Pieces of Eight!

Odd title I know but I have been making a Pirate costume for my eldest daughter this week!


It has been a bit of a struggle moving from quilt production to costume production but I think I have succeeded!


I got a request for said pirate costume on the Christmas list - it had to be ready for Saturday 26 May!   My daughter would be wearing it to Comic Con in London!


She has been patiently reminding me as it has come closer to the event - I think she thought I would never start....well I did too!  Bad mother!


Until last weekend when we raided my store of non-quilty fabrics and found a red velvet curtain - it had to be red!   But I knew from the outset there was not quite enough of this fabric to make a pirate coat - but I cut out what I could!  


Next up was a trip to the local fabric shop and with a bit of discussion I found some black gaberdine - did you know that Gabardine was invented in 1879 by Thomas Burberry?  


I married the two and added some gold braid and brilliant buttons and here she is at 5 am this morning !

Have to say she doesn't usually like getting up this early!


I also made the lace jabot!  And bought a hat from the party shop which I stitched up at the sides to make that tricorn pirate shape, added the matching ribbon and feather - the original hatband was purple and the feather yellow - yeugh!

So getting up early to catch the train to London myself next week should be a  dawdle!   Yes?  

Trip to London!

On Sunday my friend and I went up to London to visit the Cult of Beauty exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum.  The exhibition was about the Aesthetic movement,  you know the Art for Art's sake lot and included artists, poets, designers, and playwrights among their numbers.  Famous names such as Rossetti, William Morris, Oscar Wilde and Edward Burne-Jones were all represented.

I loved the paintings but there were also gorgeous pieces of furniture, artifacts such as teapots, books, fireplaces, clothes, photographs, jewellry... There was even a digital representation of a room to represent 'the House Beautiful' a phrase that came into being in the latter phase of this movement.  The beginning of all those interior magazines I keep reading...


Sadly I can show you none of these things as photos are not allowed, but you can see some of the exhibits here! on the V & A site.


After our visit we had tea and scones in the Gamble room

A beautiful and appropriate setting as it was contemporaneous with many of the exhibits we had just seen.  We even had a young gentleman playing a grand piano while we refreshed ourselves.  He played with confidence and feeling but without written music!  Bravo!

Here is a photo of this beautiful museum from the inner courtyard.  This place is so rich in the crafts of Britain and indeed the rest of the world, throughout history from early times to modern.  I have to say it is my favourite museum and it never fails to inspire me.

Nicky

Little Tudor Princess

Here are a couple of photos of my little Tudor princess:

She has a suede leather bag with her tankard, knife, spoon and napkin inside.  What more could a Tudor girl want?   She borrowed the cloak from her brother which I had made for him to appear as King in a school pantomime.  I couldn't have foreseen how well it would go with this outfit!

I do love making a costume or two...in between other things.  What costumes have you made?  A friend is dressing up as a cat to do a charity walk for Red Nose Day.  She has made a really good black/white tail, ears and even a white bib to wear over her black lycra walking gear!  Meow she will be the cat's pyjamas!

Now back to patchwork I guess.

Have a great week - sadly mine started with a bit of a bump - fell off the horse on Monday! Ouch!  But looking forward to Friday - I might even tell you what I get up to then...

Nicky

Tudor costume nearly there!

I was going to post yesterday about my lack of progress on the Tudor costume and my displacement activity of finishing a Hallowe'en banner instead.  

The banner is a Debbie Mumm printed thing which I have attempted to machine quilt.  I have not done much machine quilting and all I can say about it is DO NOT look at the back!  It looks allright from the front and was a small easy project to start with.

Machine quilting is still a work in progress for me...I so want to be able to quilt like you ladies who can do fearless feathers and stunning stippling but I will have to be happy for now following a printed line!

That was going to be my sad story however today I have knuckled down and nearly completed the dress and headress - only the hem, fastening and neck edging and it is finished!  Huzzah! (that's what they used to say in medieval times).

When it is finished I will of course post a picture with someone in it!  She fancies herself as the Princess and future Queen Elizabeth I no less.

I still have to buy some ginger beer for the feast on Wednesday because as you know all Tudors needed some ginger beer to make their party really pop! :D

Hope you have had a productive weekend without too many displacement activities!

Have a great week - I intend to, starting with a riding lesson tomorrow - Huzzah indeed!


Nicky

Giveaway on Little Island Quilting

Do you fancy a half yard each of these beautiful fabrics:

• Tufted Tweets Birds on a Wire in Grass
• Lime Ta Dot
• Anthology Candy Shop
• Wild Thyme Pods in Blue?

If the answer is yes (and why wouldn't you) then follow this link to Little Island Quilting where quiltilicious is giving this away - how generous can she be??

She is willing to ship "this happy accident" anywhere and will leave this open until Sunday 12 March  12 midday(GMT).

What a great giveaway and just imagine what you could do with this fabric???  I know I am....


 No sewing done today but I am planning lots tomorrow and for a few days to come.  Or rather my youngest daughter is planning on me doing some.  Next Wednesday she has been invited to a Tudor feast at school, suitably attired of course, and therein lies the problem.  So I will be making a Tudor dress for the occasion and between you and me I am quite looking forward to it.  My only worry was the rather specialised headress they used to wear but thanks to a tip from a friend I think I can attach some stiffened fabric to a headband and all should be well.  This is the sort of thing required:

Wish me luck - I may just have exceeded my abilities but wait and see...

Happy sewing to one and all!!!!  Or happy whatever else you get up to!

Nicky