Fantastic robes

I want to make a robe – a robe of fantasy. This story could turn into something overly complicated. But I’ll make a start here anyway.

I have a small collection of old books and patterns relating to handmade and ethnic clothing. I accumulated them in the late 70’s, early 80’s. One of the most elegant is Cut My Cote by Dorothy K. Burnham from the Textile Department of the Royal Ontario Museum. This little book explains how clothing was cut and pieced together based on the width of the handwoven fabric available, making most efficient use of the precious fabrics. I paged through this book many times but never felt making clothes like these was within my reach. They belonged to another place and time where clothing styles and fabrics and decoration were traditionally handmade and methods were passed down within a culture. 

Now, forty or so years later, I picked up the book again. Inspired by Jude’s Large Cloth course, I’m thinking maybe I could make something from the book. In fact, the diagrams offer simple layouts for making something out of PIECES. Patchwork in other words.

Here I am, on the other side of tradition, just an isolated individual in a pandemic, making something pieced together out of my stash of scraps and old sheets and books. Faced with too many decisions and too many choices from all the history and all the culture gone by. Just trying to get a piece of it for my own shelter, my own fantasy. It feels sad and a little desperate, really.

But setting that aside, here’s the garment I find the most inspiring. “Man’s coat. Korean, Seoul. Early 20th century. Plain white silk. Collected by Dr. and Mrs. Norman Wallace in 1920. Gift of Miss Phyllis Higinbotham. ROM 971.408.2”

I like the neck wrap, the ties at front, the cuffs, the swishy volume added to the sides. I like all the opportunity for little pieced strips. It’s an inspiration. There are other styles that are simpler. Maybe I will just borrow pieces (ha) of this diagram as I go along.

Fabric choices. I know I want to use a length of fabric from Richard Carbin, AsiaDyer on etsy. It’s 13-1/2 inches wide and medium-stiff. I don’t want to cut into it or destroy it messing around. So I cut a length of old cotton sheet the same size. I can play around with this sheeting and/or use it as a lining later. Maybe make a robe entirely out of this dusty purple sheet! Hmmm.

Jude recommends trying the cloth on. I did, and took some cell phone photos in the hallway mirror. (Sorry for the poor lighting.) I put the strip around my neck, but on second thought, it’s going to have to go down the back. On the other hand, the length seems about right. More cutting of the sheet to come.

Maybe too much information for this blog. I’m worried I’ll abandon the project, or become embarrassed by false starts. Lots of worries to set aside.

In other news, the next weaving project from The Art of Weaving a Life is a doll. Maybe I can make a doll robe!