Today Tilly of Tilly & the Buttons fame has a wonderful interview with Kati of the new pattern line Kate & Rose. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it! Kati's observations and motivations were beautifully expressed and she put into words some things that I have felt but haven't been able to articulate (especially about the role of craft in women's lives).
Kate & Rose offers two things: garment sewing patterns and embroidery designs. Kati's aesthetic is very much inspired by the embroidery traditions of Kati's native Hungary.
I loved visiting Budapest when I was in my early twenties, and I was particularly enchanted with the textiles: embroidered blouses and fabulous tablecloths and folkloric ribbons and folk costumes. At that age I had no dining table to cover, so I didn't know how to begin to select a cloth. I bought a blouse but ended up giving it as a gift. I do still have a few ribbons and a folk costume jacket (which is brocade with a cartridge pleated peplum and weighs approximately one ton!) from that trip, but how I would love to have a more wearable garment!
Kati's garment designs are conceived to work either as a field for embroidery or without embellishment. My favorite of the patterns is the first, the Roza Blouse & Dress:
An embroidered version:
Here it is made up in a quilting cotton, using side ties to overcome the fabric's lack of drape (what a great idea!):
I took a quick look on Pinterest to find some images of the types of blouses I saw on my visit to Hungary. I love them, but I think Kate & Rose's version is definitely more wearable, at least for me in the here and now.
I hope my ardor for making one of these blouses keeps burning long enough to get it done, because I absolutely love them!
Kate & Rose offers three other patterns: the Giselle Dress (which is making the rounds of the blogs; it is gorgeous but wouldn't particularly suit me), the Zsalya Top & Dress (would suit me even less) and the Mariska Skirt (awesome and I could see myself making it). I'm enthusiastic about this new line with its unique identity and point of view. What do you think?