Category: historic costume

Fashion Icons

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Although I wouldn’t consider myself a follower of current fashion trends, mainly due to living most of my life in camping trousers and fleeces 😉 I am interested in historically inspired trends, and of course in historic fashion itself.

I have enjoyed researching medieval fashions as as re-enactor, and Victorian ones for Steampunk costumes. I really enjoy interpreting things for my own dressmaking, and so the second exhibition we saw in London was brilliant due to its combination of the old and the new.

Entitled, ‘Marie Antoinette Style’, the exhibition covered historical fashion, but also how the queen’s clothing had been remade, for various films, but also used as inspiration for costume balls, and current fashions. All of this was cleverly interwoven with the story of her life, and a look at how the garments and accessories were made. 

It was a really well curated exhibition, and I’m glad we bought tickets early, as it was sold out very soon after it opened.

The initial section was full of the most gorgeous examples of historic fashion, including this stunning wedding dress. None of the queen’s original garments survive, so this section was from various different museums.

What was equally fascinating was the section on jewellery, fans and shoes, including some of the original designs.

I loved the Manalo shoes based on her style. Even though I mainly live in flip flops and safety boots these days I do like a pretty shoe!

The second half of the exhibition looked at some of the recreations of her clothing,  dating from the 19th century, and how the fashions had been interpreted by various modern designers for catwalk shows.

This was also supported by scenes from films about her life showing the movie costumes in action. The green dress in the centre of the room was just stunning, so a marvel of fabric engineering.

A really interesting exhibition, and so well put together.

We then had for a quick wander around the medieval art section before it was time to leave to head back to Ellen’s.

I am hoping to spend a bit more time in London next year, there are so many more museums I want to revisit, so may do that early March when I return from Spain.

Life here on site continues to be very busy, we have had some stunning weather and some dreadful stuff, often all in the same day as is normal for Scotland. I will share some of the loveliness with you in the next post, before continuing to document life before I got here.

Meanwhile take care, have fun and thanks for visiting.

London life

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I am taking advantage of the fact that we actually have four bars of signal today to bring you an update on my trip to London with my lovely daughter, Ellen, at the end of February. 

Things seem to be improving on the connectivity front, it is one of the few disadvantages of living here that 21st century conveniences can’t be taken for granted.

Ellen and I planned our trip last year as we saw that there were two historic fashion exhibitions on at the same time. We had a wonderful weekend enjoying city life, with a hotel in the beautiful Bayswater Road area, delicious meals out, and lots of wonderful clothes. 

On Friday we had chance to do a quick visit to the wonderful British Library before going to our hotel. It is such a beautiful building, and as we both love books so much, a really inspiring place.

We had a visit to the Treasures Collection, full.of significant texts, from annotated writings to illustrated religious texts.

So many gorgeous things in the bookshop. I really want these map books, when I have space on my bookshelves.

Saturday morning was a quick trip to Borough Market, where we bought gluten free treats, and I stocked up on spices for the caravan from this amazing stall.

Then it was a walk past the Shard to the Fashion and Textile Museum, for an exhibition about the company Cosprop. They have been supplying film and TV productions since the 1970s, using a combination of vintage clothing and reconstructed garments.

It would take too long to list all of the films and TV shows they had costumes for but think Victoria, lots of Jane Austen, and virtually every single other big historical movie filmed in the last 50 years.

So many amazing things, and to see them close up was such a treat. 

It is difficult to say which was my favourite, however I do adore Georgian waistcoats, the embroidery is so stunning. These were such amazingly detailed reproductions, taking inspiration from original panels.

A quick visit to Covent Garden for refreshments, seeing a Bansky and an art installation featuring a jellyfish on the way, and we ended the day at Liberty for cocktails.

They had a new range inspired by Bridgerton, and although I am never going to pay that much for a pillowcase, it was lovely to see the fabrics, and Lady Bridgerton’s mask from the ball.

Fingers crossed the internet will remain good so I can be back soon with part two of London life, the one where we visit the V and A.

I am so happy that I can do all these brilliant trips  and that my life is full of such diverse adventures. 

Hopefully see you soon, take care, have fun and thanks for visiting.

Cordoba, palaces and patios

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Cordoba is famous for many things, the mosque of course, but also for its many patios, decorated with potted plants. They hold a patio festival each year, in May, where you can wander round and see all of the displays in bloom, but there were still many around when we visited in November. I think this was a perfect time for a visit, as it was not too hot, or too crowded as it can be during the festivals.

We spent a lot of time, as always, just wandering looking at the gorgeous architecture.

As with architecture designed for use in hot countries, the enclosed patio is an all important feature. As I mentioned in my posts about Morocco, the interior patio functions as a cool space to enjoy water features, and as a garden. We tend to think of a patio as an outside space, a bit of the garden in the UK, usually just paved, but in Cordoba the patio is an art form, with its own unique architecture and decoration.

One of the many palaces we visited was the Palacio Viana, famous for having 11 patios of different sizes, from the grand entertaining space, to small quiet ones full of beautiful blooms and little fountains or wells. In addition to the patios, you can also tour the house, no pictures allowed, but it was a wonderful insight into the life of the wealthy family who owned the palace.

We also visited the Alcazar, or palace of the Christian Monarchs, not only a palace filled with mosaics that have been excavated locally, but also the wonderful gardens that Spain is famous for, complete with a statue of Isabel and Ferdinand meeting with Christopher Columbus.

Many of the palaces are now museums, and we had a very enjoyable last afternoon in the art museum. The paintings were full of such amazing detail, I love the way that the artists can represent the drape of textiles, and the light on buildings in these paintings, such talent!

It was there we discovered a brilliant artist who we had never heard of before, Julio Romero de Torres, who has a whole museum dedicated to his art. There were no photos allowed, but I found these two on Google.

He was born, and worked, in Cordoba, painting mainly women in the 1920s and his work is stunning it its detail. I love the sense of life in Cordoba that you get from his work. The painting on the left, La Fuensanta, was once on the Spanish 100 peseta note.

We also visited a small museum devoted to Arab culture, which was the place that inspired me to choose Morocco as my destination for this winter. It was full of the most beautiful artwork, and as you know from my posts about Morocco, it is one of my favourite decorative forms.

There was a stunning flower display in the small courtyard water feature as well.

There was also a quick visit to the Jewish museum nearby, housed in another beautiful patio house and lovingly restored, with a very informative exhibition about Jewish life in Cordoba. This included some gorgeous goldwork on dresses, similar to that we had seen on the painting in the art museum.

As always there were amazing doors, but what struck me about Cordoba was how heavy and defensive they looked, all were solid wood, many were studded and looked very much like the sort of thing that was built to withstand invasion, rather than the more decorative ones that are in other cities.

A wonderful city, and I am so glad we made it, a year after the original trip was planned. We have just booked another trip for this autumn, to visit the last of the great cities of the south, Jerez and Cadiz, so I am very much looking forward to that.

There is less than a week now until I return to the UK, so my next post will be my last from here, and will be a quick catch up on all my crafting, with some very exciting, in personal crafting terms, things to show you! Until then have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Herefordshire heritage

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I had a lovely time a few weeks back when I was staying at the Hereford Caravan and Camping Club site.

There are lots of Trust properties in that area so I was pleased that I managed to visit two as well as Leominster for the embroidery exhibition.

The first of two that I went to in one day was Croft Castle. Like Dunster, in Somerset, this started life as a castle and was then modified into a family home.

The family had close links with the court of Elizabeth 1st, so there were some wonderful portraits in the entrance hall.

One of the exhibits was a, ‘Croft Cloth’, that was made in 2018 to celebrate the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, which gave more people the vote.

The cloth has oak leaves with the names of staff, volunteers and visitors, this being the symbol of the Trust. I love collaborative projects like these, reminiscent of the signature quilts from Victorian era fundraisers.

There was also some interesting embroidery in the form of a collage featuring the castle done in 1960 by Frances Kay.

There were some stunning ceiling and wall decorations that I will add to my possible future designs for needlework, these would look amazing in white work.

The other visit was to Berrington Hall, a Georgian property with a surprise textile treasure.

A dress owned by one of the Georgian occupants of the house, Ann Bangham, was acquired at auction and there is a display of the dress and its construction.

The dress consists of many parts so the textile historians had to reconstruct it. It dates from the late 1700s.

As well as this very good interpretation there is a room devoted to a display by the needlework volunteers who each created their own version of the missing stomacher.

It is brilliant to see so much information about these wonderful people. Often there is no information and little credit given to the volunteers who also produce such high quality garments for visitors to dress in at the house.

The detail on the embroidered jacket here is wonderful, well done to all who contributed to this collection.

I shall be back as soon as I can as I have lots more to share with you. The app for mobile is very slow and as I have only limited WiFi as well posts take a long time to do. Meanwhile I hope that you have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

The importance of dress

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Ahead of this week’s lace workshop I thought that I would share with you a recent visit to Bankfield Museum in Halifax. I have visited the museum three times before and it is always a wonderful place to explore. Two of the visits have included displays about Anne Lister, now more well known through the TV series ‘Gentleman Jack’, but also for her travels and her diaries.

I first became interested in her as a traveller and I posted about that visit here. At the time there was not a link to her clothing as this was prior to the first series, but a couple of years ago we went back and saw some of the costumes from the first series. The museum is only small but as well as the changing exhibitions it has a fantastic costume gallery and holds the largest collection of textiles outside the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The exhibition this time was of costume from the second TV series. It was also supported by an exhibition of garments from the same period from the museum collection so it was fascinating to see what the costume production team had done with the recreations. The pictures below are from the museum’s collection from that era.

It was particularly amazing to see the very tiny shoes!

I also love the fact that they still have pattern books from that time. Halifax has always been a centre of textile production which is why the museum has such an extensive collection.

These pictures show the costumes from the second series, each costume is also accompanied by a shot from the series so that you can see it in context.

They are absolutely stunning and so detailed in their execution. This below is one of Anne’s outfits and the braid detail on the jacket is beautiful.

The accompanying outfit in this picture was worn by her wife Ann, I have tried to do braid like that on clothing and it is incredibly difficult!

I love the black organza blouse in this red evening gown above.

There is such beautiful smocking on Ann’s artist’s shirt above in the middle picture.

The bottom row of pictures above show dressing gowns and nightshirts, I would love the one on the left, so pretty!

I was particularly fascinated by these reproduction hats with lots of lace.

I think the lace on this one above was made by the same method that we will be using this coming week, of stitching onto tulle, rather than bobbin or woven lace but am not sure.

One of the things that Anne is remembered for is her ‘masculine ways’, she dressed in male clothing, married a woman, (although this was not legally recognised), ran a business and travelled extensively, often to places that were not usually visited at that time, such as Russia. She actually died in Georgia while on that trip in 1840 and her wife had her body brought back to the UK.

For me Anne is a very great inspiration. Not just because she chose to dress the way that she did, but because she was not afraid to express herself, and her desires. Looking at her story one may think that we have come a long way from the days where it was not acceptable to marry and live your life as you wanted, but there is still a long way to go, even for people who are not fighting prejudice.

There are the everyday concerns of women about travelling on their own, even about walking home on their own. As you know this summer I have been travelling on my own around the UK and met many women who are also on their own. People have told me that I am very brave to do this but I just feel that I am following in the footsteps of all the other great women who have gone off exploring. Realistically not very much is going to happen to me at a Caravan and Camping Club site in the Peak District is it 😉

I have also joined a Facebook group that supports women who may not feel comfortable travelling alone, by holding meet ups and offering a space for advice and help with practical things. Many of the members have lost partners, who previously did the driving and maintenance, or are now feeling lonely and don’t want to camp by themselves. It is wonderful to have that support, both online and in person and I am looking forward to meeting up with more of them next summer.

I may now be able to wear what we want without causing concern, I can wear trousers anywhere I want, or have my hair short and display many ‘masculine ways’. However many women across the world can’t do without fear of reprisal. Equally men often face prejudice for wanting to wear what may be considered as ‘feminine attire’. That is why I love the Steampunk community so much as you see such wonderful expressions of dress such as this stunning outfit.

What we wear is not just about keeping warm, or displaying our social status and our ability to afford the fine lace and hand stitched garments of the 1800s. It is about who we are, and who we want to be and here’s hoping for a future where no-one feels that they can’t express themselves the way that they want to. That is before we all end up wearing silver jumpsuits as my 12 year old self was sure was going to happen by the year 2000!

That is why museums are so important as they give us the chance to see things that make us question the way that we live now. I hope that everyone that goes to see the costumes thinks about this aspect as well as admiring the skill of the many talented people who made them.

As well as the workshop this week I am looking forward to another cycle ride, I have been doing between 25 and 30 km each ride which is amazing to me considering the state of my health before I retired. It is so lovely to get out into the countryside and go down to the sea. It is still around 25 degrees each day here, although the nights are a little cooler now so I will soon be using my outdoor firepit 🙂 Although it has sometimes been a bit cloudy here it is clearing up and so the lovely sunsets are back, just look at these colours!

I have been very productive craft wise as well, I will finish the Luna rabbit today and hopefully also the Christmas dress for the reindeer. So I should be able to share some finishes of those soon. I hope that you are all having a nice weekend, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Tudor times and city beauty

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I am currently living in the city of Worcester, a place I know well. Ellen was at university here and my sister has lived here for about 16 years so we have visited many times. It is a very beautiful place with a wealth of fantastic Tudor, Georgian and Victorian architecture.

I have been wandering around taking pictures of some of the lovely buildings and thought that I would share them with you. Yesterday was also the Living History weekend here so I visited the Lypett Household at the wonderful Greyfriars, a National Trust property where Ellen had her first job when she was a student.

The Hopmarket is a wonderful example of Victorian building and is where the hops used for brewing were originally sold from. There are some lovely cafes and shops here, including a very cute little wool shop that I have just had to support.

Some of the buildings have been repurposed, the Hopmarket used to be a hotel and bank and the church below is now a branch of a pub chain, the inside is still as beautiful and Ellen and I have been here many times to eat.

I have not yet been inside the Guildhall, Kerry is due to visit in March so I am saving that for her but it looks amazing, look at these gates!

There are so many beautiful buildings on the main street as well. We also visited a gorgeous tiled Victorian pub last weekend.

The Tudor group looked wonderful inside Greyfriars, the outside of which is pictured above. I have visited a few times before so did not take many pictures as Kerry and I are visiting there as well, so I shall post more after that. I had a great time talking to them about their costumes, weaving and natural dying techniques. It was so nice to be with re-enactors again.

There are also some very cute tea-shops in the city so I am on a mission to visit as many as I can before I leave. This one is called G and Tea and is very near to Greyfriars. The cake was excellent and I particularly loved the little tea strainer, I remember those from my childhood.

I have had a very productive week working on my novel. It is set partly at Hardwick Hall which is an Elizabethan mansion, so it was a fitting end to the week to meet this group, some of whom also have an interest in Bess of Hardwick. I have found quite a few PhD theses about Bess and the hall and am looking forward to reading those over the coming weeks. It is nice to be using the academic skills for something very pleasurable and I am really enjoying the research for the book.

We were able to go to a gig on Friday to see some of the singer songwriters that Jacky loves and had an excellent evening. It was so nice to be in the company of people and hearing live music and there were some excellent songs played. It is wonderful to be able to do such normal things and I am very grateful that things are happening again.

I am working on a gift for my niece at the moment, well two of them but won’t be able to reveal one for a while. I am putting my new machine to good use and will be able to show you some more knitted cuteness soon.

I hope that you have all had a good week and are looking forward to the week ahead. Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Caceres – traditional costume and incredible embroidery

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As I have mentioned there were many palaces in Caceres that have been turned into museums. One of the first that we visited was the Fundacion MCCB, set up by two local residents Mercedes Calles and Carlos Ballestero. As well as some great photography and paintings by local artists about fiestas within the city, there were also some gorgeous artefacts and paintings.

The one that I loved the most was a painting of a young girl, wearing the most amazing traditional costume, she looked so happy that I was thrilled when I managed to buy a small mirror with the image on in the gift shop.

There was also some information and personal items from the couple, Mercedes was born in 1915 and clearly had a very interesting life. I would love to find out more about her, and as I am planning to write a book set in Spain one day, may research more about the area in the future.

One of the other palaces held a brilliant collection of traditional costume from the surrounding area. What was especially lovely was that there were photos of people wearing the costume next to each item.

This was particularly interesting when looking at how they sat wearing the very full skirts. This is where ethnographic sources like this are so vital.

This wonderful hat was used for everyday wear to shade workers from the sun, rather than just being for fiestas.

This photo shows the local people at the opening of the museum in the early 1920s. Even though the picture is blurry it is wonderful to see them all in their best clothes for the occasion.

There were so many lovely embroidered costumes from the surrounding villages, each one slightly different but all with an emphasis on colour. It was really interesting to see this, as previously I have only seen the sorts of costume that are worn at the large fiestas, which are more based around what looks like more formal hooped dresses.

The following day we were lucky enough to see the local folk group who still wear versions of these costumes, complete with matching masks at the moment!

The linen work was incredible, I could have been there for hours just looking at these pieces. They were so finely done and it was very interesting to see the same motifs come up as I have seen in many other countries, and reinterpreted in a lot of Quaker inspired cross stitch designs.

As well as other displays of weaving, spinning and embroidery, there was the ubiquitous Singer sewing machine.

I love seeing these in museums, it always makes my little heart so happy to see them and to think about the women who may have used them. I have more pictures from another Caceres museum to show you but will save those for a later post.

Life here with my sister has settled into a nice routine. I have finished two creative writing courses and have started two more. One is a group class with the WEA using Zoom and I am really enjoying it. I never wanted to have a Zoom meeting ever again, after last year’s teaching. However, it is much more fun when you are a student, rather than the teacher worrying about losing people in the ether. There are lots more courses that I like the look of so will do more in the future. It is lovely to study informally with no deadlines or pressure, and I am finding that it is really helping with the progress with the first book.

It has been very cold here, though sunny, so apart from trips to the gym I have been cuddling up with cat, writing, knitting and sewing and generally enjoying the peace and quiet. Jacky and I have just booked an amazing trip to Scotland for August, we are going to Loch Lomond, Skye, Harris and Lewis, and North and South Uist, following in the footsteps on many of my favourite travel vloggers. We also have camping in the Peak District booked for February half term. So we have lots of exciting adventures to look forward to!

I hope you are managing to stay warm, or cool, depending on which season you are in. Have a good rest of the weekend, and a great week ahead. Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Let’s start as we mean to go on…

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Well the first week of retirement, or permanent holiday, as I have decided to call it went very well. We were not able to join the others for the full weekend of the event at Nottingham Castle, due to restrictions on numbers who could camp. However, we did have a very nice day out, complete with lunch in a fabulous outdoor garden at a restaurant and bar in a Georgian House in the middle of Nottingham. One of the very good side effects of the restrictions is that people have created wonderful outside spaces and I am very happy that we can sit and eat and drink in such pretty places. The outdoor lifestyle is what I love most about Spain and it is lovely that we can now do more of that as well.

It was brilliant to see our friends, we have not met for 2 years so we did have some hugs and a lot of catching up to do. The event featured lots of different groups and was a nice gentle easing back into re-enactment. I will hopefully be doing an event in August if all goes well.

We really enjoyed the trip to Oxford, very busy and we we packed so much into the two days, lots of walking around finding filming locations from the Discovery of Witches series as well as visits to the Ashmolean and the Natural History Museum/Pitt Rivers Museum.

The colleges were all closed due to Covid but we did see All Souls and the Bodleian as well as the Bridge of Sighs.

We especially loved the Pre-Raphaelite rooms at the Ashmolean, the detail on the painting was incredible and there were many of our favourite artists there.

The Natural History Museum was just as fascinating for its architecture as well as the contents, with an amazing glass ceiling and pillars carved from different rocks representing various flora and fauna. And who can resist a dinosaur skeleton! Jake used to love these when he was younger and both children were big fans of the ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ series.

At the Pitt Rivers I loved the textile elements of the collection, especially this sewing box and these amazing beaded costumes from North America. Also absolutely fascinating were garments made from seal intestines, especially the designs of what we would now recognise as as waterproof jacket that dated from over 100 years ago.

There was also a boat trip along the Thames, where we learnt a lot about the buildings along the river and the importance of rowing to the colleges. There was a very old ‘party barge’ moored on one of the banks which had been restored. I would love to go back and do some of the towpath walk one day. The blue boats are a steamer company whose boats were involved in the Dunkirk ships evacuation.

We also had some lovely lunches and dinners, including a surprise visit to the gorgeous Comptoir Libanais where the food was as good as the decor.

We stayed in a cute little log cabin Air b n b, which was located at the end of a garden not far from the city centre. We are trying out all sorts of different types of places to stay and could have happily lived in this one as well. It was a lot bigger than the last cabin by the sea, with an attic as well as two separate rooms and the living space.

Our final day was a trip to Blenheim Palace, which was just as spectacular as I had imagined. It was a lovely day for a wander round the gardens and a picnic by the fountains.

We also met a falcon, who was there for pest control rather than as a display of hunting skill. Her presence scares off the pigeons!

We went on a tour of the state rooms where there were some wonderful patterns on the walls and ceilings. I loved the library with the statue of Queen Anne.

There were also some beautiful portraits, particularly the ones of Consuelo Vanderbilt. I would like to read more of her story and have added some books about her to my wishlist. Lots of Steampunk inspiration there.

I also volunteered at Ellen’s new workplace, the Bassetlaw food Bank, which was a really interesting and enjoyable day, meeting her colleagues and getting to see what actually happens. I will not be able to commit to much volunteering in the future, but would like to help out as much as I can with fundraising, or anything that I can do remotely.

I have had two lovely leaving dos as well, I was very lucky to be able to meet up with some of my work colleagues in person at a local bar and it was lovely to share memories with people I have in some cases worked with for nearly 20 years. I was given some very generous gifts, including money which I am going to use for an interrail ticket, when we are able to travel again.

I also met up with the Wool and Wine group for a celebration and they very kindly gave me a gift voucher which I have used to buy some new camping supplies. I have spent time sorting my new camping bag, as well as decluttering and have lots of lovely new kit for all of my adventures.

I hope that you have all been having a nice time and have a good week ahead. Take care, have fun, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Lovely Luna times ahead

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Well dear readers as I write this there is less than a week until I retire! I will have a few things to finish off after Friday 25th June, as it the nature of a teacher’s life I can’t just cut and run, but after that date I am officially on holiday for the rest of my life. Very exciting times ahead.

I have had a very lovely day today sewing with Kerry, much progress has been made on the new hat for the cream outfit, Kerry actually sewed up the body of the hat this afternoon while I sorted some of the decoration. I am also making very good progress with the jacket and we have come up with an adaptation that will mean less work, and avoids making buttonholes as well. I will learn to do buttonholes properly one day, but today is not that day.

Last weekend Ellen came up and we had a very fabulous trip to Fabworks in Dewsbury and Bombay Stores in Bradford, thank heaven that restrictions have been lifted so that we can buy fabric again 😉 We got some lovely velvet and tweed for future Luna outfits and some more supplies for Steampunk.

I have not had chance to share the outfits that I have made for Luna, I have another couple of works in progress and this, and the Steampunk clothes, are going to be my main focus for the months ahead.

I have completed three outfits, all very cute. The first is a Liberty print and the other two are Rose and Hubble and I have loved adding all of the lace and bows and other pretty things to these. The buttons on the first outfit have poppers underneath, so no buttonholes needed!

Ellen has been making some beautiful things, there was a competition a while ago on the Luna Lapin Facebook page and one of the weekly themes was historical costume, so she made this amazing dress for Anne Bunelyn.

It is so beautifully stitched with such attention to detail, all her own design. I love the head dress and matching necklace. She is now going to match a matching Henry, as a fox which will be fabulous. She also made a beautiful party dress with a tulle skirt.

I am almost finished with the bear and bunny, I have made a bit more progress since this picture was taken, I do love the way the bear’s head has turned out and the cute little trainers. Another few hours and they should all be ready to go off to their new homes.

We are going to be away next weekend, celebrating both the end of work for me and my birthday, catching up re-enactment friends at an event, and then going to Oxford for a short break inspired by watching Discovery of Witches recently. There are some wonderful Tudor costumes in that show which we loved, including this amazing wedding dress.

We are going to be visiting museums, and having a look round all of the beautiful buildings, I used to visit regularly when I was younger as it was only 40 miles from where I grew up but have not been for years.

I hope that you are all having a nice time and enjoying good weather, it has been lovely here for days now and I have been loving sitting outside reading in the evening, making the most of my last few weeks staring at the moors.

Take care, have fun, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Be careful what you wish for …..

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I mentioned to a colleague recently that a few weeks ago, before all of ‘this’ I came home late one night, cold and wet after waiting a long time for a bus that never arrived, tired and aching. I remember thinking at the time ‘I wish I could just stay here, not have to go out to work, just stay here and enjoy myself at home.’

So…. not that I think I caused this pandemic whole lock down thing but I did get my wish didn’t I? I have only left the house a few times since then for short walks and although it would be nice to be able to go somewhere I am enjoying the novelty of being in my house on leave.

I am usually away when I have leave so I have not spent this long in the house ever but am making the most of the enforced staycation. As I mentioned in the previous posts I am trying to get a good mix of sewing, reading, study on my online course and practical tasks done while I have the time.

My house has never been so clean and the garden has been done, I am just waiting for delivery of some bedding plants for my baskets, and today I painted the shed. I also got the garden table out in honour of what looks like a wonderful Bank Holiday ahead. Of course if we had been going to do a re-enactment event it would have been howling gales and packing up wet tents so we will all enjoy the fact that we are not doing that!

This week has been all about the Riley Blake block challenge for my sewing room time with a record five blocks completed up until today! You can see lots of lovely blocks over on their Instagram as we are now on Week 2. I have been using the Liberty stash as I want to add to my existing blocks, am going to eventually make these into a bed quilt.

The churn dash ones I was confident with and I am happy how they have turned out. I am using the same white on white print for most of these blocks, until it runs out, as I love the contrast between that and the Liberty.

Liberty churn dash block 3

This second block is the log cabin, a block I have never done before. Partly as I am not good at straight seams but I am pretty happy with the way that these have turned out. I used a tutorial from Citrus and Mint with very helpful diagrams.

Liberty log cabin blocks 1

I found it easier to cut 1.25″ wide strips from my length of fabric then cut them to size as I needed them as when doing the first block found that some of the pre-cut sizes that I had done were a little small.

The first two I used the white on white as a contrast row and then I did a more traditional layout with just three fabrics.The seams are not too wonky which is good!

Liberty log cabin blocks 7

Liberty log cabin blocks 8

Liberty log cabin blocks 9

I will make one more of these tomorrow, I am a little restricted for this type of block from Liberty as most of my stash is 5″ squares and the outer strips are around 6″ but do have a couple of pieces of longer fabric.My pin board for completed blocks is now looking very lovely 🙂

Board with Liberty blocks

I am looking forward to next week’s block and to moving on to the next week of the fashion course. We have been looking at the Georgians this week, the embroidery on the men’s coats is amazing and I have been lucky enough to see lots of examples of these in museums, we saw some gorgeous examples on our recent trip to Liverpool. That was the weekend of the dreadful Storm Ciara, we really are having a challenging 2020 aren’t we?

I have recently discovered another historical costumer through You Tube and she does the most amazing Georgian garments. Go and have a look at the wonderful things on Sewstine’s blog, she writes really detailed step by step posts about her constructions and makes the most wonderful things. This is a reconstruction of a 1780s gown and she digitised all of the embroidery herself, made the gown and had a baby in the middle of all of this process, what a superwoman! Picture from her blog.

Georgian dress

So over the weekend I have plans for some more Liberty blocks, more Barbie dresses, another coat of paint on the shed and probably a walk. I am back at work on Tuesday so am going to really enjoy this extended time in the house. We are probably going to be on lock down for another four weeks or so and that gives me plenty of time for sewing.

I hope all is good with you and your families, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.