Clothing the Family

**I don't necessarily endorse these sites in their entirety. In fact, some of them I may not endorse at all! They are here because I believe they are useful for educational purposes.**

Clothing the Family ~ Ladies Learn Your Style!
List of good places for just viewing styles of clothing for women (good for helping you figure out what you like and don't like, will wear and won't wear). These are sites I have found helpful in my study.



A variety of modesty-related resources ~ could be any aspect of modesty for anyone (and I may or may not agree with it).

Modesty Matters ~www.inplainsite.com~ One woman's thoughts on the subject. It has been so long since I read it that I don't remember what she said, but I remember is being useful in my study.

The Rebelution: The Modesty Survey ~ This is the original announcement for the survey. I see there are links to other posts about the survey in the sidebar.

** This post/re-post is a resource list designed to aid in the education of women in homemaking and womanhood lines, particularly in keeping with the purpose of The Hope Chest. You can always find all of my resource lists in the sidebar.**

Clothing the Family ~ Ladies learn your style!

**I don't necessarily endorse these sites in their entirety. In fact, some of them I may not endorse at all! They are here because I believe they are useful for educational purposes.**

Good places for just viewing styles of clothing for women (good for helping you figure out what you like and don't like, will wear and won't wear). These are sites I have found helpful in my study.

April Cornell Online

As Lilies Sewing

DownEast Basics Clothing Catalog

HannahLise

Kathy's Modest, Sewing Patterns

Kwik Sew pattern company

Lands' End

Lilies of the Field

Loes Hinse Design

Martin McCrea

Sense and Sensibility~ pattern pages, examples, and vintage images library.

Seven Sisters Sewing

Silhouette Patterns

Tall Women's Clothes

Textile Studio Patterns

And specifically for plus-size women (since I haven't needed this personally I don't have as many links but I will look/try to remember what I've seen) if you want to look at actual plus-size clothing:

Kwik Sew pattern company

Petite Plus Patterns

**This post/re-post is a resource list designed to aid in the education of women in homemaking and womanhood lines, particularly in keeping with the purpose of The Hope Chest. You can always find all of my resource lists in the sidebar.**

The Seamstress and the Dressmaker

I don't necessarily endorse these sites in their entirety. In fact, some of them I may not endorse at all! They are here because I believe they are useful for educational purposes.

Keeping Home ~ the retail store. My own store which features sensible and modest sewing patterns for clothing and the home. My goal is to help women outfit their homes and clothe their families with dignity. The styles for clothing are classic-modern ~ sometimes a bit trendy, sometimes a bit old-fashioned, but mostly in between (and never extreme!). I have some sewing patterns especially for beginners! I do completely endorse this one. ;-)

Fabric.com ~ A wonderful place to visit! Sells discount quilting, apparel, and home dec fabrics. Some types of fabrics stick around consistently, some don't. Easy to navigate, so it's a great place to learn about fabrics and what's available. There's also a small fabric glossary that I have found helpful.

Denver Fabrics ~ sells discount fabrics. A bit difficult to navigate.

Joann.com ~ I generally buy my thread here (Gutermann).

PatternReview.com ~ reviews of sewing patterns. Great resource!

Sewing Forum ~ at GardenWeb



More to come!


This post/re-post is a resource list designed to aid in the education of women in homemaking and womanhood lines, particularly in keeping with the purpose of The Hope Chest. You can always find all of my resource lists in the sidebar.

Learning New Skills

DearMother mentioned today that some folks on a homesteading-type forum she reads are doing a skill-a-month challenge. Participants learn one new skill each month (that they have been wanting to learn).

That sounds like something I need to do (I'm afraid I would fail though ~ I'll think about it next month). This idea got me thinking about what skills (or other things) I would like to learn. Now, bear in mind that even though this is in writing it's not a commitment of any kind. It's just ideas!

I would like to learn:

How to start seeds ~ veggies and seeds. I've done it, but not by myself. If I had to do it by myself I would be a wee bit lost.

How to knit. I tried to learn when I was little, but frankly I prefer crocheting so it didn't really take off. Knitting and crocheting aren't completely interchangeable so I'd like to know both.

Soap making. Why not? :-) Actually, since I use liquid soap, I need to learn how to make that.

How to make rye bread ~ light with caraway (I've made a dark rye).

Embroidery.

If I wasn't hungry I'd probably be able to think of a dozen more!

Garden Journal: March 17, 2009

Well, it's officially gardening season. I'm not sure it would be accurate to say that gardening season really stops for more than a couple of months, considering that we can still be preserving food in November and we starting planning our seed orders in January, but it has really begun now. We've cleaned off most of our garden plots and some of them have been plowed already. The green house is cleaned out and we're getting ready to start seeds. And yes, we've made our seed orders ~ but that's different ;)

We will be growing parsnips and salsify again this year, which we have not for a while. We're also trying eggplant and fennel for sure. Washing pots to plant seeds in is on the agenda this week (I really should try to wash some yet today ~ but houseplants keep showing up in the sink to interfere with that. I suppose it's all in innocence but it seems like a conspiracy to me!).

A Thought for This Week

"Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered."

~ Romans 4:7

Women and Homemaking

Surely, it is a pernicious and mistaken idea, that the duties which
tax a woman's mind are petty, trivial, or unworthy of the highest grade
of intellect and moral worth. Instead of allowing this feeling, every
woman should imbibe, from early youth, the impression that she is in
training for the discharge of the most important, the most difficult,
and the most sacred and interesting duties that can possibly employ
the highest intellect. She ought to feel that her station and
responsibilities in the great drama of life are second to none, either
as viewed by her Maker, or in the estimation of all minds whose judgment
is most worthy of respect.
From American Woman's Home by Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe

Home Duties Not Duly Appreciated

The authors of this volume, while they sympathize with every honest
effort to relieve the disabilities and sufferings of their sex, are
confident that the chief cause of these evils is the fact that the
honor and duties of the family state are not duly appreciated, that
women are not trained for these duties as men are trained for their
trades and professions, and that, as the consequence, family labor is
poorly done, poorly paid, and regarded as menial and disgraceful.

From the Introduction to American Woman's Home by Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Garden Planning Thoughts

Although I have refused to do any outside work until March (I want to actually have winter!), I have been in the books and seed catalogs. I truly love vegetables and herbs, and flowers too. I like to look through catalogs. I take those from past years so that I don't have to return them when someone else wants to order. I can just look whenever I want to! Some of them are getting rather worn.

#1 In January I rotated my crops. My personal garden has several annual beds. Each bed contains herbs, flowers, and vegetables that do well together. So, I made a little map for this year's garden so I will know at a glance which things go in which bed this year. I've since lost the map. Surely it will turn up!

#2 I tried to grow eggplant last year. Using some old seed we had, I did get two plants, but eggplant is very vulnerable to bugs and I'm afraid they ate them up. I needed to be better prepared and more vigilant. I had decided to try again this year, but then . . . . I really want eggplant and I don't want to go by chance. I have requested that this be a regular garden crop grown by the whole family. Perhaps with newer seed we will get more plants ( I should hope so!), and if we use row covers they may avoid a bug attack.

#3 I've also requested fennel. Actually, that was dear Grandmother's request. I have never tasted fennel, although I would like to. She has tried it and likes it very much. This is the bulb fennel, not the herb.

Yet Another Giveaway

Jocelyn's “Winter Bundle” giveaway is still going on. This week you can enter to win, among other things, a Sense and Sensibility E-pattern! If you like to sew, take a look at this. Mrs. Chancey offers many lovely patterns!