Shake a Leg?

Yay! A few weeks ago I won Welsh Pixie's 100th-post giveaway. Today, this auspicious package arrived in the mail:


I opened it to find:


Yes, that is a single leg on top:


Beneath that is a very pretty and useful bag (handmade, Toria? And the leg, too?)


And two very nice patterns:


I am a very happy camper! Thank you Toria!

I'm A Winner!

Yay me! I entered Toria's e-Bay Queen/100th post giveaway over at her delightful Welsh Pixie a week or two ago and I won! Toria posted pictures of fabulous items (be sure to check out the yellow shoes!) she had won on eBay and asked us to guess what she paid. I figured I might have a shot at winning in a random drawing if everyone guessed wrong, and anyway I like typing this: £. But I won, as we lawyers say, "on the merits"--I correctly guessed the price of appraised an unknown length of lovely lace. Thanks, Toria!

So on the theory that Toria's readers might be checking me out today, here are some pictures to look at. First, a recognizable piece of a Negroni shirt just to show I really am working on the MPB Sew-along, really! Although it looks like I'm making my muslin from a paper bag, it's actually a khaki-colored bed sheet. In this picture it's lying on an olive/gold/rust moleskin I bought on sale from FabricMart that, if all goes as planned, you'll be seeing a LOT of during Me-Made-March '11.



Second, this is a billboard I pass every day on the way into my office. The clothing on offer at this Korean Italian tailor's establishment is very conservative and, well, establishment, but I love the jolly androgeny of the models sporting these suits. When its lease expires this shop will close so that the school where I work can expand and open a dormitory. That will be great for us, but I'll miss these guys. Or gals.

A Prize Book

I bought this book the other day from a used book shop in Wales.

It is signed by the author, Jean B. Lumsden, dated 1955.

According to the book jacket,

Miss Lumsden is a teacher of domestic science and has had plenty of experience in the practical field of stitchery. The result is an excellent handbook on all varieties of sewing which every housewife will want to have in the house. It should also be of considerable use in Training Colleges and Secondary Modern Schools. The book includes chapters on embroidery, the pricking out of a design and drawn thread work, and the use of sewing machines, but the greater part of it is devoted to all aspects of dressmaking, including a section on the choosing of materials and colours

All for 12s 6d net or, in today's used bookstore pricing, £4.50.

The book was presented as a prize for First Place in Form I to Veronica Pierce-Butler.



It could be that Veronica Pierce-Butler is a member of the English Peerage, where both a Charlotte Veronica Pierce-Butler and a Nora Veronica Pierce-Butler are listed: C. Veronica P-B was born in 1942 and would have been about the right age to have topped the First Form in Easter Term 1955.

I find all of this enchanting. I even like Headmistress Dorothy R. Thompson's penmanship. Also included in the book was an old pattern piece for a belt, with no printing on it, just little holes.