Pineapple Yaletown Express and The Lost Art of Dress

First off, I don't generally gravitate toward floral prints; I think I was drawn by the name of this one, "Wild Beauty Pineapple".  It's okay, I fully admit to being drawn in by great packaging and clever product names.  (I may also judge books by the covers.)

The Details:

Pattern: Sewaholic Yaletown Blouse/Dress

Fabric: Art Gallery cotton voile 

Notions: lightweight sheer interfacing, thread, 1/4" elastic

Notes:

Construction was pretty straightforward, although I did get a bit confused about the directions for the elastic waist casing, so I just did it how I thought it should be done.  It works.  No biggie.

I'll definitely make this again, but next time, though, I might make the belt a little longer.  I wouldn't mind if it draped just a little longer when tied in a bow.  I also might cut the elastic a little longer, as I really don't need it to fit so closely at the waist. I would rather this sit a little lower than my natural waist, and tighter elastic wants to roll up to my smallest spot. Someone (who shall remain nameless) clearly has gone a long time without entertaining the idea of sit-ups and core strengthening.

Size-wise, I graded from a 10 at shoulders and bust to an 8 at the waist/hips, and I honestly think this may be the way to fix my Alma problems from earlier this year. (Plus leaving out the front darts.)  

Back to the Yaletown, these sleeves are my favorite yet!  They are very loosely gathered at the top, but cut to swing out at the hem--great range of motion and pretty, too.

Here's the belt un-bow tied, where I think I'd like it slightly longer. 

On a completely unrelated note, I am very distracted by those two yellow flowers front and center, but thankfully it's not so obvious on.  And lord knows, I could have done much worse on print placement. (!!!)

 Bow-tied belt.  Cute, but short.

Back view with blousing.

I also recently finished reading The Lost Art of Dress by Linda Przybyszewski. (I'm linking to Good Reads, there).  It was a really interesting non-fiction novel about the history of Home Economics both academically and professionally.  

The book is structured chronologically, beginning with its inception as part of the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), outlines the rise of colleges of Home Economics as safe-havens for female scientists, and ending with its downfall during the 60's as a result of the Women's Movement.  (Why couldn't female chemists work in the chemistry department?)  

The author focuses on the women who addressed clothing design, primarily in the 40's-60's.  What I found most interesting was the theory that following the youthquake movement, there was more of a cultural focus on youth and appearing younger, and that fashion became more simple and youth-oriented.  'Sophisticated' styles lost ground, but also the cultural desire to be sophisticated lost out.  This is particularly interesting if you've ever gone shopping, and found yourself without a clothing section--or what I like to call the "I'm not 13, but I'm also not a grandma" section.  

It was a good, quick read, and I think relatable.  It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that no 13 and 37 year old females ever want to be caught in the same outfit at school.