A Lightweight Post

Hello Ladies,

This is quite a lightweight post, and light hearted, so if you are looking for something serious, try some of my other posts here.

Today I am writing from the viewpoint of a sewist and from my interest in fabrics that go with nature, as well as a tea enthusiast.  Keep that in mind as you read.

Mr. S. insists I accompany him for his high school reunion. There will be 200 people, all age 75!!!!  Is that the new 50 now?  I hope so.  As he has never been to any of the earlier reunions, I do not think he will recognize any of them. It would be good if everyone had a name tag with a picture of themselves at age 18.

I'm not in their age category yet and as I never knew any of these people,  I was content to stay home and get a lot more done, but Mr. S. says he wants me to go as his trophy-wife, ( he says that every time I want to stay home because he thinks it will motivate me to make something special to wear for the occasion) so I  told him I am going as a 20-year old and wear dresses from the 1950's.

And I'm not packing light!  When I review the pictures at the end of the trip, I can more easily tell where I was by what I was wearing.  I thought it might be enjoyable to have a dress for each state we travel through.  This is one way to make memories.

Since I am not packing light (minimalist). I am packing light-weight, and I will tell you the reasons.

There are 6 lightweight cotton dresses here, for 6 states. Three more dresses are in the laundry, which will be for the other 3 states.

  It always drives me crazy to have a suitcase full of separates, because, for me, I find it messy and confusing and it adds more bulk to my travel bag. I realize the minimalist method would mean mix and match  tops and skirts so that you get more "looks" with fewer clothes, but I prefer the dress because it is one-piece, and  so simple. 

Maybe you do better with several shirts and skirts to mix and match, but I find the dress is a perfect one piece top and skirt, because there are no decisions to make about which top to wear with which skirt or pair of jeans. A shirt or top has a double faced hem, and a skirt has at least 3 more layers of fabric at the waistline, including heavy interfacing.  So I find the dress not only less bulky at the waistline, but more comfortable in the car on a road trip, and I feel a lot slimmer. Who wants to add more bulk at the waist?  I didn't mention how many layers of waistbands there are on the unmentionables underneath the skirt.  Most of these dresses have no waistline to adjust, no top to arrange over the waist, and nothing to tug at or stretch.

I noticed the Victorian clothes were very "put in place" on the women and they didn't appear to be constantly adjusting their clothing. They seemed to fit perfectly. There are some late-19th century films of ladies walking in the towns, and they seemed quite comfortable in their clothing. In one old etiquette book I read, the ladies were told not to fidget with their hands or twist their clothing.  I notice with clothing today, even when it is loose, it is impossible not to pull the garment back into alignment.  The dresses I make are created to feel so smooth and comfortable that there is no need to keep tucking or smoothing.

There will be 9 states to travel through, and in my observation, every place has its own atmosphere, and color; its own mood!  So even if I were to pack t-shirts and jeans, I would make sure I had a different color shirt for every state! And besides that, Mr. S. likes to go somewhere to "dine" after a long day's driving, (I usually share the driving task)  so I will change from my travel clothes to something nicer. That requires more clothing, but the things I am packing are lightweight.

 I want to say "This is Colorado ( or California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon) and I will wear the____dress."

Due to so many responsibilities, the time has flown away from me so rapidly I did not get all the things sewn that I wanted.

I am taking my sewing machine and finishing up a dress and hat for this area, which Mr. S., typically, wants to drive past:

  I do not know what the big fascination for Area 51 is that so many men, young and old,  have, do you?  I watched a video of a group of Canadian young men driving around the area and they were so excited.   There simply is not anything pretty enough about area 51 to tempt me. It is like the moon. What would look good on the moon? Absolutely dry, dull, non-exciting. Well, maybe there are some nice skies and clouds, but I can't see what the big hype is about area 51. Everyone wants to go there and have their "picture took" beside this sign.

During a church dinner recently, I heard one of the men saying that he had put a sign on his property near his house that said "Area 51" but then decided he better not do that, since there really was an Area 51; copyright and all that.  He wanted to write  "Area 52" but after researching it a little,  he found out there already was an Area 52, so he crossed out the 51 and wrote "53". 

He sent us a picture of the sign he made, with the number crossed out:

We are in a country church, so most people have "areas" of land to farm or log. Another man sitting next to the "Area 53" man said, "Well, if  yours is Area 53, then I will make a sign for mine, called Area 54."

After that, Mr. S. wanted me to make a sign and put it next to the Trellis, calling it "Area 55."

  I suppose people want to claim the numbers with the word "fifty" in them, before it merges into the 60's and loses its fascination. I hope all the potluck people see this, because IF I decide to have an area, I've already claimed the number 55.

I don't mind making a special dress for driving near Area 51 but I'm not sure I want my white plastic garden arbour to be Area 55.  We will see about that.

However, I will be packing an Area 51 dress and hat just for the picture. 

Mr. S. suggested I sew the hat in gray or silver, to "go with."

I have this hat pattern which I think is apropos for that area, don't you?  It looks kind of like a saucer.

This is another 1980's pattern  I have, which features that black and white check fabric on the upper right illustration:

I told Mr. S. that if he is going to check out one of his own interests, with Area 51, he ought to at least find a tea room for me. He said wryly that he wasn't sure if they had a Terrestrial Tea Room.  What an opportunity for some enterprising young person who wants to have a business. There are so many places without tea rooms.

I will take my own tea things just to be sure.