1950s Fashion Print

Last fall,  I bought V&A Pattern: The Fifties. This gem, while quite small,  is full of beautiful images. I like it a lot, particularly because I'm so fond of Lucienne Day's work and there are quite a few images of her textile designs in there.

I must have bought that first book at Amazon.com, because they recommended this newly released book 1950s Fashion Print to me.  When this book first arrived and I flipped through it, I was a little disappointed as many of the images do nothing for me:

But, some of the images are just lovely:

And of course, Lucienne Day has a good showing:

Unlike V&A Pattern: The Fifties, which contains minimal text, 1950s Fashion Print is at least as much about the text as the images.  As such, it wasn't until I sat down to read the book that I realized the true worth of this book.

"Interest lay in the plant skeleton rather than the bloom, seed heads rather than the blossom, and leafless trees rather than foliage"  (Fogg, 2011, p. 8).  

Yes, yes, yes!  I've been slowly making my way through the book, really enjoying myself.  I have found it really useful to have the internet at hand while reading because Fogg often makes reference to different designers, artists, and such without providing representative images of their work.  I'm sure this is in order to keep the cost of the book down, but it is useful to have a picture of the Skylon  available when Fogg is going on about its pervasive influence.  Google Images to the rescue!

Anyway, if you are able to buy or borrow this book, I'd recommend it...inspiration awaits!

Mondrian's Nephew was a Beatnik

Okay ladies, It's my turn to host and I've got something that looks difficult, but once you get started you will find it's suuper easy and fun! The thing to keep in mind is shot cottons are very easy to work with and in the end they will all look fabulous togeter! I'll send the instructions with the fabric, but in case you can't wait to see what I have in store, here is the assignment (click on it to enlarge):

A Block for Rebekah

Hi Rebekah! I've finished your block! No, it's not this one... this one is tooo boring!

For you, I reworked my block and made you this... which is juuuust right! Hope you like it! Cheers!

Block for Esch

This is based on the roofline and stairs of my parents' home; or, as we affectionately call it, the "very brady ski chalet."

I'm not sure it makes a very interesting block all on its own, but I think once it gets put in with the others, it will work really well.

architectural block for Debbie

This one had me stumped for a little while but I sat down last night excited to experiment with some bricks (which I think was in your original sketch, Debbie). I'm loving the effect... hope the end result plays nice with the other blocks!

lines and curves

I'll admit that I kept pushing this block back because I was intimidated by the challenge. but at the same time I loved the challenge. isn't that what bees are about?

I made my own little challenge by cutting everything freehand (no rulers!, no measuring!) which may have made my curves a little too subtle. you can probably see my progression from left to right! finally got it on the last one!!

Amanda's chevron

I just realized that I posted pics of Amanda's chevron on my blog and Flickr, but forgot to post it here!  It was a fun challenge!
I originally intended the right side of the chevron to be fatter than the left, but had to decide on fat or curve, so I chose curve.  Hope you like it, Amanda!