Let's hop back in our DeLorean and wrap up the 1955 Fall fashion trends from the New York Times Magazine. Check out Part 1 here.
Slinky Gowns
Oh, I wish I had somewhere to wear that 1955 dress in silk or wool crepe. Mmm...delicious. But, sadly, my life plays host to shockingly few gown-wearing opportunities. C'est la vie. This custom maxi dress on Etsy, however, would get worn to death. Just do me a favor — if you're a redhead like the model, think twice about that purple. (It's available in a couple dozen colors.)
Fur Hats
Squee! Totally fab. This pillbox hat wants to be yours. Wear it with MAC's Retro lipstick. I will envy your fabulousness.
Sparkle and Gleam
I am a magpie. As such, to keep myself in check, I am constantly reminding myself that less is ususally more. So, rather than an all-out sequin bomb this fall, keep your sparkle understated with a pair of gorgeous rhinestone earrings made with vintage crystals. (Or, you could indulge your inner magpie with the Hard Rock Candy shift....)
Casual Furs
I have a love-hate relationship with faux fur. It's divine when done well, but that so rarely happens. This stylish blue fur jacket is trim and fitted enough to avoid that "I skinned a muppet for this" look. And that, to me, is the number one priority in wearing faux fur.
A month or so ago, Madge and I were browsing at Creative Reuse and came across these great old volumes of magazines, discards from the University of Pittsburgh Library. Of course, we love the vintage fashions, so I snatched some up, thinking it might be fun to go back to 1955 and see what was fly in the time of McFly. Here's what the New York Times Magazine says the fashionable set will be donning come Autumn, along with some modern alternatives.
The Return of the Stole
Can we agree that stoles are a bit too fussy to be practical? Sure, it LOOKS good, but here in the real world, I feel like I'm bound to trip on an end, drop all my bags most comically, and land in a muddy puddle. (Just me?) For ladies more confident in their ability to walk, a modern option: this lovely, drapey rayon shawl from Ten Thousand Villages.
Fur Trimming
Nothing says both vintage glamour and snuggly warmth like a faux fur collar. How about one in a fun color from etsy? Wear it over a cardigan or a twee tee and be impossibly adorable.
Box Pleats
Box pleats are really great — you get ease of movement and you don't look like a total puffball. But I don't see many modern box-pleated options out there, at least not good eco-friendly ones in a variety of sizes. So instead, I offer you this adorable vintage wool skirt, and will let the more petite amongst you fight over it.
Big Sleeves
No modern alternative here because I am seriously not feeling the outsized houndstooth appendages. Sorry, 1955.
Focus on the Hips
As a relatively squarely-shaped person, I'm all for this! How about this drop-waist knit dress on etsy?
Coats! Jackets! Tunic Length, Double Breasted, and Bell Shaped
Kill two birds with one stone and splurge on this gorgeous custom double breasted (and bell shaped!) Melton wool coat. Not in your budget? Mine, either. But I can dream, no?
What do you think, will you be adding any of these old-fashioned trends to your Fall wardrobe? Do you like big sleeves? And stay tuned, there's a part 2 to follow.
The skirt! With a resounding 62.5% of the vote. Thank you all for your comments — we'll get to working on making the cutest darn skirt imaginable and keep you updated with our progress!
Happy Monday, folks...Have a fantastic week!
Hi folks!
My wardrobe staples are skirts and tank tops (and cardigans & jackets when it’s cold). Easy peasy, done. So, I’ve been working on a couple of these staple items for Wear the Shift, and we are trying to decide which to pursue next.
Our process generally works like this:
I make something cool for myself.
Madge says, "Want."
I figure out how to make one for her.
We collaborate on the techy/mathy side and come up with a pattern generation algorithm that works for both of us.
We rope in our friends and make them stuff to test and perfect the algorithm. The goal is to ensure that it works for a bunch of differently shaped folks.
When things are fitting well, we launch a beta test to work out even more kinks.
Right now, these 3 pieces are hovering between steps 1 & 3. It takes a good amount of time and resources to get them to the beta phase, so we need to choose one to move forward with first. Can you help?
Check out the choices and vote at the bottom!
We anticipate offering each of these options in both vintage and eco-friendly fabrics, and at a variety of price points, so let us know if there are any features you'd like to see in the comments.
The Skirt
Try to ignore for a moment how short this skirt is, because we'd offer this style in a variety of lengths. We think this style is great for just about every body. Zippered, woven A-line skirt with retro-modern crescent patch pockets and a pair of adorable booty pleats. Anticipated price range: $89-159.
The Blouse
This is an easy-to-wear loose-fitting tank top with cute neckline pleats and gentle waist shaping. I love pairing neutral bottoms with a print top...and topping it with a colorful cardigan. It's a super easy way to look colorful and pulled together. (Okay, my coral skirt may stretch your definition of neutral). Anticipated price range: $49-99.
The Tap Pant
These are so wonderful under skirts (slippery vintage nylon keeps your tights from grabbing your skirt). And as sleepwear. And these would be *fantastic* in a wool-cotton blend or thermal cotton for keeping warm in the fall/winter. Anticipated price range: $39-59.
Please vote! And we'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
It's hard to believe that it's been half a year since we first put Wear the Shift out there into the world. We have come such a long way! Today we'd like to show you the progress we've made in our pattern algorithm.
Here's a before and after of my very lovely mom, Kris:
On the left is one of our early beta dresses, and on the right is a dress produced just a few weeks ago. My mom looks kinda gorgeous in everything she puts on, but it's obvious that dress on the right has a much better fit. What's changed?
Side Shaping We've started shaping closer to the body on the sides through the bust and waist, to give a more fitted profile.
Lowered Neckline We like to see your décolletage. We don't know you? We don't care...we still like it. It's pretty and it opens up your face.
Narrowed Shoulder Straps This helps keep the dress modern.
Enhanced A-line Isn't an A-line the cutest? We're going a little wider with our As nowadays.
Back Darts Most recently, we've started adding back darts, which help define the waist and booty, especially for you hourglass-y girls.
Altogether, I'm really proud of where our pattern is, and thankful for the support and feedback of our beta testers for helping us arrive at the fit we're currently achieving.
Hi folks, happy Friday! We have a few new fabrics on the site that we think are great staples for your Spring wardrobe. We focused on wearable colors and easy-care fabrics this week.
Coral Reef is a beautiful peachy-coral color criss-crossed with white diamonds. It's so cheery it makes us smile every time we see it, and it should put a little glow into your complexion.
Olivia is covered in sweet olive-green diamonds in varying shades. It's a very simple fabric, with a not-so-basic twist.
Jardin des Tuileries is so sweet and evocative of the early 1960s. It's not quite as versatile as our other offerings this week, but it's such a gorgeous fabric for Spring that we hope someone will make it their wardrobe staple.
Roadtrip is funky and classic all at the same time. It's easy and breezy...and harkens to the fun sunny days ahead of us.
This week we started taking photos on the dressmaker's dummy to give you a better sense of the drape of the various fabrics. If there are any fabrics currently listed that you'd like to see presented this way, tell us in the comments and we'll snap the pics! Have a great weekend, everyone!
We're pleased to welcome Robin to our eco-friendly offerings! Robin is a sumptuous herringbone twill, woven from a blend of 55% hemp and 45% organic cotton. She is sturdy and drapey (and soft!), and will wear really well on every body type. We think that she has a more refined finish than Rosie, our hemp-tencel blend, making her perfect for work or weekend.
We have two options for Robin. She comes in an amazing black, which is polished and professional. She also comes in a smoky steel gray-blue that's going to be as versatile as your favorite pair of jeans.
In either case, we really, really love this fabric – it's so sturdy and good. We really hope you do too.
We received a shipment of fun new lace, strap materials and metal findings for our slips. We'll put "add trim suggestions to the site" on our to-do list – but in the meantime, tell us what you'd like in your order notes, or let us choose for you!
We scored some amazing deals on fabric over the last week or so, and so today we are pleased to present our first collection of $99 dresses!
Rad Plaid is a bright beautiful double-knit poly that looks amazing against pale/pink complexions. If you are the Jo March/goofy schoolgirl type, or if you are (like Madge) a cobalt blue-aholic, jump on this one immediately.
Camelia is Beth to Rad Plaid's Jo – quietly intelligent, subdued, hard-working. Soft taupe and baby blue diamonds form a pretty-yet-neutral print that will work with tons of other items in your wardrobe.
Roll the Dice is what Amy March would wear if she were time-travelling to Vegas. Modern, fun, and totally wearable, this double-knit will take you through every part of your life – from visiting your aunt in Europe to burning your sister's unfinished novel – in an artsy and stylish way.
Iris is Meg, through and through: beautiful, feminine, and practical. This hemp/silk blend was hand-dyed (by Kelly!) and has a soft sheen. We love this fabric and plan to make more of it available in more colors in the near future. (Speaking of which, what colors would you like to see? Deep red? Saturated teal? Bright blue?). This fabric costs a pretty penny, so we can't sustain this price forever...grab it now for a song!
We also marked down a few other fabrics to make room for new ones. So today is the day to stock up!
We have some cute new fabrics this week that we'd like to introduce you to:
First up is this beauty, Spring Posies. It has a nice weight and drape to it, and is going to make an adorable and flattering dress. Here in Pittsburgh we're sitting in the cold and snow...but those of you in warmer climates who are uncouth enough to wear white before Memorial Day (or is late-January after Labor Day?) should consider this adorable border print.
Ah, 1981. Much of my childhood looked like this... the End of Analog is a charming soft twill with a dotty diagonal plaid.
It's a party in here...a 1920s party! It Got Crowded in Here will be such a great slip: you could easily wear it under a lightweight light-colored dress, but it looks just as adorable on its own as a nightgown. Plus...the mustachios!
On the other end of the subdued spectrum is Cheery Cherries. It's a delightfully wabi sabi fabric...it isn't perfect, but we can't help but love it. You won't be able to wear it under your featherweight white shift...but under something heavier, it'll keep your tights from sticking to your skirt (and you'll look adorable in the process).
There are a few additional fabrics up in the shop, too. Let us know what you like! And if you don't see what you like — let us know that too!
We've been testing a variety of organic fabrics, and it's been a challenge to find something with the right balance of economy, environmental footprint, and overall cuteness...
One of our first good finds is this Hempcel®. It's a blend of 55 percent hemp and 45 percent lyocell. It's made in China by workers who are paid a living wage and it's dyed with low-impact dyes.
Other reasons to like this fabric include:
Hemp is an easy-to-grow fiber that requires little processing — and it's tough as nails. If hemp was a woman, she'd be Rosie the Riveter.
Lyocell adds a softness and drape that's really flattering. Lyocell is made from beech trees in a closed-loop rayon process, which means the chemicals used in processing are recycled and reused, rather than discarded.
Together they make a fabric that's like your favorite pair of jeans — rugged, chic and effortless.
We have this in olive green and black. As a ginger person, the olive is my favorite — everything I own matches this dress, and I expect it to last forever.
---
(My dress is really short — we only ordered a yard for initial testing...it's also one of my absolute favorites and makes any casual outfit a little bit cuter. Your dress will be proportionately longer.)
This has become quite the adventure...learning, trying, thinking...and I think we're honing in on where we need to be to launch on time. I'm so heartened by the response we've received.
I'm not a web developer, and am relying on the generous support of my web developing partner, Dean, to get weartheshift.com built. I assure you that your information is safe on our site. Unfortunately, we may still be working out the nits and squiggles of the design. Please bear with us while we grow.
xo,
Kelly
your pal madge
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Welcome! It's me, Madge
Hello! Thanks for joining me here on my blog. These days I’m writing a newsletter called Life Wish, talking about how we keep it together as things fall part. Subscribe for free here!
A month or so ago, Madge and I were browsing at 
We've been testing a variety of organic fabrics, and it's been a challenge to find something with the right balance of economy, environmental footprint, and overall cuteness...
One of our first good finds is this 
