Kaoru Marie

What's your definition of "Work Appropriate" when it comes to dresses? Of course, one's work environment will determine the definition of "work appropriate" so it's not necessarily a one-size-fits-all situation. I started drafting this post before I read Charlotte's recent post about dressing for work and loved reading her post and the discussion in the comments. Personally, I work in a fairly conservative industry. I'm an engineer, I work in an office, and when I go to client meetings, project interviews, public outreach meetings, and professional work events, the guys are in suits (mostly with ties) and the women are in similar attire (suits, pencil skirts w/ nice blouse, sheath or fit-and-flare dresses). Go to Banana Republic or Ann Taylor's website and check out the work styles. That's my "work appropriate" attire. Apparently my husband severely disagrees. And I found out we had drastically different opinions regar...

I have several Monetas to share with you today. I thought about doing separate posts for all three since they were made with different types of knits and I constructed each of them a bit differently. Buuuuutttt, I figured that might get a bit boring for ya'll. So instead this will be quite a photo-heavy post. I made my first Moneta Dress in a black ponte knit that I got a Jo-Anns. I was so excited to make this dress that I couldn't wait till the weekend to find a knit so I stopped by Jo-Anns on my way home from work one day and bought the solid knit that had the nicest touch. There's not much stretch, but it's really soft. I originally cut the bodice in a size XS, but due to the lack of stretch in this fabric, I could barely fit it over my shoulders and bust so I re-cut the bodice in a size S (I don't know about you, but I find that Colette Patterns suggests a lot more fabric than is needed, at least for the smaller sizes; thankfully this time I bought the su...

I finished a shirt using some of the fabric I purchased at the FIDM scholarship store ! I'm super happy with the result! I initially wanted to make a pseudo-cap top with a drape neckline. I even have a top from Ann Taylor that I used to try and make a rub-off. Obviously, that didn't work out despite spending hours trying to figure out the pattern. I'm *this* close to taking apart the top to figure out how the pattern would look. Or I could just fork over the $10-$12 and purchase a pattern somewhere. But what's the fun in having something be too easy!? Anyway, I scrapped the drape neckline when I realized how long I had been fiddling with everything. I used another top from Ann Taylor to make a rub-off of the sleeves. With summer quickly approaching (actually, I think it arrived this past week...damn you high 80s/low 90s!) I wanted a short sleeve or sleeveless top. However, I always feel a bit "naked" when I wear sleeveless blouses in the office and I w...