Month: October 2010

Enchanted Palace

Keys

Yesterday I went to the Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret, where I arrived just in time for a talk. I was glad of that, because the museum would have made a lot less sense without it. It’s mostly three hundred years of medical history (including bit of bodies in jars) without a great deal of explanation. There’s all sorts of interesting things in there, but it makes a lot more sense if you happen to have spent the past few months reading books about the history of medicine!

In the afternoon I made my way over to Kensington Gardens, where Alice and I enjoyed a very decadent afternoon tea in the Orangery, and then went on to be thoroughly Enchanted by Kensington Palace.

Most of it’s closed at the moment, because of ongoing work to make the palace more accessible. So they’ve put together the most amazing exhibition/installation in the State Apartments. You’re given a little map and a “dance card” as you go in, and you have to collect the names of seven hidden princesses as you go round. The princesses are all real, and all connected to the history of the Palace, and the regular guides are all still there, so if you have any actual historical questions they can answer you. There are also a bunch of vaguely steampunky people with drapey coats and head lamps (and in one case an accordion) wandering about the place, and if you ask them nicely they’ll let you play with the soldiers.

It costs £12.50 to get in, which seems like a lot, but it’s absolutely worth it. You can’t take photos inside the royal collections, so I can’t show you what it’s like, but enchanted really is the word for it. It’s on until February, and I heartily recommend it.

Carrion Crow

Carrion Crow

This little cutie was begging for another piece of the muesli bar that I was eating.

Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre

Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre

Today we went to the Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre, for a wildlife photography course.

I learnt far more on this course than I did at the Twilight Photography one. I think the course and the teacher were just better suited to the way I like to learn.

I’m really pleased with today’s pictures (which are here, on Flickr), plus I had a lovely day out with Paul. We’re really looking forward to our holiday now, and contemplating buying another big zoom lens that we can fight over!

Pirate Shirt

Simplicity 4923

Today, rather than sewing something I actually need, like a dress for work or a winter coat, I decided to make a pirate shirt. As you do. (If you’re me.)

The pattern is Simplicity 4923, view C. I made a size Medium.
The fabric is just a plain black polycotton, and the cuffs are trimmed with flat broderie anglais lace – all from my stash. The collar size and length are just right, but the sleeves are absolutely ridiculous – even by 18th century standards. I could easily shorten them by four or five inches and they’d still be enormous!

Next time I think I’d like to make one in a nice soft white linen. I’ve found the perfect linen buttons too – just like the ones on the smocks at MERL. In fact, I might employ a technique I saw on a number of the MERL smocks, and make some horizontal tucks in the sleeves to shorten them.

I also want to have a look at The Cut of Men’s Clothes by Norah Waugh, and see what I want to do about the front fastening. I don’t really want to add eyelets and ribbon, so I might go for thread loops and little buttons. I should have done that on the sleeves, but for the sake of convenience (and maybe a touch of laziness) I went for snap fasteners instead.

There’s another goth night in a couple of weeks, so I plan to wear this with Paul’s old leather trousers. If I have time, I might make a waistcoat to go over the top. I’ve still got a piece of black and silver brocade that should be just about big enough.

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Last night I watched Brotherhood of the Wolf, and now I find myself wishing that I had a masquerade to go to, so that I had an excuse to make a couple of really exciting 18th century costumes.

Simplicity 3637 would be an ideal starting point – although it might be rather an expensive one. The dress takes almost nineteen metres of fabric! In a pretty brocade or embroidered silk… actually, I don’t even want to work out how much that would cost.

And then of course there’s Simplicity 3635, to go underneath. Ten metres of steel boning for the panniers… and twenty-eight metres for the stays! Wow.

I don’t know though, whether I’d want to wear such an enormous dress, or whether I’d choose to go for a fancy gentleman’s coat instead.

Simplicity 4923 looks rather drab in these pictures because it’s intended as a pirate costume, but again in an embroidered silk it could look absolutely stunning.

I think I’d probably make the shirt, trousers and waistcoat from the men’s pattern, but use Simplicity 3677 for the coat.

I’ve made both the men’s and the women’s versions of the coat before, and the women’s version has a princess seam at the front which makes for a better fit.

Obviously none of these patterns are terribly accurate, historically speaking, but for a masquerade or a costume party, they’d be an excellent starting point.

Then I’d just need to find somebody who was willing to go with me, of course. Paul really doesn’t do dressing up.

Amber and Jade

Aren’t these just the most adorably cute shoes you’ve ever seen?

Sadly they’ll never be mine, as they’re only available in UK sizes 9-13.

Amber & Jade specialise in women’s shoes for larger feet. They also come in two different width fittings, because longer feet aren’t necessarily wider feet too.

There are around 40 different combinations of style and colour, including flats, heels and boots.

I wonder how many pairs of socks I’d need to wear to fit into a pair of these…?