Friday 15 June 2007

Forgot to Remember to Breathe...

....and look what happened. Went all floppy.



Few things are worse than a floppy gladdy.

Baz has a friend staying for the weekend who he is being quite mean to. (We took the friend down to the local shops to buy him some food earlier on, and as we passed them a little boy said to his mother "Hmm, I don't think I recognise that dog." This is the best suburb. People are always saying stuff like that. Plus, even though it's in zone 2, it has lanes between the houses. And the streets have names like "Bonzer St.") The poor dog just wants to peaceably and companionably share the couch, but the cat has screwed up his normally placid face into an expression which is like, well, a cat's bum. I think the cat looks more like an animal when he's in the company of other animals. Normally he doesn't look like an animal to me. When I see him in a photograph I'm sometimes surprised that he's so much smaller than I remember.



Future employers, please note that it's 11.07pm on a Friday night. I do preoccupy myself with other subjects occasionally ya know.

Pirate ship doors, for instance. Oh yes! there are two now: one is going on the living room and one on the bedroom. Sailing off in opposite directions, to insinuate their filthy conquistatorial business practices into half of the points of the compass and corners of the globe. We might manage to get them into their places tomorrow. It almost happened on Saturday, but I'm pretty sure I accidentally bogged up the screw holes with pink builder's compound since then, so perhaps we'll have to start again.

Another thing I sometimes think about is why can't you buy a dressmaking pattern for a duffle coat? I looked in all the pattern books but nobody is making one at the moment, not for proper duffle coats, with a square yoke, patch pockets and toggles. I am most seriously displeased because I have some grey boiled wool and it's very, very cold in the mornings not to mention brutally foggy.

This is the bookplate in a book I bought off Ebay:



I got it from someone living in Bendigo so I guess it's been there all along. Nothing in particular against Bendigo, but how would you like to be stuck there for 108 years? (If odours are any guide, I suspect it may have made one or two brief excursions to Smoko.) I tried unsuccessfully to find out what is at 148 Myrtle Street now. Does anyone know by any chance?

Which reminds me of another thing I wonder about (whole new avenue of blogfodder possibilities opening up before my very eyes here): why the sudden influx of Melbourne public art-related searches? Is there a study unit on that topic in VCE or something? I can't tell if they're coming from schools, but they are consistently looking for the same six or seven sculptures by name, which must mean they're working off a list of some type.

Wow, quite a lot of homework for youse. To recap:

  1. Duffle coat pattern.
  2. Myrtle Street, Benders
  3. school projects on public art?





17 comments:

M-H said...

Have you googled for duffle coat patterns on teh interwebs? There are lots of online suppliers now and you might get lucky.

Anonymous said...

I was sure there was a Built by Wendy pattern for a duffle-coat but it turned out to be a very plain looking coat:

http://www.simplicity.com/index.cfm?page=section/wendy/wendy.html

But it still would look nice in a grey wool, I think, and you could add duffle coat style buttons if you were clever, which you are.

I also have an impenetrable - to me - japanese pattern for a coat you may be interested in, let me know.

(I don't think I'll be taking up sewing anytime soon, despite my best intentions to do so.)

Ampersand Duck said...

Poor Baz, a bum at BOTH ends.

Another thing to do with boiled grey wool would be a dashing piratey CAPE. especially with a fabulous feature button to hold it together. Probably down to hip level. Woof.

Val said...

Even after 33 years of living in Melbourne I am still intrigued by lanes between houses. We first lived in Prahran, and of course there were lanes between houses there. I was very surprised to find out their use (collection of, ahem, night soil) and that this practice was still in place not too long before we moved to Australia.

As for the homework, hmm, reminds me too much of reference desk work in a public library, so I'll leave that one alone.

And the word "youse" - when I first started working at the reference desk at the university library in 1990, I was astounded by how many students used "youse". Fortunately that seemed to decline over the years.

Anonymous said...

Smoko is a good place name.

I also like Doreen and Lovely Banks.

Rob said...

You have the most marvellous talent for making me feel incredibly nostalgic for the city I left.

Keep it up :-)

JahTeh said...

&duck beat me to it with the cloak but full length not hip. I've been wearing mine since last century and wouldn't wear a coat again.

I love the look on Baz's face, the vibes are travelling to the guest who looks very uncomfortable.

I have two cloak patterns but one is better in the fit and they have hoods, very Jane Austen.

Ann ODyne said...

Old books are easily de-smelled by ruffling pages with hairdryer (works best with book standing upright and dryer directed downward).

and librarygirl: I was driving along Lovely Banks Road only a week ago, and very dangerous it is too. definitely wrong name.

Oh dear I do feel sorry for that dear little dog up against Baz's recently disrupted Territorial Instincts.
West Bank Gaza Strip has nothing on that cushion and that couch.

Actually popped over to bring your attention to
bookForum item about adaptations - has joke about 2 goats eating film cans and saying "the book was better".

Anonymous said...

Couldn't you just do a normal coat pattern, then add:

- a hood (with high 'collar' bits on it), possibly a collar as well (and a removable hood?), depending. I'd just use a hood that has a high bit with a button flap to give you a high 'collar' to protect your mouth. Buggered if I know what they're called.

- those covered bits for the bobbles - DAMN! English = the hard language. You know what I mean, the little tubes sewn flat, which run parallel with the hem and hold down the strings of the bobble buttons or make loops for the bobble buttons to go through. God, what are they CALLED?!?!

- patch pocket

I suggest lining this beast as well. Wool = scratchy. Lined wool = extra warmth, no scratch.


Wikipedia can help with history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duffle_coat
And reminding us that plaids/tartans and duffel coats = a sweet marriage.


Here's another useful site: http://www.gloverall.com/gloverall-heritage.php
Note the shoulder panel/yolk things (dang, DANG).
The men all looking up in the air have the collar button flap thing on their coats, as does the man in the Gloverall ad under the 'the origin of the duffel' title.

Duffel coat = go.

lucy tartan said...

Good links people. Bwca thanks for the link to the BOOKFORUM article: it's very sensible and it cheered me up quite a lot.

I can't decide what to do about the coat. I could attempt to modify a coat pattern I already have, buy something approximating (like the Simplicity pattern kate linked to) and improvise the rest, buy either or both the duffle coat patterns currently for sale on ebay (one is for a child and one is cut like a sack as most McCalls patterns are), or just buy one from the Gloverall place....
or do nothing, which seems most likely really.

redcap said...

I'm extremely impressed that Baz is even willing to share the couch with his visitor! Heavens, if we had a dog in the house, Mr Furpants would be a hissing, spitting grey-and-white tornado whirling about the furniture legs.

Stegetronium said...

So now we can see why we use the expression 'hangdog'. Pup looks most uncomfortable.

Ann ODyne said...

Myrtle St Bendigo photos here

Anonymous said...

Once were gladdies, now we're saddies...

Anonymous said...

Forget about Baz's claws, cop Tartan's clause: "to insinuate their filthy conquistatorial business practices into half of the points of the compass and corners of the globe."

I dips me lid.

BTW, your flowers look like they're auditioning for Swan Lake!

Janet said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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