Make you're very own Mad Men frock!

Over the next week Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne are having an exhibition of the costumes from the TV series Mad Men. As part of the exhibition, Chadstone are offering a downloadable sewing pattern of the Gorman Shift Dress.

But, you know, if sewing ain't your thing, you can always just Mad Men Yourself!

Can I interest you in a frock?

During my travels in USA I have been working hard on the frocktober front for y'all. For those of you thinking, 'oh but I've already seen all Alison and Libby's frocks so there's no point in me even looking at the blog this time', never fear. The lure of New York shopping was too great for me and I can promise you a few new dresses for this October. Plus, yesterday in San Francisco I came across this pink, lacy 1960s concoction at a vintage store where you pay for clothes the pound (of course, I mean, why not?!). It reminds me a bit of the pale blue shift I wore on the first day of Frocktober '10 and I thought it could make a great travelling frock this time around. So if any of you lovely ladies would be interested in hosting it, let me know and I can send it off.

It's a sort of wiggle dress cut and it's little big on me. I think it would be perfect for a curvy size 10 or 12. The dress is crying out for a bustline or some hips to do it justice and sadly I have none to offer.

Training wheels

I'm over in San Fran at the moment and although it's still 9 days till Frocktober the weather is so lovely here I'm already busting out my wintery white legs and getting in the spirit.

This was my frock of the day and it must have been a good choice because as I was eating my afternoon ice cream (salted caramel from Bi-Rite, oh my gosh so delicious) a lady stopped to tell me she loved my dress :-) I'm happy to share it, so if you love it too let me know and I can pass it on or we can make it another traveling frock for the month. It's a pretty simple cream shift/smock thing but it does have some nice embroidery and lace details. It's an Aus size 8 and probably pretty true to size.

To Frock Or Not To Frock?

I've been thinking a lot about Frocktober 2011. Should I, shouldn't I, wah, wah, wah... So I thought it was time to make a list of the pro's and con's for Frocktober.

Reasons against doing Frocktober 2011 (ie excuses):
- I don't have enough new dresses, frocks, skirts. Having said that, within the last twelve months I have bought eight dresses (most secondhand!) and about seven skirts (some from clothes swaps, most secondhand too).
- For two weeks of Frocktober I will be working in Western Australia doing dirty, dusty unladylike work.
- I am too busy and Frocktober has seemed to sneak up awfully fast.
- Libby is in America and won't be back until a few days before the frocking begins.

Lame, huh?

Reasons for doing Frocktober 2011:
- Ovarian cancer still exists and more research needs to be done.

Ways to overcome my lame excuses listed above:

- Call on friends to help. Go to a friends house, raid their wardrobe and play dress ups for a day.

- Go to a bridal boutique, pretend Libby is a bride and I am the bridesmaid, and say we need to take photos to send to her sick Aunt in America. (Please note: Libby's Aunt isn't really sick, but she does live in Oklahoma)

- Go to the op shop and try on all the daggy 'Mother of the Bride' dresses. Or go to Supre and try on all the skank dresses. I can feel a photo montage coming on... or an episode of Kath and Kim!

- I do odd numbered days and Libby does even numbered days.

- Guest frockers for a day.

- Change the name of Frocktober to Slacktober and I will wear bad slacks for an entire month. Perhaps this could be the boy version?
- Another thought I had was doing something like the Uniform Project and although it is a great idea, it seemed too hard. And a lot of washing, unless I bought five black dresses.

Oh, and I am in the process of trying to get a travelling frock going again. If you want to be part of the Australian frock, let us know. This time we will have international participants! London, Tokyo, New Jersey! ...yeah doesn't have the same ring to it as New York, but I'm sure our American frocker can take it across the Husdon River for a photo opportunity.

So stay posted, not long to go now before the frocking begins!