Me-Made-May: Days 13-15

I'm a day late again. Part of me wants to add some kind of 'deal with it' retort, but the greater part of me is saying, 'there are several hundred other women also doing this (check that awesome flickr pool, if you somehow haven't seen it yet), and nobody is really bothered about when you post updates.'

So I guess it's really just for me. But I am bound and determined to feel up to doing stuff by the next scheduled post, this coming Sunday. Today was an improvement. Now that the high school golf season is over, I can finally focus on things again, rather than spending entire afternoons refreshing the state tournament scoreboards every thirty seconds. (Rat has been a bit off her game for a while, and didn't do so well, but her gentleman wound up tying for fifth--congrats! We're all very proud of him.) Today I made two "RTW" (in quotes because they were not quite ready) skirts wearable, and I have something I think will be pretty cool lined up for tomorrow and the weekend.

Okay here's the MMM update:

Day 13--Monday

The weather... eh. We had everything today, from mostly clear skies to hail. And none of it in a logical progression, either. 59 degrees at 7:30, high 67.

MM dress: Simplicity 3061 (vintage 1959) - January 2012

RTW sweater: Arizona Jean Company, gift from Mom

RTW tights: Hue, from Nordstrom six or seven years ago

Shoes: Payless

I've been wanting to try wearing this sweater with this dress for a while now. I didn't think the sweater neckline would be wide enough to accommodate the dress collar, though--and to be fair, it isn't quite. But, if it had worked as I was hoping, I think it would've made this dress a lot more wearable.

When I first made this dress (blogged here), I really really liked it. And I still do. But I wear it rarely, because something about the fit of the neckline is off, and it makes me feel, well, rather uncomfortable. I think the collar is largely at fault, but I don't think it's actually too big, just set too wide. I'm pretty narrow up top.

The tightness of the sweater kind of bound the whole dress to me, but since its neckline wasn't quite wide enough for the purpose, there was still some weirdness. And then there's the fact that the dress loses a fair amount of visual appeal having the whole double-breasted bodice covered up.

Overall, I guess the sweater does improve the fit, but... eh, I still feel kinda like I'm wearing something out of Queen Jadis' closet. (Fittingly, those dark splotches you see at the bottom of my skirt are water spots from when I got caught in the middle of the hailstorm earlier.) B and I actually saw the Jadis dress to which I am referring last summer two summers ago (jeez, that long ago?) when the Narnia exhibit was at OMSI. (No, I don't know why they had it at OMSI, either.) I don't remember what it said they'd made it from/done to it, but I do remember that the entire thing pretty much stood up by itself. So, yeah, not totally ideal for wearing.

Anyway.

Day 14--Tuesday

Mostly clear. 53 degrees at 7:30, high (for like five minutes) 65.

MM dress: McCall's 8837 (vintage 1952) - finished September 2011

RTW sweater: Blair, gift from Mom

RTW tights: Worthington, gift from Mom

Shoes: Payless. Yeah, that hasn't changed.

This is my 2011 Easter dress. Lately every time I wear it, I wish I had turquoise tights to go with. (If you can't tell from the picture, turquoise is the color of the flowers that aren't pink.) Not that I mind wearing it with hot pink tights (or any of the other shades of pink I've worn it with, either), but for some reason, turquoise just seems so much cheerier. 

I also wish the bodice (and the whole of it here, not just the neckline) fit better. Ah, well...

Day 15--Wednesday

Clouds and rain. 53 degrees at 7:30, high 60.

MM skirt: self-drafted - January 2012

RTW shirt: Arizona Jean Company, gift from Mom

RTW cardigan: Color Story (I'm assuming that's a wholesaler, because I can't imagine a brand that wants individual people to find them would choose a name with such terrible SEO), gift from Mom

RTW tights: I have no recollection of getting these, and the label just tells me they're bamboo. (They're not the same as the bamboo Foot Traffic ones at Sock Dreams; I have a pair of those also. The FT ones are not as warm nor as soft, but, if I remember correctly, they fit me better. (If I realize next time I wear them that that is wrong, I will come back and change this.))

Boots: Diva Lounge. Yeah, really guys, could you possibly have come up with a less embarrassing name for your brand? They're from two winters ago. Apparently Forever 21 was selling them at the same time, but mine are from a weird (by which I mean sketchy, not quirky) little shop whose name I can't remember now. 

Today I wanted to wear something I really liked, so: this skirt. I can't believe I never blogged about it before. It's one of the first things I made in 2012, for the Sew Weekly theme 'Make This Look.' But I never posted it there, because I realized I hadn't really done the challenge as intended, which was to make a sewn version of a ready-to-wear garment, whereas I'd made my version of a skirt style frequently worn (and also sewn) by a coworker. 

It's a basic corduory half-circle skirt with a waistband. But it's fully lined (because I assumed what my coworker would do. Then, after I'd finished, I asked her, and she told me she didn't think she'd ever lined a skirt in her life). Hers also often have a contrast band around the bottom, but I didn't have nearly enough fabric for that, so I did that for the waistband instead. Afterward, I wished I hadn't--the wale of the two corduroys is different, and, though it looks okay in the photo, the waistband green is darker than any of those in the skirt in real life.

Here you can see all of those things. This is from a different day (as you can tell by the shoes), but since the main photo was taken in motion and is a bit blurry, I thought it might be nice to have a picture in which you can actually see the print of the fabric. Oh, and I should also mention that the fabric is vintage, and I bought it--probably a yard and a half or two--at an estate sale in summer 2011 for one dollar. (Coincidentally, it was the same estate sale as I got the tiny scissors in the day 10 photo. They were also a dollar.)

Okay! Finally, what Me-Made-May has taught me thus far:

1)  Pretty much all my remaining ready-to-wear clothes that aren't hand-me-downs are gifts from my mom. (And dad, but who do you really think picks most of them out?) And by 'gifts,' I actually mean they were presents I received for my birthday or Christmas. I guess there are also some things I've had since high school or early college, in which case my mom would've been paying for them as well. I guess that's cool. Right now, unless I'm forgetting something, I'm pretty sure that the last RTW garment (exclusive of tights, because who makes tights?) I myself purchased was almost two years ago.

Darn it, I've just thought about it some more, and remembered that after I tore a huge hole in my only decent pair of jeans, I replaced them during a Cyber Monday sale. So it's been six months only. And I also bought some waterproof pants and an underarmour shirt for when B and I were in Iceland last spring. (And while we were there, I bought a lopapeysa, but that was of course handmade.)

And 2) I really really need to make some transition-wear. The majority of my sewn wardrobe is summer stuff (which makes no sense for where I live), and most of the rest is very specifically for cold weather (like, it's made out of fleece). I have very few things that seem appropriate for the weather in between. For spring, my summer clothes often look correct, at least in the fabric, but in an unlined, sleeveless sundress, even with tights and a sweater I won't feel warm enough; my winter clothes are warm(er), but most of them seem so dull and sombre for this time of year. And then of course I'll have similar problems in the fall.

So this is something I need to correct. Unfortunately I would much rather make sundresses than anything else. Wouldn't we all, I suppose?

Me-Made-May: Days 9-12

Okaaaay so it's Monday, not Sunday. This weekend was kind of really exhausting for me (you can start to tell in the Sunday picture, or at least I can). Also I've done something to my thumb so it really hurts every time I hit the space bar.

Anyway.

Day 9--Thursday

Overcast in the morning, then clear. 59 degrees at 7:30; high 68.

MM dress: Butterick 5209 - March 2013

RTW sweater: Forever 21. But it was a gift. From my mom. That she picked out herself with no input whatsoever from me. (It's actually quite nice, all natural fibers. Aside from the buttons, and the fact that it's from Forever 21, I really like it.)

RTW tights: Hue, from Nordstrom. (Yes, I actually bought them.) They're like six or seven years old now.

Shoes: Payless

This is my Sew For Victory dress, blogged here. I think that paired with a cardigan, it becomes a lot more wearable, and I have at least one other that I think it'll work well with. Yay!

On a side note, I am really annoyed with myself that in all the time I have had these tights and this cardigan, it had never even occurred to me until today that they might match.

Day 10--Friday

Clear. 60 degrees at 7:30; high 79.

MM blouse: Butterick 6886 (vintage 1950s) - May 2013

Refashioned brooch: it's actually a ring. I've cleverly safety pinned it, but I think in future I'm going to remove the ring part and just glue on a proper pin back.

RTW skirt: Star City Clothing Company, from, I believe, Nordstrom. In 2001.

I just made this blouse--I only bought the pattern a couple weeks ago, even. It's actually a wearable muslin. It doesn't fit quite as well as I'd like the final version to do (to the point that I've decided to make a second muslin before I do the final project--it's really lovely fabric) but I'm v. happy with it. (I'm also v. happy with how perfectly the color of it matches the skirt.) Once I've sewn the final, you can expect a more detailed post on it all. 

BONUS

Oh, hey, that's me. Wearing the same skirt. In spring 2002. Yeah I've had it a long time.

So this is one of the skirts my parents insisted on buying me on our annual school shopping trip the summer before I started high school. Typically this trip would have been in Tri-Cities but for some reason we were in Portland; the skirt came from one of the big department stores downtown, I think Nordstrom.

Of course I didn't want any skirts. I hated wearing skirts and dresses then, and this photo is probably the first time I wore it. We had to do mock interviews in my careers class, and the teacher gave us extra credit if we wore our nice attire all day. I also wore my hair down long, which was a pretty rare occasion. The combination of long hair + skirt was such a big deal for me that after I got home from school I made someone (likely Rat, then five, judging by the angle of the photo before I cropped it) come outside and take a picture. There's another one where I'm standing and you can see the skirt better, but it's really blurry.

It's not handmade, and it's not vintage, and it's not even that old a photo, but it's one of the few I have of something from a while ago that I still have now. I just thought it'd be kinda cool to show you.

Day 11--Saturday

Clear. 61 degrees at 7:30; high 80.

MM dress: self-drafted - summer 2008 I think.

Refashioned(?) sweater: Well, all I did was change out the buttons. That probably doesn't count.

Shoes: no label, gift from little b in 2007. They're jellies.

This was a fairly early dress, made with no pattern. I don't wear it often because I managed to make it look way better in the photo than it does in real life. I also need to wear it with a cardigan because the back (halter style) is... unacceptable.

I do like the way the straps tie, and I love the fabric. It was given to me by a former coworker who was moving and needed to get rid of stuff. There were a couple snags in it, which I'm guessing is also why she decided to give it away. At the time I didn't really care for it, either, so I didn't really care if what I made turned out kind of a mess. Now I so wish I'd saved it for something better--I think the fabric is among the loveliest I've ever owned, both the pattern and the feel of it. (Incredibly soft. Love.) Every time I wear, or even see, it, I think about taking it apart and trying to make it into something else, but I don't know what I'd do. Okay yeah.

Day 12--Sunday

Overcast, then rain. 64 degrees at 7:30; high 70.

MM shorts: McCall's 6376 (vintage 1978) - summer 2009, with lining added summer 2011

RTW T-shirt: Wait I just remembered this is also kinda refashioned. I took the sides in and did something to the neck to make it a bit more female-shaped. It's from a cheap mens undershirt pack, left over from let's say a weird phase. I also know where I bought it, but I don't want to say. 

Shoes: no label, gift from b, 2007.

It started to rain Sunday, but it stayed pretty warm, and aside from a few minutes in the morning, when it was still just overcast, I was inside all day, so I could get away with wearing shorts. (I am also breaking my rule about not going out without tights, because it was for like five minutes I was out, and no one else was around.)

I also wore these shorts during Self-Stitched-September in 2011, and talked about them a little bit here. I made them before I knew that shorts were supposed to be really hard to make. I don't remember making them, now, and I probably tried them on lots and made lots of little changes as I went along and resewed everything millions of times, and I won't deny that they have their flaws, but I'm still pretty impressed with how well they fit.

All right that's it for tonight--Monday's outfit will be included according to the schedule in the Wednesday post (in which I'll also try to be more cheerful). Now off to bed. 

Me-Made-May: Days 6-8

Like I said, Wednesdays and Sundays. (I didn't do last Wednesday because it would've only been one day. And I didn't really like that outfit.) Annnnyway:

Day 6--Monday
Clear. 60 degrees at 7:30; high 79.
MM dress: McCall's 4535 (vintage 1975) - summer 2008 (plus changes August 2012)

I actually used both the skirt and bodice pieces this time; only the straps are different. I blogged about the dress when I remade it last year, here.

Also, of course this would be the only picture where you can't see my feet, but I did wear different shoes today.

Day 7--Tuesday
Clear. 56 degrees at 7:30; high 73.
MM skirt: Self-drafted - summer 2009
RTW shirt: Energie. I've had it at least since my freshman year of college, possibly as far back as high school. It's from the time when the trend was for shirts to be really super long. I loved it because it was one of the only shirts I owned that fitted me properly (on me, it's about normal length).
RTW tights: Worthington, gift from Mom
Shoes: Payless

Today I tried really hard to wear something that didn't include any pieces from either Butterick 3029 or McCall's 4535, and this is what I came up with. I don't really like the skirt--it looks a lot better in the picture than in real life. (As do the tights. Actually, I like the fit--this is rare--and the pattern, but the color is strange. Maybe if I had more of a tan it'd be better, but they always look almost greenish--that horrid brownish-green--to me. I've thought about dyeing them, but probably never will.)

The one thing I like about this skirt is that despite not using a pattern and throwing it together really quickly, I somehow managed to insert a quite nice lapped zipper in the back. Unfortunately, I don't particularly like lapped zippers. Or things that zip up the back. Ah, well.

Day 7 BONUS

 I don't have a picture, but b, my sister (who has no idea it's Me-Made-May) told me that today she wore the grey dress I made way back in 2007, just after I'd started sewing. It was entirely self-drafted, and is still one of my favorite makes. You'll have to take my word that it's really cute. Eventually I decided the skirt was too short for me and gave it to her (she's six inches shorter). My other sister, Rat, has also worn it. Yay!

Day 8--Wednesday
Overcast (with light morning mist) 'til mid-afternoon, then clear. 55 degrees (and misting) at 7:30; high 66.

MM blouse: Butterick 2545 (vintage 1960s) - August 2012 

MM skirt: Self-drafted - August 2011 

RTW belt: I don't know that it has a brand; it's from a sporting goods store in the town where I grew up. It's meant to be worn playing baseball. I never wore it for that purpose. I think it was a gift, too. 

RTW tights: They don't have a tag, and I've had them so long I don't remember where they're from, but I suspect somewhere cheap and uninteresting. 

Shoes: Payless 

Okay, the skirt I blogged here. The blouse has never been blogged, because technically it's a muslin. It doesn't fit me as well as the final product should, but I still really like it--so much that once last summer, I remember, I wore it three days in a row. Once I find the perfect buttons for the final version, I'll write more about it. Hopefully that'll be in the next few months.

I really like both of these pieces individually, but I'm not really into the outfit. I've never paired the two  together before, and probably won't ever again. The skirt looks best worn with a top that's tucked in--it's so full that anything untucked balloons out and makes my waist look twice its actual size. The shirt has really cute detailing along the bottom, and without that visible, it's pretty boring, so I've always worn it untucked. This morning I tried it briefly that way, but decided boring was better than looking as though I'd managed to gain 30 pounds overnight. I should've just worn a different shirt.

Today was the first day of the month that we've had very typical Portland weather. I had to have a jacket on most of the day (it was grey to match the tights), and could have easily worn winter clothes. It was forecast to be partly cloudy with a high of 77, which was pretty consistent with what the last week's been, so I was dressing for that. Unfortunately, it didn't happen; it was dark and completely cloudy 'til maybe 2:00, when a few of the clouds finally started blowing away. It did completely clear up eventually, but by then the day was nearly over. And it didn't hit 66 degrees until around dinnertime. I'm hoping this was a fluke and our unnaturally nice global climate change weather will resume tomorrow.

Also. In lieu of a slip, today I wore my Colette mini bloomers. Even though you can't see them, that's three Me-Mades in one outfit, yeah.

And now we're caught up through day 8. 23 to go!

Finally, what Me-Made-May has taught me so far:

1) Nothing wrong with knowing what works and sticking with it, but I really need to make more summer dresses with patterns aside from McCall's 4535. (And a few more transitional spring garments wouldn't be remiss, either.)

2) I really need more tights.

I was going to add 3) I wear a lot of blue, but, well, I knew that already.

Me-Made-May: Days 1-5

Oh, yes, I remembered. I just hadn't got round to it 'til now.

I am super pleased to be doing Me-Made-May again this year, and even more pleased that the weather thus far has been so accommodating. (In that vein, I've also decided to post the weather each day--both what it looked like at 7:30 (that's around when I'm usually getting dressed) and also the daily high.)

So far my photos aren't very interesting, but (as you would hopefully anyway be able to tell) I amused myself a little by making strange faces and/or hand gestures in.

Okay without further ado:

Day 1--Wednesday

Clear. 43 degrees at 7:30; high 67. 

MM blouse: Advance 9157 (vintage 1950s) - late summer 2011

MM skirt and belt: Self-drafted - maybe fall 2008?

RTW socks: Dream Stockings (Sock Dreams store brand)

The blouse pattern is the one with the shorthand notes that I wrote about here. After I made it up, I never blogged about it because I hadn't made it fit properly (and I swear it still shrinks a little every time I wash it, even though it's never been in the drier) and didn't really like much about it at all. The shrinking has actually improved it a tiny bit, but I still don't really like it, and every time I see it I think about how much I dislike it (and that I should remake it or get rid of it or at least make a new one). But I still wear it all the time.

The skirt I made way before I had this blog, and it's nothing special anyway. I don't like it either (but, unlike the blouse, I hardly ever wear it). When I made it, I liked it fine, but now it's too big. I think the waist stretched, and it's longer than I like to wear now. I keep thinking I'll fix it, but I never have.

Wow, what a way to start off the month. I dunno what I was thinking. Weirdly, I don't even usually dress much like this any more, but it's almost exactly how I imagined I'd dress back when I fantasized about being a night shift clerk in a bookstore. Anyway.

Day 2--Thursday

Clear, somewhat breezy. 53 degrees at 7:30; high 76. 

MM dress: Butterick 3029 (vintage 1960s) bodice/McCall's 4535 (vintage 1975) skirt - September 2012

Blogged here, so I'm not gonna go on about it again. My hair looks weird in front here because I decided to take pictures right after I got in from work, without doing anything else first, so it was still sweaty and plastered to my forehead from my helmet. Yeah.

Day 3--Friday

Clear, breezy. 57 degrees at 7:30; high 75. 

MM -- oh wait no I can't talk about this yet cos the pattern's still being tested. Once it's released (a month or two from now, I think), I'll add proper photos and have stuff to say about it.

Originally I was going to have a black box here, but I snapped this one photo when I left work, and it wound up being so amazingly washed out that I decided to post it. I'm also posting it because it fits with the Friday theme from the flickr group: water. Again, you can't really see it, but I'm standing next to the industrial fire house outlet thing for our building. (No idea if it's still functional--the fact that it comes out of a wall makes me think maybe not--but it is still painted red...)

I've wanted to take blog pictures by it since I started working there, and now I finally have. Maybe sometime in the future I'll get some where you can actually see.

Day 4--Saturday

Clear, quite windy. 60 degrees at 7:30; high 80. 

MM dress: Butterick 3029 (vintage 1960s) bodice/McCall's 4535 (vintage 1975) skirt - June 2012

Refashioned sweater: er, no pattern. It used to be a turtleneck. I just did it last week, and I really like it, so maybe I'll do a whole post on it later. We'll see.

The dress I blogged here. I didn't realize until now that I'd worn two dresses made from the same patterns two days apart. I think they're pretty different, though. Of the two, this one has a lot more variation from the original patterns, even in addition to the Frankensteining.

This is my favorite outfit so far (and it's also got the most me-made/re-made pieces: 3, as you'll see below).

 

 Day 5--Sunday

Clear, somewhat windy. 62 degrees at 7:30; high 82.

MM skirt: I think I may have actually used the skirt pieces from McCall's 4535 again. I do own a couple other patterns, I swear. I probably made this summer 2008, maybe 2009.

Vintage pin: from my maternal grandmother. You can't really see it, but it's a sunflower. It looks 50s to me.

RTW shirts: I've had them both forever, and don't remember where they came from, but I think my mom bought them both. If I hadn't just changed into my pyjamas, I couldn't have been arsed to take them off to check the tags, but since they are off now, the green one says lolo and the blue is New Boundaries, if anybody is so interested.

This, by the way, isn't an outfit (nor are any of the individual pieces, even) that I would wear in public, really, or at least not on a work day. (Horrible sentence there, sorry.) I did go to the grocery store, and felt a little bad about it, but meh. Sunday's my day off, so unless I have plans, the standard of quality of my appearance is a little lower.

I just felt like I needed a disclaimer here.

.

Of course I'm wearing stockings/nylons/hose/whatever you call them in all of these, too. (It's probably been warm enough to go without, but one of my rules is that I'm not to go out with bare legs except between June first and the end of September. To be fair, most of the time I wouldn't actually want to, and quite frankly, living in Portland, a lot of times during the summer I don't want to, either. Still, I know it's really rather silly of me, but we all have our standards and that's one of mine.) I didn't include them in the listings above because they're just the cheap ones (Hanes, I think) that you get at Fred Meyer or wherever. I need to get some new pairs soon.

I'm also wearing a slip in each one. Actually, er, five different slips. (I like slips a lot, okay.) Three of them are vintage, and day 4's is actually me-made tap pants (which I count as a slip because they basically have the same function)--the Haslam ones blogged here. I didn't include any of those in the lists, either, because you can't see them. As they're meant to be.

And yeah I'm wearing the same shoes in all the photos, too. (They're from Payless.) I have other shoes, too, I promise. Maybe I'll wear some next week.

I'm In!

'I, Zarah of Gladys and Viv, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear one me-made or re-made garment each day for the duration of May 2013, and to photograph and blog about such garments regularly.' 

So I've signed up for Me-Made-May. I did Self-Stitched-September a couple years ago (it was 2011) and really enjoyed it. I think I actually signed up for Me-Made-May last year, too, and I did a pretty good job of it as far as wearing things went, but never blogged anything. That's why the part about blogging regularly--by which I also mean in a timely manner--is included. I'm not going to post every day, of course. I'm thinking twice a week to keep the posts from getting too huge--probably Sunday and Wednesday.

I didn't put this in my pledge, but I also want to see if I can go the whole month without wearing jeans.

And my blue jacket that I wear nearly every day doesn't count.

We'll see how it goes. 

I Miss This.

Today at work I was going through a report on the cultural and environmental history of the Portland area and lower Willamette River. It's all marked 'not for public release' so I can't really say anything about it, but what I am going to say is that, included in the report (which goes back into prehistory) are a selection of photos from, I believe, the 1850s through the 1930s. And it's all just shattering.

I won't deny that society has made a lot of progress, especially in recent years, but thinking about the associated costs...

All the photos in the report appear to be fairly low-quality photocopies, and I wouldn't include them here anyway, but I thought that, since today is Earth Day, I'd show you a few photos of the Columbia Gorge over the years, instead. These are way tamer than cityscapes, but still. Anyway. I figured Multnomah Falls, which, being extremely picturesque, is pretty well-known, would be a good go. (If you're not acquainted with it, here.)

All right:

This is purported to be one of the very first images of the falls. It was taken in 1867, by Carleton Watkins, whilst on a specific expedition to photograph the Gorge. As you can probably tell from the look of the foliage, the falls were much less accessible then; Watkins had to do a bit of hiking to get from his boat on the river to this point.

This one--three (or so) decades later--is my favorite. It's by Fred and/or Oscar Kiser (they were brothers and worked together), and is hand-colored. It's supposed to be from 1903, but I don't think that can be accurate, because the Benson Bridge is present, and it wasn't built until 1914. There was a timber bridge in the same location from the 1880s until 1899, but this is definitely the Benson Bridge here--so unless the brothers drew it in at the same time as they were adding color (and I suppose they could have done, or even added it later), the photo can date no earlier than 1914. It's still my favorite. 

And a wide angle shot. I'd seen the photo before, but hadn't realized it was Multnomah Falls there in the background (the small white streak just left of center) until now. It was taken from the Washington side of the river, five miles east of Cape Horn, which is I think only a mile or two downstream (so, west) of Multnomah Falls. It's dated to 1908, and unfortunately the falls is too far away to date it by the presence or absence of the Benson Bridge. The photographer here is, again, Fred Kiser.

And here's one from a few years later--1916. The photographer is George Weister. You can just barely seen the Benson Bridge in the background; the one in the foreground (which has a similar shape) is the Multnomah Creek Bridge, part of the Columbia River Highway, which was opened in 1915. This bridge is still in use (and yes, for cars). Obviously most people take the freeway at this point, but if you're on the old highway, which has received historic designation and is, in large part, still open (but not recommended for people prone to motion sickness), this is the same bridge you'll drive over. (You can't walk it, it's that narrow. There's no shoulder at all.)

Here's an early Kodachrome by Ray Atkeson, dated 1939. The lodge at the bottom was built in 1925. It's still there, too. As far as I remember, it looks pretty much the same.

And here's what Multnomah Falls looks like now--or at least last summer. I have some (slightly) better photos, but I wanted to use this because you can see all the crap at the bottom. To be fair, it's not usually quite like this--it was on a weekend in the middle of the summer, and probably a terrible time to visit--but still. Obviously this is also the worst photo of the lot, because I took it with a point-and-shoot camera while walking, during the sunniest part of the day (terrible conditions for photography; hello lens flare) but at least you can see it.

So yeah. It's still lovely, of course. But it's no longer pristine. When we were there last summer, Dad, Rat, and I hiked/walked (there's a trail, but it's pretty steep) clear to the top. In addition to trying to see around the probably hundred-plus people who were also up there, once I got home, I had to crop a plastic water bottle someone had thrown over the barrier out of all the photos. Srsly.

I want to leave you with this one last set: the view looking west from Crown Point, where Vista House is now. Its construction would've just been completed when the first photo was taken, in 1918. (This is the same photo from the post top, just cropped; the photographer here is again George Weister.) 

I knew I had photos of the same view, but I was stunned to find that I had one at almost exactly the same angle. So, at top, 1918; below, 2012. In the intervening 94 years, it looks like some of the bottom land's been filled, and the river level may have also risen a bit (accounting for the change in the island's shape), and of course there's a freeway through there now, but otherwise, not a whole lot has changed. 

I guess it could be worse. 

Anyway, happy Earth Day. Do yr part.  

Photos from Wild Beauty: Photographs of the 

Columbia River Gorge, 1867-1957, 

ed. Toedtemeier and Laursen

Ch-Ch-Changes

Lately I've been thinking about changing the appearance of the blog. (I know, I know, my time would be better spent actually posting to it...) It's not that I don't like the design--I'm really, really a minimalist, and I probably always will be--but I'm aware that I have, like, the boringest header and sidebars and background and stuff in the history of boring. On the one hand, it loads fast, but on the other--brown and white's not super exciting.

I've been paying extra attention to other people's headers lately, but decided I wanted to stick with the style I have. I think it's important that both Gladys and Viv be in the header (I myself certainly don't want to), and though they're not quite as old as the header hints at (I think it could conceivably be Victorian), their photos are old enough that I think they'd seem out of place on a header that looked more modern. I also really like the handwritten (yes, that is my handwriting) title. Even if I put the photos in different frames, which I don't really want to do, keeping those three elements really limits the possible things I can do at all to change.

I did still make several new headers, and considered doing a new variation on my Etsy header (which is itself a variation of my original blog header).

This, of course, was far and away my favorite, and it wasn't even a serious effort.

It also serves, by the way, as my "contribution" to Tempest's awesome sew-along. Now that I've made the banner for it, and seen the wonderful (and surprisingly wearable!) things other people came up with, I wish I had actually taken part.

Obviously the above is kind of dramatic, and not a direction I'd ever really go in, but it did further my belief in the idea that I don't actually want to change the look of things that radically (or, in fact, radically at all). So I attempted just changing the background color and leaving everything else alone.

 

Not sure how I feel about that, either. I think the light blue is a good coordinate, but it seems so... solid. What I'd really like is a sort of faintly variegated faux parchment background, but I'm trying not to add any more brown. 

 

Yeah, that totally happened. (This took me like four minutes to do so it's quite lousy if you look at it for more than half a second, but you get the idea. Someday, I'll put together a glorious steampunk collage, but today is not that day.) 

On a related (brown) note, I was also thinking of incorporating this photo as a background image. It's one of the older family photos I have, from the 1890s--my great-great-great-grandfather's family on their homestead in Nebraska. It's also one of my favorite family photos. 

 

But then I remembered that the last time my sister saw it, she said it was incredibly creepy, shuddered, closed her eyes until I put it away, and worried it would give her nightmares. Obviously, I don't think it's creepy, but I guess I can see how someone else might think that. Any thoughts?

Anyway, eventually I came to the conclusion that I had two choices: either completely redo the design of the blog, or make changes so small they don't really make any difference (e.g. the blue). So, for now, I'm leaving well enough alone--though I have moved my Etsy and Google Friend Connect widgets up from the bottom of the page to the sidebar, and added a few other things to the sidebar as well. (That was a lie. I made a new page instead.) And, since everybody is freaking out about the end of Google Reader, I've also added a Bloglovin' widget. (I think.) Here also you can follow my blog with Bloglovin.

And finally. Yes, I know Changes is from Hunky Dory, not Ziggy Stardust. But whatever, kids; my way is more fun.