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Weekend Reading: Vintage sizing & lots of lingerie!
Weekend reading! It’s back!
It’s been a while since I did my last link roundup, but I’ve been reading and seeing so much inspiring stuff online lately, I thought it high time we revived this tradition. What do you think?
Weekend Reading:
- Love the Balenciaga coat above, worn by Dovima and shot by Richard Avedon in 1950!
- Vintage Pattern Sizes and Body Types. What do you think sizing will be like in the future?
- These hearts from Stitch 56 would make some great Valentine’s Day projects this month!
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Learn how to sew up lingerie from your fabric scraps with Scraptastic Lingerie!
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The Almada robe, also from this month’s Seamwork
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The article you’ve been waiting for! From Woven to Knit by Christine Haynes.
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“I AM my own luxury brand”. Mainely Dad has the correct sewing attitude!
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Don’t miss the double gauze collection over at Spool!
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Diane Keaton said she stole a bit of Abe Lincoln’s style. Do you have an unusual style icon?
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Lessons Learned from the Art of Making Corsets by Shaerie of Sew LA
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A Delicate Matter: Tips for working with delicate & sheer fabrics by Sara Homer of Now Try This
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Loving all the lightweight wovens at Miss Maude Sewing right now!
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Courage Through Costuming: Alright, how many awesome cosplayers do we have out there?
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200 Hours Later…The Incredible Journey of This Dior Haute Couture Dress
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“Some say that sudden drastic changes in personal appearance are a sign of inner turmoil & to that I say, ‘Phooey!'”
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Take a look behind the seams of a handcrafted silk slip
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A great comparison! “What We Eat and What We Wear: The Intersection of Food and Fashion”
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Treat yourself to a free desktop calendar with some pre-scheduled “me time” on Fridays
For more links every week, you can follow us on Twitter, where we’re always posting interesting tidbits and discussions.
Comments
Denise
February 12, 2016 #
I’m glad this tradition is coming back, I’ve missed these posts! And I’ll fess up– I both enjoy cosplaying and sewing cosplays for other people. It’s satisfying to create something that can let you or other people escape reality for a while:)
Sarai
February 12, 2016 #
So true! I guess that’s one reason sewing halloween costumes is so much fun too. Plus you can go all out imaginatively.
Betty Jordan Wester
February 12, 2016 #
“What do you think sizing will be like in the future?”
I’m still holding out for sizing that is just measurements. I’d love to be able to buy a size 34 dress pattern and know it referred to bust size or buy a size 38 pant and know it meant hips.
Sarai
February 12, 2016 #
Some vintage patterns are like this! Men’s sizing is so much more straightforward.
Honestly, I think a lot of women are uncomfortable with even knowing their true measurements, which might contribute to it.
Betty Jordan Wester
February 12, 2016 #
I really envy Men’s Sizing, although I’ve heard that bc there is any accountability that Men’s clothing has succumbed to vanity sizing as well. You can buy a 34 pant, but it’ll actually measure 36″ :/
I can understand women not wanting to know. Women have such strange relationships to their bodies. And there’s a lot of belonging when you fit into a “size” whether that’s a 0 or a 16. I feel that I’m someone who values honestly and facts, so knowing my measurements makes me feel more empowered because I feel less emotionally manipulated. I feel like I have less of an emotional attachment to a random, changeable number. There’s nothing weirder or more uncomfortable to me than going into a couple of stores and buying radically different sizes. I’m the same me, but somehow my pants are a 2 and a 6? There’s something about the 2 that activates my inner Holden Caulfield and makes me feel like a phony. It also makes me feel like I’m being condescended too, which also aggravates me.
I have a suspicion that my intellectual vanity is greater than my physical vanity.
Betty Jordan Wester
February 12, 2016 #
*isn’t any accountability…
Robin
February 12, 2016 #
Thanks so much for bringing Weekend Reading back! It was a big draw for me years ago when the blog started. It is one more great feature about Collette that makes me feel a part of what you do. I LOVE it.
Re sizing, I would like to see more services like the Spoonflower/Collette partnership that provides for some convenient customization. How about a blog on current fashion sewing apps? Or maybe in the future Collette can partner with someone to develop one one (to support WA perhaps? Or is there one out already and I am just behind the curve?)
Francesca a
February 12, 2016 #
Oh yeah! I so missed your links!
Steely
February 13, 2016 #
So glad the weekend reading is back! I really did enjoy reading these posts as they always contain inspiration and they entertain me on a Friday afternoon.
I always hate the confusion around sizing. In shops I feel you have to try on clothing to have any idea whether it fits or not. Since I’ve been making my own clothes, I’m rather relieved that I don’t have to do that anymore. I never enjoyed clothes shopping, so time spent trying things on was purgatory.
gabriel
February 13, 2016 #
yes! love that these are back… you do such a good job of curating a combination of information, creative eye candy, skills enhancement and philosophical perspective…. thank you…
Char Damitio
February 13, 2016 #
I LOVE and truly appreciate this Weekend Reading. Although I’ve been sewing for years, I am new to all things Colette, am learning lots, and these kinds of links really help! Thanks so much. Please keep them coming.
Lisa
February 13, 2016 #
So interesting!
I am actually always amazed that it is so difficult to find RTW for smaller (petite) women. Plus sizing is EVERYWHERE while petite sizing is…….old lady. Anthropologie and Nordstrom are really starting to add more options (finally) so it’s helpful, but even then there are still issues. And the petite sizes run out so quickly so I know there has to be a need. All of the discussion in the sewing/pattern world is about how women’s bodies have grown out (they have- I’m a nutritionist and an RN so I get far more detail about this than most, working with multiple generations; the young ones aren’t thin anymore) but what about for those of us who haven’t grown up on hormone-laden dairy products, shun junk food, get tons of exercise and thereby retain the ability to maintain our shapes at 40? The vanity sizing has actually made it so that I need PXS? Or worse, PXXS? Really? It’s ridiculous. I’ve got a co-worked who is smaller than me and actually has to buy children’s clothing. She doesn’t sew. Honestly, sometimes when I’ve met another petite woman who dresses well and I’ve known her more than 5 minutes, there’s a bonding moment over “Where do you buy/get clothing?” And, “Yeah, it’s so hard…….”
Thankfully shoes aren’t an issue. (:
One of the reasons I began sewing years ago was out of my need for items that were more proportional for me (sounds like we all have this issue, no matter what our shape). It’s taken years to become comfortable with the numerous pattern adjustments that need to be made to “petite” it and there are many patternmakers I’ve learned I must avoid altogether since their fit models go too far in the other direction. But it’s becoming easier; I know I’ve learned a lot.
Okay, now back to WA (I’m new to it and it’s a great resource- thanks!).
Sara
February 13, 2016 #
Love the weekend reading…. it is literally something to look forward to at the end of the week. And honestly, I enjoy reading about sewing and people who sew as much as I do actually sewing. So thank you, hope it continues for quite a while.
(Also looking forward to Season 2 of Seamwork radio!)
Jen
February 13, 2016 #
Yay weekend reading! I don’t know how you find these, but there’s always cool nuggets in there.
I do some costuming for LARP rather than cosplay. Massive respect to the cosplayers who put in so much work recreating details that should be impossible in the real world. They need so many skills as well as sewing.