Diary of a Chain Stitcher

Just a quick post for you today! Terry's Fabrics sent over this infographic about the history of the sewing machine and I found it really interesting so I thought some of you might too! Even more amazing than the fact that the first sewing machine was around over 250 years ago, is the fact that up until then the clothes of every single person were made entirely by hand. No wonder people wore the same clothes day in, day out! I sometimes work at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London and the costume department there has an 'original practice' store of costumes. All the costumes in there have been made as they would have been in Elizabethan times...entirely by hand! There are some absolutely spectacular pieces in there; doublets and hose, farthingales and gowns. All made with such beautiful tiny stitches. I can't even imagine how long each item must take and the skill involved. Anyway, I've got a little side tracked! Enjoy!

I've got a slightly different post lined up for you today. I've been a bit slow about it but I'm finally catching up with the writing process blog hop that's been doing the rounds! The ever so cool Nicole Needles nominated me for it a few weeks back, sorry that it's taken me so long Nicole! I've got to answer four questions to give you guys an insight into why and how I write my blog so here it goes: What am I working on? Despite taking a couple of 'sew-cation' days last week and blitzing through a few UFOs and projects that were cut out and waiting for me as always I've got more sewing ideas buzzing around my head than I've got time to sew! I'm part way through a pair of Sew Over It Ultimate Trousers which I'm having a few fitting issues with as they are my very first pair of trousers! I've made some alterations already which has made a vast improvement but I think I might be posting some pictures for advice soon as I've ...

My boyfriend sent me this photograph from 1939 and I just had to share it with you guys. It's of a rather strange invention; a bicycle that fits a family of four...including sewing machine!! Picture from this page here . It's worth checking out as there are some other fantastic unusual images including 'face cones' to protect yourself during a snow storm, stunning 1950s dresses and a little boy who looks as excited about getting new shoes as me!

On Tuesday I popped along to the new exhibition at the V&A and as it was clothing related I thought it was worth a little mention on here! The fashions exhibited are all at the more extreme exhibitionist end of 1980s fashion so there weren't many ideas to take away sewing wise (at least not unless I'm going to attempt something of a Vivienne Westwood level of construction, which let face it as much as I'd like to be that good, I''m not) but it was still a very interesting and worthwhile visit. Image Source The exhibition is in the centre and upstairs level of the fashion gallery (where the ball-gown exhibition was if any of you made it to that) and as always at the V&A is laid out in a logical and thoughtful manner. The only thing that irked me about the layout was the placement of the placards describing each item on the upstairs level. Here you could walk all the way around the mannequins as they weren't behind glass and positioned in the centre...

I love finding out that there are people who actually enjoy reading my blog! I'm always delighted when I have a new follower or comment so I was delighted when a comment popped up on the blog from Hazel at Disaster in a Dress informing me she'd nominated me for the Liebster blog award. Thank you very much Hazel, lovely to meet you and your blog! The award rules are as follows: Nominees must link back to the blogger who awarded them Write 11 random facts about yourself Answer 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you Nominate 11 new blogs and ask them 11 new questions I'm awful at listing things about myself so I have instead decided to list 11 interesting facts I learnt at the V&A talk I went to last week about Restoration Make-Up: Credit: janeaustensworld.wordpress.com The white colour of the face and red cheeks fashionable in that era were achieved by the use of 'paint'. The most popular (and expensive) form of this was '...

There's a few of events advertised at the moment which I'm quite excited about and thought some other bloggers may find interesting too. First of all are the Creative Stitches exhibitions which this year include an exhibit of the actual Downton Abbey costumes (which the above picture is of). Until I wrote this blog post I thought I'd missed the exhibitions at my end of the UK but I've just discovered there's one scheduled in Brighton for the 10th-12th May. Woohoo! It's also on from 26th-28th April in Liverpool so if that's your neck of the woods get on over there because I'm sure it'll be a real treat! There is also the Antiques for Everyone antiques fair which is held three times a year at the NEC in Birmingham. The next one is from the 12th-15th April. I've never been to one and you may also think 'this is a sewing blog what have antiques got to do with it?!' but the main feature of the exhibition this time around is Downton Ab...

So now I've thought about what I can actually achieve I thought I'd share some of those iconic movie costumes that I wish I had the skills to make/a reason to wear. Just for fun! And to make all those hours I spend pinning completely inappropriate ideas a little bit worthwhile! There's so so many of Audrey Hepburn's but here's my favourite few. The Sabrina evening gown is possibly the most exquisitely elegant costume she ever wore in my opinion and the My Fair Lady Ascot dress is just a wonderfully intricate costume. Two for the Road is a particular favourite film of mine and the mini dress of silver discs is so different and modern to all her other costumes it really stands out for me. I don't think I could be doing with sewing on all those discs though! Grace Kelly is another icon of mine for such a classic, elegant and timeless style. The black and white 'Paris' dress from Rear Window is probably her most well known movie costume and the fac...

I thought I'd briefly share with you a couple of other sewing/costume related gifts I received over Christmas. Firstly... 'Costume from 1500 to the Present Day' I asked for this one and I must admit was very surprised at the size of it on opening as I have a couple of other Cally Blackman books and they are big thick reference books. However I have to say I think the size of it is a huge plus point. Learning about the history of costume can be a hugely daunting task particularly when starting out as there is simply so much ground to cover and so much depth to go into. I had ploughed through this one by New Year and it has really all sunk in and stuck because it simply spells out what you need to know, you don't have to dig out the important facts and it leaves you feeling fairly confident about all periods. Obviously don't expect to become an expert on any one thing but there are some great little nuggets of information in there. First part of the 18th Ce...