A not-so-bad wrap. – Real Men Real StyleMens Style, Grooming, Lifestyle & Career

Posted on February 9, 2022 by pbvfn

have I posted this one before? I know I own it (now you can too, click on the image to go to the eBay auction, B38), but I don’t know if I’ve posted it before, and frankly I’m much too tired to go back through more than 350 postings to find out. This is one of those times when I wish I had added keywords to all my posts, like, say, the pattern manufacturer and pattern number (and maybe ones like “rant” and “gratuitous mention of Jack Purcells”).

Well. If I haven’t written about this one before, I will now, and if I have, I’m a-goin’ to say it again. I’m not entirely convinced that this dress isn’t a bathrobe/negligee of some sort that someone at vogue put in the wrong category, and then hoped no one would notice. I think it’s really pretty, and keep looking at it with the idea of making it, but then I remember that what can wrap can also unwrap and that someone as clumsy and as prone to making sudden exaggerated gestures as I am should not really wear wrap dresses in public. but … I’m sure enough snaps would fix it. (The last time I made a wrap dress I actually ended up carrying a threaded needle and some extra snaps the first time I wore it, so certain was I that I would need them. I didn’t, but I was pleased I had them just in case.)

I would like to make the short version in some very thin, very limp cotton, perhaps pale yellow, and use wide grosgrain ribbon for the waist tie and narrower ribbon or bias binding in the same shade to finish the edges, instead of facings. Not sure whether I’d do the ribbon in contrast (robin’s egg blue?) or a darker shade of yellow.

The one thing that signals “housedress” to me for this pattern is the pocket on the long version. If it were meant to be worn as an evening dress in that length, I don’t think it would have a pocket, or if it did, such a plain one. It just doesn’t feel right. This is a dress for entertaining at home, in the long version, or running out to the market for a couple of things, in the short version. Of course, now, running out to the market means sweatpants (::shudder::), a ratty ponytail, a baseball cap, and a t-shirt that proudly states your affiliation with a sports team or institute of higher learning. and flip-flops. and you know, I’d rather take my chances with the unwrapping wrap than leave the house in the above combo. Of course, considering the only thing that I own in the above list are the flip-flops, and since I only wear those when absolutely Necessary, I suppose the chance of an Erin sweatpants sighting is pretty rare. maybe if my house burned down and I had to borrow clothes from somebody. Now, Erin in a well-washed polka-dot skirt she made eight years ago, a polo shirt from Old Navy that is eligible to vote, and beat-up Jack Purcells? That sighting is so common the tabloids won’t even take pictures of it anymore. The paparazzi just light more cigarettes and lie in wait for somebody else.

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