Seawolf - Front

            Hello everyone.  Seawolf is coming along nicely.  Finished kitting the front.  I designed the sweater to have a kangaroo pocket on the inside, hidden if you will. I wanted to knit this in a way that had as little sewing as possible.  Here is a quick run down of how it went.

1) Knitted the bottom rib

2) Using waste yarn marked the center needles where the pocket will be placed

3) Knit to the bottom of the pocket opening

4) Put sides on hold and knit center stitches and decreased as pattern shows for pocket

5) When pocket is finished cast off top onto waste yarn. Remove from machine and let hang to the knit side
6) Rehang the marked purls back onto the machine knit to bottom of pocket opening
7) take sides off hold and continue to knit to the top of pocket
8) Transfer center needles onto the ribber to move them out of the way
9) Rehang the top of the pocket onto the machine making sure no stitches get dropped and unravel waste yarn cast off
10) Transfer needles from ribber back onto knitter and continue knitting

           I continued kitting up to the bottom of the armhole, marked those and decreased for the shaping.  I designed this so it had an area of purl stitched surrounding the neck to give it some stitch texture.  This was easy to do since I followed my pattern grid and just transferred the stitches to my ribber.  I had to do some partial knitting and some decreasing the shape the neck and the shoulder slope.  After all that it turned out pretty nice.  Notice the pink yarn?  It is waste yarn that I knit the shoulders onto so I can "graft" the shoulder seam together.  Grafting is simply a way of attaching shoulder seams seamlessly.

 

           I hope you enjoy the pictures of my progress.  More to come soon!
 

Philip - In Brooklyn

Back to WOOORK!! 12-6-10

            Well hey there beautiful Patterned History readers!  Yes another weekend has passed us by and it is time to get back to WOOORK!  Imagine if this was your work uniform... so quit bitchin about your hangover.

  

Philip - In Brooklyn

          

It May Be Cold Outside...

            ... but these vintage illustrations are broiling hot!  In the first episode of the 4th season of "Mad Men" featured Jantzen coming to get some ad magic from Little Donnie Draper.  But as we all know they passed on his work and returned to they're old stand by campaigns.  With illustrations like these why WOULDN'T you!?  Which reminds me I am no where near ready for 2 piece Resort Wear!

 

 

Here is some actual Jantzen ads from the late 50s. 

Thanks to Tom and Lorenzo for finding and posting them.

 Philip - Brooklyn

Back to WOOORK!! 11-29-10

Hey Y'all!

Just another Monday posting of fabulousness to get you through your WOOORK week!
It's cold out there.  Don't forget what a wonderful opportunity this is to don your gay apparel, such as the dashing hat and gloves modeled by our good friend Jean Harlow below.
Enjoy!

-Kathleen, In Oakland

Google Search "Merry Widow"

Google image searched "Merry Widow" here is some of the results.

 

Um.... OK!  Work it out Australian Ballet

 

Just having a ball and laughing in my foundation garment.

Dorothy Francis 1921

Merry Widow Hat circa 1909

Indeed

Philip - In Brooklyn

Happy Thanksgivin's!

Happy Thanksgivin's Patterned History Readers!

            Sorry this comes a bit late in the day but guess who got stuck with cooking duty.  That's right, I did.  But it's ok.  I kind of enjoy being a host.  People get to make Donna Reed comparisons and that is NEVER bad.  

            I hope everyone ate more than they should have and said some snide comments to their least favorite family member.  My gift to you on this day of thanks is the J.C. Leyendecker painting commemorating Thanksgiving 1928.  I don't know much about this painting since I'm too full to research it further.  The couch is where I am and also where I'll stay for the rest of the night.  But hey, the footballer is easy on the eyes so it's got that going for it.

Philip - In Brooklyn

Seawolf - Sleeve Y'all

            So this little puppy is finally getting some love again.   I broke out the knitting machine and whipped myself up some sleeves.  First i had to finesse my pattern a bit and work it out on a grid.  I decided to knit it with a cable design going down the sleeve.  I used my Hand Manipulated Stitches For Machine Knitters book that I purchased earlier this year and found a beautiful opposing rope cable. 

            I patterned my sleeve out on a knitters grid in order to mark out all my increases and cable crosses in order to make sure no row counting got messed up.  That happens a lot and cables must I say MUST be placed the same amount of rows apart.  No one wants wonky cables.  Unless you're into that sort of thing, but I'm certain that's exactly the sort of thing that would get you into hot water with one, Mr. Joe McCarthy.

             Don't worry fellow knitters.  I plan on doing a post on machine knitting cables, please stayed tuned.

Philip - In Brooklyn

Back to WOOORK!! 11-22-10

           Well it's time to get back to WOOORK!  This edition is featuring none other than Miss Millie Dilmount.  Julie Andrews, in "Thoroughly Modern Millie", portrayed a young "modern" in 1920s New York City.  Millie is looking for love, types 40 words per minute and excels in singing catchy bad ass musical numbers.  Also while all this is going on she rocks a Jean Louis ensemble that really delivers.  No I mean REALLY delivers!  This is one of those "Punch a Bitch in the Face" kind of looks that leaves your jaw smartin' for days!  Little known fact is that Miss Dilmount, in the opening sequence of this movie, is the original inspiration for the term "WOOORK!"

 

 

Philip - In Brooklyn

Taking a Moment, Bob Mackie and His Pal Cher

           Ok peeps I am a HUGE fan of Mr. Bobby Mack.  We're pals so he lets me call him Bobby Mack. And we all know that Bob and Cher are, as a busted New Jersey Housewife once said, "as thick as thieves".  Although I think she was talking about how she liked her gravy at that moment.  Those two kids are always hangin out, doing each other's nails, talking about boys and most of all playing dress up.  Well you know who benefits from all of that dress up time?  I DO! I mean, WE do.  Come on... this shit speaks for itself!

Bob's buddy Cher in "Vanity Fair" this past month. 

The dude to her left is prolly creamin his panties!

Cher "Turning Back Time" at the VMAs 2010.

Singing "Take Me Home"... I wanna take that ensemble home. 

I've got a baby shower coming up with nothing to wear!

Cher in Bob's "understated look"

             On a serious note, I did get the rare honor to meet Mr. Mackie.  I was in design school in L.A. in 2001 and called his costume shop in order to see if they could ID some sketches he may have illustrated.  The gentleman on the other line was more than happy to invite me down to the shop so he could tell me if Bob drew them.  I asked if he was that familiar with Mackie's work and career, and he said "Of course!  I AM Bob!"  I was floored! So we spoke for a bit more and coordinated a time for me to stop by and before I hung up he told me in passing to bring my portfolio too.  I mean REALLY!  The Raja of Rhinestones was gonna take time out of his day to just shoot the breeze with a 19 year old kid and look over his college level portfolio!?
              When I showed up I asked to see Bob, he met me out front where he quickly IDed the sketches as being his work and then he invited me to take a tour of his facility, lead by him, Bob Mackie.  Who does that!? 
              He showed me his work table where he still sketches in Prismacolors and behind him were all the Barbie (registered trademark of the Mattel corporation) patterns.  So at this point I felt like I was on some sort of Acid trip gone awry.  This can't be real, but it kept on going.  He showed the room where the little ladies were beading a gown.  Then we walked past a magenta fox fur cocoon coat on a dress form and he stopped to show me the narrow strip of beading inserted between the pelts. He said "You can't even see it, but I'm a masochist."  SO CHARMING!
              After the tour we sat at his work table where he went through my portfolio.  He was very complimentary of my sketches and ideas.  Even is he was patronizing me I didn't care.  My idol was looking at me book!
              I will never forget that meeting and it fuels my inspiration and attitude toward the fashion industry to this VERY day.  He's at the top of his fashion career and he is still nice and personable.  He's not hiding behind dark sunglasses and a fan with a sour look on his face barking orders.  He's smiling at his coworkers and sitting at his desk doing his own illustrations.  That dude is my hero!  So much so I had to make it known by hand sequinning a t-shirt. Which I rock as often as I can!  Mad props to Mr. Mackie!

Philip - In Brooklyn

THIS JUST IN! Mulligan Cast in Luhrmann's Gatsby

           The Oscar nominated actress of "The Education" was on the red carpet last night for the CFDA's when she received a phone call.  On the other end was the director of "Moulin Rouge" Baz Luhrmann.  He said "Hello, Daisy Buchanan". 
            This was his slick little way of signaling to Carey Mulligan that she had in fact won the role in F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 classic novel "The Great Gatsby".  The film is set to be released in 2012 by Columbia Pictures.  Already cast is Leonardo DiCaprio, as Jay Gatbsy and Toby Maguire, as Nick Carraway.
            Personally... I'm pretty stoked for this.


Mulligan Photographed During her Audition


Philip - In Brooklyn