July 2011. A summer dress. McCall's 5882 (a Kay Whitt design). There is only one thing I can say about this dress: it is the most comfortable fit in the world!
Something To Do With Sri Lanka
I love etymology. To me it is just a thrill to find out where words came from and what was the original meaning. The last word I looked up was 'serendipity'. The first noted use of "serendipity" in the English language was by Horace Walpole in the 18th century. In a letter to Horace Mann he said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip", whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of". The name stems from Serendip, an old name for Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), from Arabic Sarandib, from Sanskrit Simhaladvipa which literally translates to "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island"
So, what caused all this fuss about the word "serendipity". Answer is very easy: I spotted a pretty dress in the "Sew Beautiful" magazine (again!). The designer was Kay Whitt who has published a book called "Sew Serendipity". In fact, her studio is called by the same name. The dress pattern is sold by McCall's.
And here I am, making my own version of a 'serendipity' dress. Sounds exotic, just like the island of Sri Lanka.
 | ||||
| The dress as it appears in the "Sew Beautiful" |
|
|
|
|
 |
| McCall's 5882 The same dress |
No comments:
Post a Comment