… is probably somewhere else!  With Portland, Oregon winter (and spring and fall) temps in the 40-degree F area and near constant rain, it’s a little hard to imagine sunshine.  Note that the picture was taken in the relative warmth and comfort of my sewing room as it was 40 degrees, pitch dark, and pouring rain outside.  I aspire to summer.  Maybe we’ll have one this year!

The Facts
Fabric:  Thrifted sheets
Pattern: Vogue 8648
Year: 2012
Notions: Zipper, Hook/Eye, Thread
Time to Complete: 8 hours or so
First worn: Probably next summer.  Assuming we have summer.
Wear Again: Definitely
Total Price: $0

As soon as I learned that Mad Men was coming back to our television screens on March 25th, the tie-in theme was added to The Sew Weekly editorial calendar (March 19th is the week, to be precise). By far, this had been one of the most requested challenges — especially from my four lovely 2011 contributors.

So far, the show has spanned five years — 1960-1965, with each new season taking place one or two years after the previous one. Assuming this pace, I would guess that the show will pick up in Spring of 1967. If you’re participating in this challenge you can, of course, choose any fashion trend from Mad Men. However, if you want to be a little fashion-forward, here’s my take on what the women of Mad Men will be wearing next season.

Betty Francis

Oh, Betty. For years, she has been immaculately dressed and presented as the facade of the perfect 1950s/1960s wife. With her cinched waists and billowing skirts, she’s held onto late 1950s and early 1960s fashion the longest. In season four, she’s married to the anti-Don, the boring Henry Francis and is getting a little too familiar with the bottle. When you’re married to Henry Francis, you just don’t care any more. That should be embroidered on a pillow.

I can imagine that her clothing will become even more conservative and politician’s wifey with a lot of knits/suits in her future. As she ages (and possibly has a fourth child), it’s very possible that she’s not going to be presented as the beauty of the show and her outfit choices will reflect that.

Peggy Olson

Other than Sally, Peggy seems to represent the closest bridge to a modern woman. Of all the women on the show, her character has had the least flattering and fashionable outfits. Oh, the first season! Based on her bohemian interests and her advancement at work, I think Peggy will actually be more on-trend for the late 1960s. Her clothes may still be kind of ugly with far more polyester than we want to see, but she’ll be closer to the 1970s than 1960s. And she’ll be wearing pants to work.

Joan Harris

When we last saw Joan, she was informing her creep doctor husband that yes, her breasts were indeed bigger. I find it highly unlikely that Joan will still be pregnant when the series starts up again. She’ll probably already have her little silver-haired baby in tow and will be dressing like the casual 1960s mom that she always wanted to be.

This last season we were treated to a number of shots of Joan hanging out in her apartment, dressed in pants and casual tops (even pajamas and glasses!). I predict more sweaters, more capris and far less wiggle dresses.

But yeah, her breasts will still be huge.

Megan Draper

Oh sad little Megan. She’s going to be the star of the show, sartorially speaking. Sure, her marriage will be a complete train wreck but she’ll now have the means to dress even better than she did as a secretary (and she dressed well, then!). She’s got to make a look for herself that’s so Not-Betty. Picture more sophisticated, sexier and more expensive styles. But she’s still far younger than Don, so despite her desire to be someone’s wife, she’s going to rebel. But look pretty good doing it.

Original Inspiration

• Free Day Dress from modcloth.com $49.99

Resources

• Fabric: Daydream Main Cream from fabric.com ($7.98/yd)
• Pattern: Butterick 5486

Plus…

• Cute and Tie Necklace from modcloth.com ($34.99)
• Keep ‘Em Perforated Heel from modcloth.com ($64.99)

Original Inspiration

• Centerpiece of My Heart Dress in Wildflowers

Resources

• Taza Lisa Yellow
• McCall’s 6201

Plus…

• Hot for Hemlock Heel in Crimson
• Pearl Glam Necklace from modcloth.com ($39.99)

Yesterday, I picked up some fleece (so there would be no hemming to do) so Penelope could make a simple dress. Other than cutting the fleece, she pretty much did every step on her own. She pinned the pattern, figured out what seams she needed to stitch and worked the pedals and feed on the machine. The dress is, as you can imagine, a bit of a mess but she LOVES it.

Here’s a brief video of her doing a little sewing.

And she is, pinning:

And here’s my little Punky Brewster modeling her creation! Bonus points if you can spot my dog!

1. The feed issue. A number of folks have written to tell me that the five featured contributors aren’t appearing in the core feed. I didn’t realize this was the case and am still trying to figure out a workaround for it. The volume of posts is not as overwhelming as it was during the first week, so you may want to subscribe to the full feed.

2. Contributors. If you signed-up to be a contributor last year, you would have received an email explaining how to create an account and the guidelines for posting. If you have yet to be able to sign-up, please let me know in the comments of this post. If you are a contributor, you should also be a member of The Sew Weekly Contributors 2012.

3. The unauthorized access issue. If you sent me an email about this issue, it’s been resolved. Thanks for letting me know!

4. Commenting! A lot of comments are being marked as spam and since I need to manually approve them, there’s a bit of a delay. I’m working on this issue so please bear with me!

5. I broke my sewing streak last week. You probably already noticed that I didn’t participate in the button challenge. I took a break and it felt good!

Original Inspiration

• Courtney Coat Dress from trashydiva.com ($181.00)

Resources

• Fabric: Pin-Up Girls Cheetah White from fabric.com ($8.48/yd)
• Pattern: Simplicity 2338

Plus…

• Minding My Business Casual Heel from modcloth.com ($32.99)
• A Crinkle in Time Scarf in Flan from modcloth ($15.99)

• How to Use The Dritz Bound Buttonhole Tool over at the Coletterie. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run into this vintage tool at Alameda, estate sales and flea markets. And they’re usually still in their packages. I know I have at least three of them (Why I buy them each time, I do not know?0 Without detailed instructions, the tool seems a bit overwhelming. Thankfully, The Coletterie has photo-illustrated instructions on how to use this little tool. For this week’s challenge, I’m going to attempt to make bound buttonholes. One, because it’s a technical challenge. And two, I can’t find my buttonhole foot for my machine.
• Gertie’s Bound Buttonhole Tutorial. Gertie explains how to make bound buttonholes without using a fancy tool like the Dritz one above.
• Handmade Buttonholes in Three Variations from the Coletterie. Old school.
• How to make Hand Worked Buttonholes from A Fashionable Stitch
• How to Make a Buttonhole from Sew, Mama, Sew!
• Brother Buttonhole Snap-on Foot Tutorial. This is the foot I use when I can actually find it.
• Sewing Buttonholes and Buttons from Dana Made It. This uses a standard buttonhole, not automatic buttonhole foot.

Detail from Evening Dress from House of Worth ca. 1908

Detail from Evening Dress from House of Worth, ca. 1910

Detail from Evening Dress from House of Worth, ca. 1910

Detail from Evening Dress from Simcox, ca. 1912

Detail from Evening Dress from House of Worth, ca. 1924