Is gingham age-appropriate if you're older than 6? May 15, 2010 14:03 3 Comments


McCall_8082
I have been thinking about gingham lately. It's fresh. It's innocent. It says spring. I particularly love Christopher Kane's fluid gingham dress. 

Christopher_kane_gingham But — and this is a big one, perhaps — can a fiftysomething get away with gingham?

I personally have not worn gingham since I was knee high to a grasshopper. It simply was not me. I was not an ingenue. I was not girly. I was not innocent. I didn't wear gingham when I was nineteen. But I find myself drawn to this dress. 

And, naturally, I found myself searching through The Blue Gardenia pattern archives looking for the perfect gingham dress. A dress that a fifty-two-year old could wear and not look silly. Or ridiculous. And I found McCall 8082, copyright 1950. One could make this in gingham. And one could wear it to a picnic. A cafe. A garden party. And one would not look ridiculous. One would not be a laughingstock. One would look chic. Sophisticated. Yet comfortable. Don't you agree?

And, of course, you may add this fetching pattern to your own stash. It's available for sale at The Blue Gardenia. Bust 32. I find it irresistible. Totally. Completely. Alas, is it in my size? No. Am I a skilled enough seamstress to enlarge it? No. So. Pass the Puffs, please. I need to dry my tears.