Playing With Stripes: Shirtwaist at the Grand Rapids Public Museum

Stripes are one of the most common patterns in fabrics and also one that has much potential for playing around in garment design. We are most used to stripes running up and down, as on men’s and men’s dress shirts. Then in sportswear, you sometimes see a collar or cuffs, cut on the bias, or diagonal. And an entire blouse bodice can be cut on the bias, a technique used in the 1930s, that I have tried and been pleased with. More on that later.

The cotton shirtwaist, or blouse, was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and in Europe. It was a break from the dress which was more expensive and harder to clean. A working-class woman could afford a set of cotton blouses to wear with a single skirt, and put some variety into her wardrobe. Yes, the first example of what some call a capsule wardrobe.

This shirtwaist uses bias on the bodice beneath a straight-grain yoke and with a straight-grain button placket . This is a smart idea because puts stability where you need it and allows for the drape of bias where it is flattering. You want stability at the button placket to hold the weight of the buttons and for the buttonholes which must bind the cut fabric. The yoke gives you a trim and relatively stable shoulder line (though it is necessarily on a slight bias to shape to the shoulder’s angle), and from the yoke drapes the bias portion which both creates a  soft mass over the bustline and appears to whittle the waistline. Both important to creating the then ideal silhouette of a full bust and a tiny waist. The soft, gathered sleevehead also emphasizes the wide to narrow drop from shoulder to waistline.

Working with stripes takes more effort than a plain weave. You must mirror the stripes from one side to the other or risk making the wearer look slightly drunk. And notice here the button placket is cut so that it does not disturb the stripes found in the yoke. But I always think the effort is worth it.

This is part of the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s exhibition on Fashion and Nature, which has a section on cottons. For more info, go here: https://www.grpm.org/fashion-and-nature/

genuinely i could not sleep until i drew this. sewing jokes ft a very confused kirby

at first i thought this idea was silly but i mean. it probably would be a big deal for the prince of patchland to be made of synthetic fibers, so uh

bonus doodle of me when i actually am sewing lol (sorry for the anatomically incorrect iron)

Which sewing pattern exec in the 60s got cucked by big bias binding and decided in retaliation that every single edge needed to be finished with a facing? I'm genuinely not sure there's an armhole or neckline that wouldn't look and feel better with a bias bind than a facing, but every. single. pattern makes me cut out a stupid facing piece and hand tack it down so it isn't just flapping about awkwardly. Guess what I wouldn't have to do that for? That's right, bias binding, the s-tier finishing method that apparently big pattern doesn't want you to know about.

going to the barbie movie tonight so i of course had to make a bag to bring. this is the first time i ever have done applique and first time making a quilted bag so it came with some challenges. considering the time crunch i was on, i think i did pretty well!

i used this free pattern from redquilt!

If your 2022 driver performance rank list does not begin with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in that order, you’re just wrong - plain and simple.

Bia Davou, Untitled (Odyssey), (ink, fabric, thread on linen, dimensions variable), ca. 1980s © Bia Davou Estate. Photo: © Adrianna Glaviano/Amant]. From: SIREN (some poetics), (group exhibition (and a poetics)), guest-curated by Quinn Latimer, Amant, Brooklyn, NY, September 15, 2022 – March 5, 2023

Yknow if Joanne’s really wants to stay in business and thrive again they have to completely redirect their targeted audience. Most people don’t walk into Joanne’s and go “god I REALLY want to get hundreds of dollars worth of Easter decor, and yards and yards of gold metallic brocade and this specialty st Patrick’s day flannel”

Most people walk into Joanne’s and go “man I’m like 5 black buttons short for my project” and then they go to the button isle and all of the buttons are ornately designed except for the single overpriced bag of regular black buttons.

completed a lil crafting project I've been working on!! I wanted my FE charms and pins to have a more permanent home in my shrine, so I customized a corkboard for them ✨✨

After extensive research I have come to the conclusion that the costume department must have conjured aziraphale's bowtie from thin air by the power of their imaginations. At the very least there was a miracle involved

I say this as someone who actually like Pardo's default design: Can we all agree that Spectral Claws is a WAY stronger design than Pardofelis's default design?

looking at formalwear on the off chance i have to wear one and

that's...that's basically peggy's dress from 1x01 👀

unrelated the other day i mended the boyfs hoodie while i watched jerma and i wish i had more stuff to mend because i think that's just all i wanna do with my time right now

a truly disastrous day of sewing ♥️ *through tears* I love learning new skills

fun side effect of having picked up chainmail as a hobby but pretty much never sitting down to only work on chainmail (i always have my headphones on bc i'm calling someone or listening to/watching something at the same time, the chainmail is just to keep my hands busy) is that i occasionally scare myself with how loud it is

I miss the days before Shein taught fast fashion brands how to be even faster and more expensive

Bia Davou, Sails, (ink, fabric, thread on linen, dimensions variable), 1981 [Documenta 14, 2017. Fridericianum, Kassel. Collection of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), Athens. © Bia Davou Estate. Photo: © Nils Klinger]