Robes de Coeur
  • Blog
  • Quilting
  • Clothing
    • Menswear
    • Womenswear >
      • Self-Made Patterns
      • Commercial Patterns
    • Hats
    • Miscellany
  • About
  • Blog
  • Quilting
  • Clothing
    • Menswear
    • Womenswear >
      • Self-Made Patterns
      • Commercial Patterns
    • Hats
    • Miscellany
  • About

UFOs - My pile right now

3/29/2018

1 Comment

 
While checking out at Fabric Depot the other day, I got to chatting with the cashier about our UFOs (UnFinished Objects).   She mentioned that she has a modular shelving unit with eight slots, and each has a UFO: she doesn't allow herself to start a new project unless there's an open slot, so she never has more than eight projects going at a time.  It made me wonder exactly how many UFOs I have sitting around my place!  I've organized them roughly by how much work needs to be done to finish them, so I can get the easy stuff off my plate first.  So here's my list of UnFinished Objects, not including things on my to-do list which I haven't started:

Read More
1 Comment

A Shipment of Snowy Linens

3/26/2018

2 Comments

 
I have a friend with cervical spine damage who is always on the hunt for the perfect pillow.  She asked me if I could make one for her that had the following qualities:
  • flat, not too tall or fluffy
  • loosely packed so that the fill can be shifted around to make cradle for the head
  • a kind of fill that doesn't get either compacted or lumpy with use
I hemmed and hawed, because she's far away from me, so I wouldn't be able to run the prototype past her, but then, at Fabric Depot's warehouse sale in February, I saw Pellon's Forever Loft(R) Latex Fill steeply discounted, so I bought it.  If it doesn't meet her needs, it was only four bucks and a night of work.  Plus, it used up a bunch of my stash! 

Read More
2 Comments

Dress FAIL to Skirt WIN

3/22/2018

4 Comments

 
Here hangs a disappointing project from my early days of drafting patterns.  The problem is the bodice, which I listed among my failures in this post, but the gist of it is that the wrap top never hung right, and it looked worse after each washing, and was hard to iron.  Such a shame! 
Picture
I was at least pleased with the buttonholes and the cool buttons!
Picture

Read More
4 Comments

Memories in Stitches

3/19/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
Mending and Sewing Sampler from the Netherlands. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. The words mean "boarding school" and "sample".
Recently, as a project with fellow church members, I have been memorizing Romans chapter 8.  It's been a long time since I've done this kind of memory work, and I'm finding the process quite interesting.  Memorizing requires a kind of mental discipline that I used to have but which I've let grow weak as a result of my overuse of the Internet.  (I am aware of the irony of writing that on the Internet.)  It makes me think about memory in general...

As it relates to sewing, memory is necessarily kinesthetic: we don't learn stitches merely by looking at them or reciting the steps to make them; we learn them by hand.  Samplers, which are old fashioned showcases of a young woman's best sewing work in a wide variety of methods, were simultaneously displays of her needle expertise and reminders to herself of what she had in her repertoire... and when she, years later, looked at the sampler to remind herself of how a feather stitch was done, I imagine her hands remembered more than her eyes did! 

Read More
2 Comments

Nat'l Quilting Day - Birds & Blossoms quilt top

3/17/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture

Today, the third Saturday of March, is National Quilting Day!  Last year, I posted about the making of the Cricket in the Congo quilt for a little boy named Wisdom Ezekiel.  This year, I'm sharing a quilt top I've just pieced, and some thoughts on piecing from a measurement-phobic! 

Read More
1 Comment

Denim Blazer: Alteration

3/15/2018

2 Comments

 
So!  The denim blazer saga concludes!  It began with Simplicity 7954, made up in charcoal denim, requiring some changes to the paper pattern to make it fit my sister, but I couldn't be sure of the changes because my sister was far away.  The result looked really cool on a manikin, less well-fitted in person.  But not bad for sewing long distance...

But recently I visited my sister, and decided to make the darn thing fit properly!  So I armed myself with seam ripper and went, once more, unto the breach...
Picture

Read More
2 Comments

Colbertism and French Needlelace

3/12/2018

5 Comments

 
Today an informative post about the development of French needlelaces!  As I previously defined it, needlelace is lace made by embroidering with a needle rather than braiding with bobbins or crocheting or knitting.  During the reign of Louis XIV (the Sun King), the French government made a deliberate investment in lacemaking, as part of a wide-ranging plan to become Europe's center for luxury goods, fashion, and taste.  They had stiff competition in all those fields: the Italians and Dutch were already Europe's sourcebook and marketplace for luxury goods.  In particular, as relates to lace, the bobbin laces of the Netherlands were fantastically expensive and popular.  But the needlelace of Italy was also prestigious;  Italy developed needlelace from its history of drawn thread work and reticella, and by the 1600's the Italian gros point de Venise, which was sculptural and meant to look like carved ivory, was the needlelace to beat.   The French set out to beat it. 

Read More
5 Comments

Red Raglan Top (Butterick 6134)

3/8/2018

0 Comments

 
I selected this pattern for my sister because it has everything I love for her body: the raglan sleeves and princess seams are highly recommended for the inverted triangle shape, and I love the way princess seams allow me to shape the garment under her bust, avoiding the whole tent/curtain problem I've already covered.  View D is my favorite, and I want to make it in a woven. 

(It's also, oddly, easier to fit a complex seamed garment than a supposedly "simple" one!)
Picture

Read More
0 Comments

Oscars 2018 - a linkfest of lovely gowns

3/5/2018

1 Comment

 
Being no movie buff, I don't ever watch the Academy Awards, but afterward, I love to look at the "best and worst dressed" lists.  I roll my eyes at the more tedious trends and ooh and ah over the beautiful gowns.  Every now and then there's even an interesting suit among the men.  Last year's highlight was Brie Larson in a black velvet gown by Oscar de la Renta that was a clear homage to Madame X's gown in John Singer Sargent's scandalous 1884 portrait!  Beautiful! 
Picture
Madame X, by John Singer Sargent, 1884. Metropolitan Museum of Art [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Picture
Brie Larson wearing Oscar de la Renta at the 2017 Oscars. Photo via Celebrity Glam Cam - click to see in context.

Read More
1 Comment

Blue Tunic Top (McCall's 4968)

3/1/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
Since my sister likes lightweight, flowy tops, with fabrics like chiffon, I want to make her a basic tunic pattern that I can use to whip up a top whenever I find a good fabric for her!  I start with McCall's 4968 (Woman's Day Collection), which is a long-sleeved, loose fitting top that pulls on over the head.  There are two V neck options and side vents.  The shirt has quite a lot of design ease, and looks oversized and boxy.  But for my sister, I decide to make a slightly more fitted tunic, using bust darts in front and shaped panels in back. 

Read More
1 Comment

    Karen Roy

    Quilting, dressmaking, and history plied with the needle...

    Sites I Enjoy

    The Quilt Index
    r/Quilting
    Wonkyworld

    Categories

    All
    1910's
    Alteration
    Antique
    Dyeing
    Embroidery
    General
    Hand Sewing
    History
    Lacemaking
    Mending
    Menswear
    Millinery
    Modern Elizabethan
    Musing
    Other Sewing
    Philippians 4:8
    Project Diary
    Quilting
    Regency
    Retro
    Self Made Pattern
    Self-made Pattern
    Terminology
    Victorian
    Vintage

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    December 2024
    March 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    RSS Feed

Blog

Quilting

Clothing

About

Copyright Karen Roy
​© 2017-2024