Project Runway and other things

As I'm sitting here, surrounded by a mound of used tissues, I've been looking at the contestants for the next season of Project Runway.  Yes, I'm a fan, but mostly so I can make fun of what cracktastic thing they send down the runway next.  This next season looks to have more than its share of designers who've been smoking something.

Case in point-- Fallene Welles.  The pants she's wearing are her own 'design'.  And I use that term loosely.  First--the sewing.  The folded tucks aren't exactly straight and they don't end in the same place.  There's also pulling across her stomach, so they don't fit, even as blousy as they are.  To be perfectly honest, they look like a bad Home Ec project.  Not only that, but I do believe I can pinpoint exactly where her idea came from.

While bloomers are an old idea, as are bloomer shorts, they've been relegated to children's clothing for most of the last century.  In fact, my 20s-30s Singer how-to-make-children's-clothing book calls dresses for toddler girls "bloomer frocks".  Dresses for little girls were so short that it was necessary to have matching undies underneath.  One would think that they'd be relegated to the past, but it's not true.  Judging from commercial clothes my nieces own and what's available in the big four of commercial patterns, bloomer shorts for little girls are making a comeback.  McCall's, especially, seems taken by the trend.  Then again, they do think of themselves as the contemporary pattern company.

Exhibit A-McCall's 6059--

View D, which the model is wearing, are a cleaner version of Fallene's bloomer shorts.  I made this pattern last year, only with the regular pants instead, because at the time, Joanna thought they were the ugliest things going.

Exhibit b--this is this year's newest version, McCall's 6270, which Gracie will own soon.  I'll be making exactly what the model is wearing, except in different fabrics.  While this set doesn't have the absolute waistband (it's elastic) or the leg bands of the previous design, it's still the poofy britches of yesteryear.  And this isn't confined to toddlers, either!  Not only does this pattern stray into the 'children' sizes, but they have another!

Exhibit C--McCall's 5797.  Not only does it have a version of the pillowcase dress--which I still don't like!  But it's available from sizes 3 to 14!

What's cute on a three-year-old or a baby just isn't cute on an adult.  It's why I start looking for a child when I hear the term "romper".  Anyone want to bet that if Fallene sticks around long enough, one of her designs will be a pillowcase romper with ruffles across the butt?

Part of making clothes is to make them well enough that people don't realize that they're homemade.  I cringe when I hear the words "crafty" or "home sewn".  I would much rather people ask where they can buy what I've made for the girls.  And honestly, that's the most common question Joanna gets when they're wearing stuff I've made for them.  And those pants Fallene is so proudly showing off are screaming Holly Homemaker and Becky Home-ecky!   I watched the casting vid, and I can't believe that the judges actually praised 'em!  Perhaps this is a sign of the quality of applicants?