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

"Cracked Ice" Surface Design - Part 1

11/28/2022

1 Comment

 
In mundanity, complexity.  A sheet of ice, cracking as it thaws, inspires artists, woodworkers, scientists, and me!  Today's post is a deep dive into a surface design pattern called "Cracked Ice", which is common in traditional Chinese art. 

COPYRIGHT & PERMISSIONS

This post uses some photos that are available under free public licenses.  I put the attribution and copyright details under each borrowed picture; clicking on a borrowed picture will open its source page in a new window. 

A few of the pictures are my own, and I label them as well.  As a blanket rule, the pictures, writing, and other content of this blog are my property unless otherwise noted.  Feel free to link to, pin, or share these pages online, as long as you credit me (Karen Roy), preferably with a link back.  Please ask my permission before redistributing or reproducing my work in any other way.  ​
Picture
Cracked Ice, by Timo Noko from Helsinki, Finland, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Picture
冰裂窗 Cracked Ice Window, by lienyuan lee, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Read More
1 Comment

1880's Basque Bodice

5/7/2020

2 Comments

 
Picture
Today I am exhibiting a long-buried treasure... long-buried in a drawer, that is.  It's an extant bodice from the late Victorian era, in poor condition, but useful for study and delightful merely by its existence!  It was given to me by my aunt, who shares my interest in historical clothing.  The garment is a basque (rhymes with "mask"), which is a fitted bodice that extends down over the hips, covering a little of the top of the skirt. 

Read More
2 Comments

Home Needlework Magazine, June 1909

7/4/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
"My head looks like a pin-cushion..."
My co-worker let me borrow her original 1909 Home Needlework Magazine, which she'd found among her grandmother's things.  I've taken copious pictures, to show the cool stuff inside!  (The magazine is quite substantial, so you'll forgive me if I didn't copy the whole thing!)

If you're looking for more archives of this periodical, the University of Arizona's On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics has some later issues (from 1914, 1915, and 1916).  Google Books has digitized a bunch of issues, too.  And there are scattered excerpts of it on various vintage craft websites, but I don't know of a complete archive anywhere.  I'd be happy to be corrected about that, though! 

Read More
1 Comment

1920's Advertising!

11/22/2018

2 Comments

 
Today, let's have some more 1920's ephemera!  Catherine DeVore collected ads if she liked the pictures. 

Advertising is so ubiquitous in our world that we're generally blind to its tropes and skewed priorities, because we aren't consciously processing it.  But several times in my life I've taken long breaks from media (lived without a TV, moved to a wilderness area with only one radio station and no internet, traveled abroad), and when I came back, even my "own" culture felt foreign and the ads obnoxiously stupid.  I noticed all kinds of implied messages beyond the simple message to buy. 

When we look at the ads of a former time, those implied messages are screams rather than whispers.  This Thanksgiving, I am thankful that I don't live in the twenties, and here are a few reasons why.  For each ad, try to bear in mind that the people who made it and the people who saw it each thought it was normal, and its messages unobjectionable. 

Read More
2 Comments

1923 Ephemera - Wool Information Booklet

11/15/2018

2 Comments

 

How about I post some more 1920's ephemera!  Today, a little 15-page booklet of information about wool, published and distributed in 1923 by a made-to-order clothier: J. B. Simpson, Inc., "Tailored to Order Clothes", of Chicago, Illinois.  The text within is part informative, part promotional.  It's clear from the tone of the writing that the "informed consumer" of 1923 was expected to be a lot more informed than modern consumers! 
Picture
Tiny little booklet!

Read More
2 Comments

Corticelli Silk Pamphlet, circa 1923

11/12/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
I promised that I would, over time, show you some of the fascinating ephemera enclosed in Catherine DeVore's fashion and art portfolio from the 1920's... so today I showcase an advertising pamphlet put out by The Corticelli Silk Company in 1923.  This short, stapled booklet has full color pictures of the famous dancer Irene Castle wearing Corticelli Silk!

WHO WAS IRENE CASTLE?

Irene Castle was a fascinating lady... a paragon of class and respectability in the early Teens, who also ran nightclubs, introduced the bob, influenced fashion, acted in films, supported animal rights, and wrote books.  With her husband Vernon Castle, she is one of the founders of modern partner dancing.  

Read More
1 Comment

1920s Portfolio: Catherine DeVore's Fashion Sketches

10/8/2018

1 Comment

 
Last Thursday, I opened up Catherine DeVore's 1920's portfolio and gave an overview of it and what collaborating history I could find.  Today, in an image-heavy post, I'm going to show you Catherine's artsy drawings of the clothes she wanted to make!  In future posts, I'll show some of her more interesting ephemera. 

I'm not kidding about the number of images in this... if you have a slow internet connection, click "read more" and then go make some tea or do a few chores while the post loads. 

Read More
1 Comment

1920s Portfolio: Catherine DeVore & the Wolfe School

10/4/2018

6 Comments

 
Today we get an unexpected peek into the past--a large portfolio of the fashion sketches and pattern drafts of a woman named Catherine Emma DeVore, who graduated from the Wolfe School of Costume Designing in Los Angeles in 1923.  In addition, there are two envelopes full of ephemera: newspaper clippings, her doodles, ads, notes, photographs, envelopes....
Picture
Whence this bounty of delight?  From a man I know who, having acquired this trove, was kind enough let me borrow it to take pictures!  In turn, I did my best to return it as a tidy package, putting the pictures in order.  I got so many photos, and uncovered enough interesting info, to make several posts, so I'll do this in installments:
  • Today I will introduce the portfolio and its maker.  Text-heavy post. 
  • On Monday, I'll share the fashion illustrations.  Image-heavy post. 
  • After that, I'll share the ephemera, as I have time to make the posts.  Those posts will be more about fashion, fabric, and culture in the 1920's. 

Read More
6 Comments

Tineke Stoffels' "Little White Collars"

10/1/2018

0 Comments

 

As an amateur lacemaker, I was delighted recently to find some beautiful and unique old laces displayed in an art exhibit online.  Little White Collars is a collection of photographs by Dutch artist Tineke Stoffels, each showing a young woman wearing an antique collar.  Their other clothes are all black, which sets the collars off to perfection, as well as referencing the Calvinist dress code of Holland in the 1600's. The photographs are also finished in a painterly way, so that they look like works of Old Masters. 

I reached out to Ms. Stoffels, and she agreed to answer my questions, and even to provide some close-up lace pictures so I can see how the pieces were made!  What a marvelous lady!

Picture
Girl with lace collar II/Gros point de Venise (cropped). © Tineke Stoffels 2018
Most pictures in this post are the property of Tineke Stoffels of the Netherlands.  Please do check out her website!  The other images are credited and linked to their Wikimedia Commons source-pages. 

Read More
0 Comments

    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