Tag: Science Museum

Stitched Self at the Science Museum

Stitched Selves

Here I am, in the Science Museum, with my Stitched Self!
Which, in fact, looks nothing like me. But a few months ago the resemblance would have been uncanny, I promise.

Just in case you can’t spot my Mini-Me, here’s a close-up:

Stitched Selves

I’m not sure what’s happened to my hair, or why my scarf’s all over my face like that, but never mind. Something I made has been exhibited in a museum in London! Even if it was for just one night.

If you want to see more pictures of all the Stitched Selves, Stitch London have written a great long blog about it. You can even see me in it a couple of times!

The last time I went to the Science Museum was in 2003 for a Lord of the Rings exhibition that turned out not to be very much fun. (Too many people, not enough space, very hot, lots of shoving. Yuk.) I didn’t really recall the rest of the museum, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The Who Am I exhibition was really interesting, and also great fun. There are lots of buttons to press and games to play, as well as some very thought-provoking exhibits.

I was rather excited to spot a Wheatstone concertina in the Making the Modern World exhibition, which I particularly enjoyed. The next time I’m in London I’d like to go back and see Glimpses of Medical History and The Science and Art of Medicine. I also need to find out what the steel wedding dress is all about, as I didn’t have time to go and look at the Challenge of Materials gallery. The only thing that worries me about that is the glass bridge across the main hall, which I don’t much like the sound of! I’m definitely making plans to go back though.

Stitched Self

Mini Me

Here’s my completed submission to the Stitched Self project. It’s a collaboration between Stitch London and the Science Museum, where an exhibition of all the Stitched Selves will take place for the re-opening of their Who Am I? gallery in June.

This little doll has had more changes of clothes than I like to admit. I just couldn’t seem to get anything right! I found it terribly difficult sewing on such a small scale (the mini-me is just 6″ tall), and wasn’t happy with any of the garments I made to begin with. I tried making little dresses and petticoats and jackets, but everything seemed much too fiddly and didn’t come out to my satisfaction. In the end I decided to go with leggings and a black and grey t-shirt, which is what I wear most of the time.

I must confess that I’m still not happy with the raw edges, but I am rather fond of the little scarf, and the yellow stitching on the silver boots.

Mini-Claire is now in the post, winging her way to Stitch London. Next month I hope to go along to the Science Museum’s Who Am I? gallery, and see whether I can spot her.

Mini-Me – for SCIENCE.

Mini-Me - For SCIENCE.

Please excuse the nudity – this is a 6″ felt doll that I’m making for my submission to the Stitched Self project. It’s a collaboration between Stitch London and the Science Museum, where an exhibition of all the Stitched Selves will take place for the re-opening of their Who Am I? gallery in June.

I wasn’t very keen on the pattern that was provided, so I made my own. The doll is exactly 6″ tall, and is made from two pieces of felt, blanket stitched together. The hair is a little piece of wool roving, and the face is simply embroidered on.

Given that I’ve just come out of hospital, my surgical scars are very much at the top of my mind at the moment. Because of that, I decided that my Mini-Me should have them too. So, the apparently random embroidery you can see on her body is the result of one mistaken appendectomy, one laparoscopy (which found and removed the real cause of the pain), one operation to remove an osteochondroma from my left hip, and the most recent one which was an arthroscopy on my right hip.

I haven’t included any scars that I ended up with as a result of accidents, clumsiness or stupidity. So I haven’t embroidered the scar on my right shin, where Matthew Bricknell was riding his new bike straight at me, and I jumped up the garden wall to escape (age 11). I haven’t embroidered the scar on my right forearm, which I burnt on the lid of a bun toaster whilst making a batch of McChicken Sandwiches (age 22). Nor the one on my right knee, which was the result of an incident where I learned that I can’t drink beer and walk and send text messages all at once (old enough to know better).

Obviously my Mini-Me now needs some clothes. She’ll definitely be wearing a pink spotty coat, a black t-shirt and some silver Doc Martens. Then I just need to decide whether she needs a skull print skirt, or a little pair of cropped jeans. I’m quite intimidated by the prospect of sewing clothes on such a little scale, but I think I’ve worked out a pattern for the tiny boots, so I might just start with those.