We’ve had three days of temperatures in the 50s this week, and it’s definitely put me in the springtime mood. This mood will be crushed this weekend when we get another snowstorm but, at least for today, I live in blissful denial.
Since my brain tends to work on fast forward, my current springtime mood has me thinking about summer clothes. The thing I’m craving the most? Ticking.
Ticking is a strong, woven fabric made from cotton or linen, usually twilled, with a pattern of a dark stripe on a light background. Traditionally, ticking was used as a mattress and pillow cover, in part because it was easy to produce and relatively cheap, and in part because the tight weave helped keep creepy crawly unwanteds like bedbugs away from the sleeper. According to Dictionary.com (because everyone’s an etymology nerd, right?), the word “ticking” probably comes from the word “tyke” (pronounced “tick”), which comes from the Latin “theca” and the Greek “theke,” both of which mean to case/cover/sheath. Moving on with our lives, look how pretty ticking is when it’s taken off the bed and put on your body:
Hilfiger Denim Ticking Stripe Shirt Dress (or tunic. You know, potato po-tah-to. Shirt dress, indecent exposure)
Ted Baker Ticking Stripes Skirt
Kate Spade Ticking Stripe Carson Tote (isn’t it the rule that when something’s named after you, you get it for free? Hey, Kate, I think I have a lot of purses coming my way)
The Rocket Scientist and I are planning a road trip this summer to the Great White North, and I think a journal like this would be the perfect thing to chronicle our wacky adventures in:
And I’ll carry the journal is this:
DNTX *
*$195.00 is perfectly reasonable to pay for something that will carry memories. Memories, people!
I never knew there was even a name for this fabric until I read this post. I’ve always found blue and white stripes refreshing. Maybe because it reminds me of sailors and the sea. Oh, and I adore that pocket dress!!!
That pocket dress is totally similar to one of the many dress patterns that’s woefully calling my name. I’m going to make it in striped fabric too, though it’s not ticking and the stripes are not perfect. In case you’re interested, here’s the pattern: http://www.colettepatterns.com/shop/parfait
If only I knew a fabulous seamstress who could sew me a pocket dress…
Dude, I still haven’t finished my curtains from when I moved here! My sewing pile is HUGE
At this rate I’ll have it made by three summers from now.