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

A Peek at My Stash...

7/27/2017

0 Comments

 
Admit it, you've been dying to see this "stash" I'm so often sewing from!  Go on... you know you want to...
Picture
Mysterious bureau beckons you to open its drawers...

Read More
0 Comments

Sunshine Dress (Simplicity 3631, view C)

7/24/2017

1 Comment

 
I so enjoy wearing my bonsai dress that I decide to make another version!  This time instead of green rayon, I use a happy, sunshiney yellow cotton, with a soft hand and very fine details: a woven grid and a print of abstract chrysanthemums.  The fabric is a remnant from the discount section of Fabric Depot, and is a gift from my friend who was shopping with me that day!  The pattern is Simplicity 3631, view C, but I only use the bodice pieces and improvise the skirt. 

Read More
1 Comment

Me-Made Underwear

7/20/2017

2 Comments

 
Or should it be "self-made underwear"?  Or does that sound like the underwear made themselves? 

Much like camisoles, underwear use up tiny amounts of fabric and satisfy the urge to sew something even when I'm not feeling like (or am putting off) a big project.  I first made my own underwear several years ago, when I was living off of sporadic temp work: I could not afford the money to buy new undies, but I could afford the time and scraps to make some.  

I should note that this post contains no pictures of me in my underwear, so if you clicked from prurience, no such luck!  

Read More
2 Comments

Being Ladylike...

7/17/2017

0 Comments

 
So remember the romance of gloves?  Remember the talk about modesty and how people treat you in different clothes?  This post relates to those.

Recently, I've taken to wearing the white mesh gloves I have for summer.  At first I thought they'd make me more hot, but not so.  The mesh allows air flow and the white actually seems to make my hands cooler.  (I'm reminded of Civil War re-enactors of my youth, who when asked how they could bear to wear "all those layers" in blistering summer heat, would respond in character "How can you bear to show all that skin to the sun... you must just be roasting!")  So when I have a pretty summer dress and cool summer hat, I also put on the pretty mesh gloves and feel quite put-together.  What's been especially interesting, though, has been a change in how people treat me.

Read More
0 Comments

One-Hour Dress

7/13/2017

5 Comments

 
Picture

Some patterns surprise me.  I start out thinking they're ugly, won't work for me, look bad on a hanger... and then I try them, and they work.  The 1920's fashions are like that for me.  I am not drawn to boxy shapes or straight lines.  The later seasons of Downton Abbey were rather sad, costume-wise.  The wealthy ladies at least had pretty silks and beading, but the servants might as well have been wearing black pillowcases.  So much no.
However, the one-hour dress, a popular DIY pattern from the 1920's, has several points in its favor:
  • the name (only one hour, really?);
  • the pattern is mostly straight lines;
  • the "waist" is really at the hips, which is the widest part of most women, so you can put it on over your head (no sewing in zippers, buttons, or plackets);
  • the lack of shaping means you can showcase interesting prints or decorations. 

Read More
5 Comments

Mending Hole in Crotch

7/10/2017

3 Comments

 
A friend asked me if I could mend her holey jeans.  Made of stretch denim, they had worn through in the crotch.  This is unsurprising, since there's a lot of strain in a small area in the crotch of jeans.  Seeing that the fabric was thinning around the hole as well as at the point of damage, I decided to replace the whole crotch with a gusset.

In sewing, a gusset is the opposite of a dart: a dart shapes fabric by removing some; a gusset shapes fabric by adding some.  Gussets can be found in interesting places, like armpits and crotches.  In the early days of bras, before molded foam, the cups were made with gussets.  Corsets sometimes have hip gussets.  Basically, if the fabric is too tight and you slash it, that's a slit; fill the slit with fabric, and it's a gusset.  In this case, I decided to patch the hole, then cut away the original fabric, turning the patch into a gusset. 

Read More
3 Comments

What's your neutral?

7/6/2017

2 Comments

 
For a while, upon the advice of Carole Jackson in her book Color Me Beautiful, I chose camel as my wardrobe's neutral tone.  But camel (a kind of warm brown) never inspired me.  I tend toward analogous color schemes, so when I wore camel, I would pair it with brown, pumpkin, or tan... which is a perfectly fine look if you're a scifi desert dweller, but not a happy look for me. 

A few times, my loving family would say I needed something to make my face "pop"--which is to say that I was melting into a camel puddle.  (Khaki gives me the same problem!)  I can wear it, but I need to ditch the analogous color scheme and put something bright and contrasting next to my face.  However, what's the point of wearing something that doesn't make you happy?  Camel didn't make me happy.

Read More
2 Comments

Tunic Tops

7/3/2017

1 Comment

 
These are some hand-sewn tops I made in 2015, from a simple boxy pattern I took from a RTW top I already had.  They're easy to make, but not terribly attractive to wear.  They fit like hospital scrubs. 

Read More
1 Comment

    Karen Roy

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

    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

    Blogs I Read

    The Dreamstress
    Male Pattern Boldness
    ​
    Lilacs & Lace
    Tom of Holland
    Fit for a Queen
    Line of Selvage
    Mainely Menswear
    Bernadette Banner

    Archives

    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
​© 2017-2022