground press. As a film it's wonderful, as a Resistance piece it's curious. A Nazi officer is billeted in a farm house in rural France. The owners, an old man and his niece show passive resistance by ignoring the officer. They literally only say one word to him throughout the film. The role of the officer is surprisingly positive - he's a Good German. But I do find his naivety difficult to swallow and somewhat unbelievable. Though one of the conditions of Melville being able to film the book was that he get it vetted by Resistance leaders. All but one approved it - so if they're not troubled by it, who am I to quibble. As for resistance - it's of a very passive kind. The French have a word for these type of people during the Occupation which translates roughly as 'the waiters' - people who did nothing but sit out the occupation and wait for it all to be over. Not quite what we've come to expect from the Resistance myth. The film barely conveys that even to do this was an extremely brave act. So I was left with the feeling that they hadn't done quite enough. Again, who knows what I would have done in similar circumstances. Still, it's an economical piece of film making.

I don't know why I can't pay attention at the moment but I'm half watching the 1948 Ealing drama Against the Wind. It's about the SOE - one of my favorite topics. I missed the beginning so I'm not really sure what's going on. But other critics have said it is confusing at the beginning so I'm just waiting for the story to start.

And I half watched Olivier's Hamlet. I'm not a huge fan of Hamlet to begin with - he seems like a moody teenager - most annoying. And at 40 Olivier was surely a trifle long in the tooth? Though regarded as his best at the time it's now been downgraded. And rightly so.

So not showing much movie stamina right now! And my book pile is growing and I've neglected that too. And I should be sewing... What have I been doing with my time?!

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Laziest blogger award

2011-04-17T13:57:00.001+10:00

The Laziest Blogger Award goes to...me! Been super busy busy at work, with night shifts and author talks, school holiday programs and more auditing work. Busy but good. Now it's time to watch some movies and relax before I do a Sunday shift tomorrow. Been buying still more patterns. I think it's time to take a break from that for a while, and actually start sewing!

A house dress - how glamourous will I look doing the dishes?!

I am completely in love with this pattern but a bit concerned about getting the fit right. The original owner has drawn a plaid pattern on the bodice and I'm thinking a contrasting fabric there is a pretty good idea.

Because I love vintage sleep wear. And because madam on the left has a cute hair set.

I broke my pattern rule with his one. I generally keep pattern and postage to $20 or under - but this one is just so special I spent a bit more.You don't get many culotte patterns from the 40s.

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New hair cut

2011-04-10T10:35:00.001+10:00

Victory rolls looking a bit wibbly wobbly.- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Glamour puss!

2011-04-08T16:26:00.002+10:00

Last night I had a makeover. I finally got my hair cut. And holy moley! I've found a hair dresser who's interested in vintage styles. I dropped off my Lauren Rennells styling book and the Turudich bible of 40s styles. And she read them both! Then spent the rest of the day researching techniques online. What a marvel.

First up we talked about colours. I wanted something dark, she wanted red. She started to point out colours that were in fashion and didn't seem to mind when I told her I didn't care about that! Hairdressers always tell me not to go dark as it will 'wash me out'. I was hoping this was just the spray tan interpretation of what I would call 'elegantly pale'. So dark it was.

The cut was exactly as the book described. She then set my hair in pin curls, bless her. Perhaps not the set I would have done, but at least she's giving it a go. I'll see how I go with it tonight.

So, an informed hair dresser who listened to what I had to say, explained what she was doing and let me have my way if I insisted. She asked me to pop in and see her today to show her how the set turned out and listened to my feedback about how we could do it better. Awesome!

And because winning one thing isn't enough for me - check out this competition! I could win this little guy!

I'm sure Mr C thinks I need a proper pincushion instead of leaving pins on the floor for him to step on. And if I don't win this cutie, they can help me make my own pincushion: http://www.sewweekly.com/2011/04/no-sew-hat-pincushion-tutorial.html

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A stitch in time

2011-04-07T17:41:00.001+10:00

Look what arrived at the library this morning! A stitch in time knitting features patterns from the 20s, 30s and 40s. Sadly, I am not a knitter. But luckily, I have a mum who's a whiz at it!

I'm looking for a new cardi so that I can give my brown one a rest. These are the options:

What do you reckon? It will depend a lot on what wool mum can get in country Victoria too, but I, of course, am thinking mulberry and plum and wine colours.

Glass half...

2011-04-05T17:55:00.001+10:00

Some things aren't so flash. A fight with my dad about the wedding. (Yes, seriously. And the wedding is A YEAR away!) My mum's darling Nik cat fading. A friend losing her beloved dog. Discovering a massive potential auditing headache. Realizing ALL my girlfriends now live interstate. My sister's in a financial pickle.

But then there are good things. Like payday. (Oh no! Etsy beckons!) Like autumnal sunshine. Hairdressers that find forties styling techniques exciting. Friends over for pizza. Breakfasts with puppy dogs. A new cycling buddy. Winning a blogger's give away!!! A new blouse pattern! Yay! My poor demented kitty cat coming inside for the first time in a year. Xena!!

Look at the pattern I won!

Pattern frenzy

2011-04-04T20:19:00.001+10:00

More pattern shopping. There are 1940s patterns out there selling for $70. It's crazy. So I figured I'd snap up patterns on the cheap while I can. I really should buy some fabric soon, but it's so expensive here.

This is a 1941 pattern. Dolman sleeves like this were popular in the early 40s but dropped off with the war. Thought it would be nice in wool crepe for winter.

Again, I'm looking for a winter outfit so will probably go with bracelet length sleeves. I've never sewn a peplum before and not too sure that it will suit me. If it works I'm hoping I can adapt it for my pansy dress reconstruction.

Love the bow detail! I think this is such a librarian's outfit.

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A film or two

2011-04-03T11:05:00.001+10:00

300
Well, it's certainly entertaining, but I don't think I can get my head around the fact that this isn't history in any way. The character of Spartan society troubled me a little too, I'm not sure this is altogether something to admire. Still, it was fun and it did look awfully good.

Beneath Hill 60
A good film. Not brilliant - but I good small film about miners digging tunnels beneath enemy lines in WWI. I'd just finished reading the book on the battle for Pozieres so I know that contributed to my enjoyment of the film. It's got some real tension going on. Good stuff. But the best stuff is the story of how it was made. Local football clubs filled the trench sandbags as part of their training. Little old ladies from the area knitted gloves and wrote love letters in their period handwriting. German backpackers in the area volunteered to be German troops. Returned soldiers from the Middle East played wounded troops. Plus they managed to make Townsville look like a bombed out, muddy Belgium.

The life and death of Colonel Blimp
Another Powell and Pressburger film and I absolutely loved it. It chronicles the life of an old fashioned soldier from the Boer War to WWII, and how he struggles to understand the changing nature of warfare. As with many P &P films it is also about what it means to be English. Near perfection.

La Vie en Rose
I don't often abandon films. But my! what an unpleasant woman Edith Piaf appears to have been. And because I disliked her so much I'm inclined to doubt her claims to having worked for the Resistance during the war - she certainly entertained enough of the Gestapo. Plus, it's hard to see how you earn an Oscar for pretending to be drunk and screaming at people. Horrible.

Pepe le Moko
The French original. A complete fairytale of a film. Pepe is a thief who is holed up in the Casbah of Algiers. As long as he stays there he's safe, but the instant he leaves he'll be scooped up by police who have waited years to catch him. Of course, he's undone by a woman. It's regarded as the proto- film noir. Remade pretty much shot for shot in the 40s with Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr (ah, Hedy!) which makes for pretty spooky viewing. Which do I like better? I think this version. Jean Gabin as Pepe is superb, Charles Boyer makes him a bit of a soft playboy. Can't remember who the woman is but she's flintier that Hedy - plus she has those amazing 30s eyebrows! The shots in the Casbah are beautiful, helped by a curious barrel distortion? Vignetting? Anyway, the edges of the frame are quite blurred, only the very centre of the shot is in focus. Dreamlike.

Double Indemnity
Because we love Barbara Stanwyck. I don't normally do much film noir because I can't stand to see people willfully putting their head in the noose, but this is one of my favorites. Two people both rotten to the core, who couldn't leave well enough alone. I've decided to read the book.

F For Fake
Technically speaking, I didn't watch this because I abandoned it halfway through. I think this is Orson Welles' last film and it's a loose documentary on a pair of hoaxes. I hated it. The editing techniques are superb and ground breaking, it's here that the movie derives most of its energy. Because apart from the editing, it's a curiously passive film that doesn't really explore or do anything. Bored me to tears and just proves again that I hate the 70s.

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What ho!

2011-03-28T15:37:00.001+11:00

I've been having a lovely few days off, getting into a relaxing routine. I've worked at a local street party, representing the library with our wheelbarrow of free books. It was a tad tiring but I had a great time. Lots of regular borrowers came up to say hello and lots of new people were very happy to pick up a book for free. I got a yummy sausage from the St Kilda football club sausage sizzle and picked up some cupcakes from the Nelson Street kinder cake stall. A friend from the street came down with a cup of tea at half time which was very much appreciated. It was a lovely neighbourhood event. Then I trotted off to the bike store where Mr Chairman was building his new winter bike.

I've managed to fit in a few films too. I loved Laurence Olivier's Henry V. I have mixed feelings about Larry, he's such a ham! This was a fabulous wartime morale raiser - no ambiguity about King Hal's motives here! The production is beautiful, modeled on medieval Book of Hours.

I rewatched The Postman Always Rings Twice. Man I love Lana Turner. Plus I realized I have a pattern very similar to her dress (well, it has a keyhole neckline) which I'm now inspired to sew in white fabric for summer.

What else did I watch. Oh! A film based on Gypsy Rose Lee's novel The G String Murders. Lady Burlesque is a ripper. It stars the ever fabulous Barbara Stanwyck and the costumes, closely modelled on Gypsy's own, are lust worthy.

I'm a fan of GRL so I really enjoyed this trip backstage to the world of burlesque.

I've finally got around to watching Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death. I haven't seen this film for years (since sneaking in for free to the Tas Uni film society's screening with my mum). They may be my favorite directors, no one does wartime England better. The Technicolor is stunning. And of course I've only a black and white photo to show you!

I was hoping to sneak in 300 (well it is a war film!) but Xena is on. Toodle pip!

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Busy as a bee!

2011-03-23T18:32:00.001+11:00

Beautiful Ava Gardner on a bike! Doesn't she look happy?

I'm feeling pretty chipper myself, despite the fact that I spent the bulk of the day talking financial stuff (I came a way from a meeting with two pages worth of things to do!) I also trotted out to the Jewish Museum for the afternoon. I thought I'd take up a treat. Did you know Glicks sell biscuits by the kilo? How could I resist? I was feeling pretty Kosher until I had a last minute pang about rocking up in forties clobber. This is something that bothers me every now and again - am I going to upset anyone? (You'd think being friendly with a Rabbi would reassure me!) There was an elderly woman at the reception desk who looked at me very sternly - uh oh. Then she told me I'd done my hair wrong and that I should be able to get a pen through my Victory Roll. So we had a lovely chat and shared some of my biscuits while I waited for my meeting. (And yes, while I waited for people in the library I did sit there sticking a pen through my hair.) Everything was good until I decided to walk home. High heels are all very well for tripping around the library but not for striding around St Kilda. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Latest news

2011-03-22T19:23:00.001+11:00

Big news at Maison de la Chairman! And no, I'm not talking about our recent spate of underwear thievery! (Apparently this is called snowdropping - bet you didn't know that!) Am somewhat bemused to find that none of MY underwear has been pinched. Probably because it looks like this:

Period perfect passion killers! I would like some Hollywood style frilly, lacy French knickers and have a new lingerie sewing book to help further the cause. I did start making some but ran out of fabric, but that was a pattern that I'd adapted so I don't think that abandoning it is that big a disaster!

Anyway - news:
To quote one of my favorite swing era tunes,'I'm wishing all the boys a big, big bye-bye, 'cause me and my honey are settling down'. My young man has been asking me for some time and I've been dragging my heels. I don't know why. I'd never really imagined getting married. (Except maybe to Lucy Lawless!) I'd rather like to spend the rest of my life with this young man. But a wedding? I dunno. Well it turns out I've changed my mind about weddings. My mum's been counseling me quite frankly that life is short and there's no point in mucking around (ok, she may have expressed it more gracefully, but that's the gist of it). In the light of recent events in Japan, NZ and North Africa, it's important to celebrate happiness while you can (goodness, I sound like a war bride!) Plus mum turned up a ring!

The ring belongs to my Great Aunt Patty, who was a children's author. It arrived at the library in the mail and I popped out from doing the library banking and trotted down to the bike store. 'What do you reckon?' he asked. 'Will I do?' And I'm not really sure now what I said. It's possible that I still haven't said yes yet. But the ring is on and we celebrated by having a cup of tea out the back of the library. Then I had to go finish my cashiering.