She isn't blogging - oh yes she is!

Too much panto’  making going on to allow time for blogging. 16 costumes to make from scratch, 11 to adapt from existing wardrobe stores, numerous accessories to make - rapier frogs anyone?

New making experiences this year:

Dyeing swan’s feathers ( gathered legally in Hyde Park, at the Serpentine). Dyed using Dye-na-Flow dyes and a foam brush. Not sure how permanent this will be, but as long as the stage roof doesn’t leak, it should be fine.

Sewing leather - who knew this was so straightforward!

and a reason to get out my floral mini-hammer!

Stitching fun:

Bling for the directors to wear at the first Sunday rehearsal

Garters for the adult leads, male and female

Bling for shoes and hats

When the sewing gets busy, even my work computer is used as a surface

Chaos in the sewing room - I always start off saying to myself that I will work in an organised and tidy manner - it never happens.

A set of musketeers

For anyone with an interest in costume, there is a terrific exhibition by and about the costume department at the National Theatre, free and on until the middle of 2020.

Shirtmaking

In an effort to distract myself from the imminent disaster of Brexit, I have returned to shirt making, this time for me. One of the joys of the internet is being able to learn from people that one has never met. After several hours looking at patterns, I decided on The Granville shirt, and having read all of the comments, made the following adjustments:

• shortened the sleeves by 4cm
• Shortened the shoulders by 1cm
• raised the bust dart by 4cm ( wrong decision)
• took a lot of fabric out of the hips, about 20cm all round in the end - this pattern is for very curvy women
• did not add the pockets

I followed many tutorials, and stitched test yokes, collars, many, many collar points, cuffs, sleeve plackets, front plackets,  buttonholes and devoured the content on Off The Cuff, a superb sewing blog.

The results?

Sleeve placket

Back yoke

Inner yoke, and collar stand

Front placket

Finished shirt

The fabric was a beautiful voile from Seasalt. They very generously make many of their fabrics available by the metre, even from current ranges.

I like it, I will wear it, I will make another one - all in all a successful make, even although the pattern matching was rather tricky, and I had to cut three sets of collars before I got the orientation of the colour swatches correct!

Sweets for my sweet............

……and panto costumes for the tinies, who are boiled sweets in the finale.  Yards of crystal organza, 

Waiting to be tried for length, after reference to a very useful guide here for children’s shoulder lengths and armhole depths.

Sherbet sweet

A few leftover scraps and strips, plus some buttons have turned in to hat and accessory trimmings  under my needle

Roll on the dress rehearsal.

Fabric painting

I bought a copy of the new book by Deborah O’Hare of Quiltroutes. Besides showing all of her lovely journal quilts, the books gives lots of information about her fabric and stitch techniques.

As I am lacking space just now, due to imminent building work, I wanted to try her method of fabric painting, using  Dye-na-flow fabric paints. Fabric is laid out on a waterproof board, with no fabric pre-treatment. three experiments are on the go at the weekend.

The initial results were paler than I wished, so I overdyed parts of the cloth with the undiluted blue.

Much more interesting and lots to explore in future with different folding techniques, perhaps some from the book, Folding Techniques for Designers, , which has kept my fingers busy this weekend.

Unexpected outings, part 1, Manchester

I am working intermittently in Manchester until September.  This week, I discovered that the Whitworth Gallery is 5 minutes walk from where I am working. What a lunchtime treat.  The curators may have known I was coming - steel sculpture, intricate drawing, two textile artists, tranquil space, wonderful gardens. As I did not expect to be taking photos, I had no camera, only my phone, hence some wonky horizontals and verticals.

Tranquil spaces, and amusingly, labels on the walls giving details of the Little and Green paint colours used on the gallery walls

Garden glimpses

Steel sculpture by Anya Gallacio

Fabulous drawing by Deanna Petherbridge

and then Lucien Day

Followed by huge lengths of the astonishing printed fabric by Barbara Brown

.

Time after work, for a walk around Piccadilly Basin, along the canal. Great patterns in the ribs next to the lock gates to give grip while pushing

ribs of a different type.

Round the corner, some public murals - unexpected bluetit

and a calligram ( shape poem)  by the remarkable Lemn Sissay. ( Joyful things are found when looking up, rather than down at the phone or the map, when one is in an unfamiliar city)

sunset over the city rooftops

and so to bed.

Shirt number 2 is finished

Shirt number 2 for son number 2 is completed. As this was a rush job to give to him when he was home for a weekend, there are no more photos of construction, only the final item.

There are still some fitting issues in the armpit, although this yoke fits him much better. The sleeves look oddly full in this photo, but they really are not.

The kilt was for our annual Burns Supper, so much fun.

How long is a generation?

I have been pondering this question for a few weeks as I see publicity for revivals of three theatrical / dance productions that I saw in 1982, 1990 and 1992 respectively. Two of these have been publicised as “ not seen on stage in the UK for a generation”.

All three of these stand out in my mind after all this time for different reasons, and it seems important to me to embrace these works again as we are in such troubled times as a species sharing this planet.

So I would encourage anyone reading this to go and see:

"Ghost Dances’ by Christopher Bruce, performed by Ballet Rambert, touring and at Sadler’s Wells, London. A first exposure for me to contemporary dance when I saw it in 1982 and a  production that has stayed with me -  for 34 years: music, movement, costumes all superb - tickets booked.

“ The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus” by Tony Harrison at the Finborough Theatre, London, on until 28th January.  This was my first exposure to performed verse in 1990 and I have never forgotten the experience. Brilliantly updated, and in this 50 seat setting, an intimate encounter with very physical theatre.

“Angels in America” by Tony Kushner at the National Theatre, London. Such a moving, but occasionally baffling, pair of plays when I saw them in 1992. They were staged in the Cottesloe, which then seated around 350 people. The new production will be in the Littleton, seating 890 people, therefore presumably all to be done on a much larger scale. It will be fascinating to see how well this play translates to 2016, particularly as it starts in April, 3 months after the start of Trump’s term of office.  The National box office have already warned that these tickets will sell out quickly.

And the drawing? Yes it continues:

Feather from the “nature table” that seemed to have been attacked by some sort of mite, leaving a big gap along the shaft. Pencil and ink pen.

Serendipitous charcoal rubbing of the back of a section of last week’s collage of vases and jugs made me rub over the whole lot. Charcoal.

Corn cob and husk, pencil and charcoal. I could not get my eye in for this at all. Too much going on , so I then focused on a tiny bit of one of the husks.

Tip of a corn cob husk. Pencil. I was very pleased when I “saw” the hole in the husk and the light falling through that in to the cast shadow.

Paint can, pencil. Two in one day as I knew it would be difficult to fit in drawing time the day after.

Waiting for a break in the rain, to run to the Finborough Theatre. The reflective tray was very difficult. Pencil.

And the sewing? There is another shirt underway - yes for my younger son, he hates boring clothes.

Perfect placket, thanks to Off the Cuff.

Cuffs with contrast inside fabric - amazing what I find in the fabric stash.