Thursday's Thought: Modesty

Modesty is an attitude. It just has a tendency to express itself in the way you dress.

Learning and Growing: Clothing the Family

TThis 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.

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.


Sub Sections
Inspiration and Learning for Women/about women's clothing ~  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. New!

Inspiration/Learning about Men's Clothing ~ Resources for learning about men's clothing. New!

Inspiration/Learning about Girls' Clothing ~ Good places for just viewing styles of clothing for girls. Good for helping you figure out what types of clothing you would approve of your daughters wearing and possibly what types of things you'd like to learn to make.  Also, if you're still in girlhood, these might be just as helpful as the women's list(s)! This is for all ages of girls. New!

Inspiration/Learning about Boys' Clothing ~ Good places for just viewing styles of clothing for boys. Good for helping you figure out what types of clothing you would approve of your sons wearing and possibly what types of things you'd like to learn to make.  This is for all ages of boys. New!


Related Posts

Learning and Growing: Sewing

Clothing Care
Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House~ It's a big book: get the hardback edition if you can. Extensive section on textiles and laundering. She also has a separate book on laundering, called Laundry: The Home Comforts Book of Caring for Clothes and Linens. I'm not sure exactly what it contains but I'm sure it's good.

Modesty-related Resouces 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.

Feelin' Feminine ~ ministry   New!

Other Aspects of Dress

Resources related to other aspects of dress, such as femininity, comfort, healthfulness, durability, simplicity, convenience, etc. 

Feelin' Feminine ~ ministry   New!

Clothing the Family ~ Inspiration and Learning for Women/About Women's Clothing

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. 

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.
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.

April Cornell Online ~ designer and retailer
As Lilies Sewing ~ custom sewing of modest, feminine attire
DownEast Basics Clothing Catalog ~ retailer
Feelin' Feminine ~ ministry  New! 
Hannah Lise ~ modest clothing company
Kathy's Modest, Sewing Patterns ~ sewing pattern company and retailer
Kwik Sew pattern company ~ commercial sewing pattern company
Lands' End ~ company and retailer
Lilies of the Field ~ custom sewing of modest, feminine attire
Loes Hinse Design ~ independent sewing pattern company
Martin McCrea ~ made to order Victorian/Western dresses.

Sense and Sensibility pattern pages, examples, and vintage images library. Designer of historical/history-inspired sewing patterns.

Silhouette Patterns ~ independent sewing pattern company.
Tall Women's Clothes ~ retailer

Textile Studio Patterns ~ independent sewing pattern company.

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):

Kwik Sew pattern company

Petite Plus Patterns

My Treasuries on Etsy

Maybe you are like I used to be and don't know what a treasury is and don't know what Etsy is. Well, never mind. Just click on the links and find out!

Well, I'll give you a hint. Etsy is a place to buy handmade goods (as well as supplies for handmade goods and vintage items) from individual sellers. A treasury is a collection of items, usually with along a theme, put together by a member of Etsy (could be another seller or just a buyer) to share with other members.

I hope these will be a blessing to my readers!

The Gift of Life

Dreaming of a Wardrobe Makeover (part 1)

The Hope Chest Binder

A little tour of my hope chest binder. Here's the front cover.

  

Each section has a title page.

In one section I have several wardrobe pages, including page protectors with catalog clippings of clothing I like. These are for inspiration.

 

This section also includes a wardrobe inventory, which I have yet to finish.

And that's all for now. I'm not sharing more because the binder is based on a book I'm writing and I'm not ready to share those things yet. I do hope to add a few more things next month (and take some pictures to share) in keeping with next month's theme. 

Recent Projects: The Apron

This apron is Kwik Sew 3480. It's a Kwik Start pattern ~ especially designed for beginners.
 

More pictures and information in my sample gallery!

My First Regency Gown: Week Four

The late installment . . .  .

This week I worked on my first bodice muslin. The purposes of this muslin were to see where the bottom of the bodice fell on me and to see where the neckline would be.

First picture: trying to put together the back and side back pieces. I had trouble easing, as you can see.

These are the two pieces.

 

I'm not sure how the ends are supposed to fit together on the upper side of both pieces. Normally a pattern would have dots to match on corners like this. This pattern doesn't, and I think it should.

It's close, here, but not perfect. It could be a cutting or tracing error. I'll check those. I still have at least one more muslin to make, so I didn't try to fix this.

Here's the problem end. I don't think it's supposed to look like that.

You can see here how the pieces don't quite line up.

But, hey, it was close enough for this fitting!

Taking pictures of oneself in the mirror is more challenging than it looks. :-)

 

Conclusion? It's definitely too low and wide for my liking so I'll be trying the high neckline supplement next. The bodice is also too short. It doesn't completely cover me, even though my cup size is barely A! I am very tall, though, so that is probably why. Since I want a lower, more modern Empire waistline, I may need to lengthen the bodice as much as three inches. 

Recent Projects: Short Sleeve Shirts

More pictures and information in my sample gallery!

Recent Projects: Baby Dress and Jumper

I drafted this jumper from the dress pattern I used for the dress below.

I'm sorry this is the best picture I have of the dress!

 

Want to know more about this project? Visit my sample gallery or just post your question here!

My First Regency Gown: Week Three

Ooops! Looks like I forgot to post this last week.

My muslin fabric ~ in curtain form!

After being taken apart.

I used some of this fabric for another project so I'm going to have to hunt up some more, I think, to do the rest of my Regency Gown muslins.  One I have already cut out.

My First Regency Gown: Week 1 (sort of)

I'm ready to make my first Sense & Sensibility Regency Gown!

I'll be making weekly (I hope) posts about my experiences and progress, and now that I have a camera again, posting pictures of the process to.

So far (all of which happened in November and December, which is what the "sort of" in the post title is all about) I have:

Picked the fabric to use (from my stash, which is why I had to do it before I bought the pattern!).

Bought the pattern and the neckline supplement (I think the regular neckline will be too low for my comfort).

Previewed the pattern instructions and pieces.

Cut apart the pattern pieces.

Selected the view I intend to make.

Traced the pattern and trimmed out the pieces.

More Links from My Collection

Not necessarily modest exclusively.

On The Hip: Long shirts for the active woman.

Diviine ModesTee - Long fitted Cap Sleeves, Camisoles and T-shirts

Kate's Camisoles

Custom hand made high quality modest apparel by The King's Daughters ~ simple modest clothing for ladies, girls, babies and boys

Enjoy!

More links on dressing from my collection

. . . for Womanhood Wednesday.

Baker Lane

Amelia's Aprons

Practically Pretty by Design

Dressing Ideas

Fashion Ideas : One woman's tips on dressing modestly and femininely.

And a couple of potential sources for modest clothing: DownEast Basics and Lilies of the Field. I just realized I have a lot of decent clothing links so maybe I'll share more in the future!

I've Made a Decision

I'm going to dress right.

I believe I really need to dress like the Godly woman I profess to be.

My dressing problems are probably a lot different from most people's, however. Modesty isn't a big issue. I've always tried to dress modestly. I'm even modest naturally! I've have been more conscious over the last few years of modesty issues I never thought about before (actually, I really didn't think about modesty--because I didn't intend to be immodest, I just assumed everything I chose to wear was automatically modest!). For one thing, I've become more conscious of skirt length. I've never worn short skirts, but I've never thought about just how long I want my skirts to be. I dress be default! I've also realized that most of my shirts are too short. Not intentionally--that's just the way shirts are (especially for someone who is long-waisted). I just accepted it before--that skin would show when I lift up my arms or bend over--but no more. It may be "normal" but I don't have to accept it!

I've never been fashion-conscious. That's sort of an under-statement. Anyway, I don't intend to become so now, but I do want to dress more becomingly. You know, I'm glad I don't have a fashion addiction to overcome!

I could NEVER be accused of spending too much money on clothes. In fact, I've never had enough money for clothes. Really. Most of my clothing for my entire life has been hand-me-downs from various people or gifts. When that's all you can get, you take what you can get, even if it's not perfect (welcome to my wardrobe!). A "clothing budget" has been a joke. This situation doesn't put me in a very good position to improve my way of dressing, but God is good. That does put me in a good position to improve my way of dressing. I have learned that God will concern Himself with providing me with decent clothing if I will trust Him.

Ah! I learned that lesson years ago. To make a long story short, for the last 8-10 years I have never (except for a few weeks) been without an ample supply of nice jeans (until recently they were all I wore except to church) that fit very well without spending a penny. Enough said!

I can sew, and I have a nice sewing machine (free!). I've also inherited fabric, patterns, and other sewing supplies from my grandmother who can't sew anymore. Getting everything, including my limited sewing skills, to work together is very challenging. I rarely have enough money to by any sewing supplies, including matching thread. My challenge as far as making my own clothing is concerned, is to get this random collection of patterns, zippers, thread, fabric, buttons, etc., to turn into garments that work for me.

I don't have a closet. We built our own house, but haven't built my own closet yet. This does not help matters. That was also an understatement.

Did I mention I don't have any money to spend on clothing or sewing supplies? Sigh. This would be a lot easier if I did. I know exactly where I would go to shop!