Here is the second part of my visit to see A Stitch in Time Exhibition at Ham House. You can look here if you want to see the first three garments.
What I forgot to say last time was that one of the things that most appealled to me about this programme was that everything was handstitched. When I did my City and Guild Fashion course I had one wonderful teacher, who admitted that she hated handstitching. She would show us ways to do almost everything using a machine - right down to sewing on buttons. But I am the opposite, I actually like doing a bit of handwork. (I think it is why I picked to sew a smocked blouse, and do some hand beadwork by hand on my African skirt. It is perhaps why I knit small items with quite a bit of sewing up, part of the process that a know lots of knitters loathe.)
Anyway I have slightly wandered off topic. Back to the exhibition.
This first one was probably my favourite of the garments, but my photo does not seem to have captured it well. The painting is of Dido Belle, the 18th-century daughter of an enslaved African woman who was brought up at Kenwood House in London.
The next garment is the only one where the inspiration does not start with a painting, but Amber visits the tomb of the Edward the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral. She also gets to look at the garment, called a jupon, which is kept under wraps now, but was hung on display in the cathedral for many year.
The final garment is this chemise dress of Marie Antoinette. This dress caused a scandal at the time the of the portrait, as it was not accepted for a queen to be seen in a garment made of such light cotton/muslin. I have also photographed the corsets, worn under the dress.
Just
a reminder that although we are getting near the end of the month you can still join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for April.
Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I
would love to see what you have been working on this month.
Did anyone else watch a wonderful series on BBC4 called "A Stitch in Time". I accidentally found this programme, but then got completely hooked. Each episode picked a piece of historical art, and then recreated the clothes using the original materials and techniques.
It was presented by the rather fascinating Amber Butchart - British fashion historian (well there is a career that passed me by, but I wish I had known about). She usually wears an elegant turban, or velveteen knickerbockers, and after guiding us through the art and the process of recreating the garment, the lucky duck gets to model the clothing at the end. So as well as all the technical sewing bits, she also tell us what it feels like to wear the garments.
So I was very excited when I found out that the six costumes were on view at Ham House, a National Trust property which is just up the road from where I live. I had a lovely morning visiting, and being able to closely look at the garments. I'm going to show my pictures in two posts, as I think there is a lot to take in.
Charles II was credited with introducing the three-piece suit. The painting show him being presented with a pineapple by his gardener, John Rose. His outfit looks relatively simple
but involves an extraordinary amount of fiddly hand-stitching – his
jacket has more than 100 buttonholes, complicated pleating and yards
of decoratively looped silk ribbons.
In the second episode she looks at Dutch painter Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait. The bulky, fur-trimmed wool dress is a brilliant green. The programme looks at the interesting process of
weaving and dying the fabric.
The starting point for this garment was a rare portrait of a working man, wearing a jacket probably second or third hand. The programme looks at working with leather. When the jacket is recreated and in pristine condition, it is clear that it started off as an incredibly elegant garment.
The series doesn't seem to be available any more on BBCiplayer though you can still see some interesting clips. I do hope they repeat it, perhaps on a main stream channel. The team who recreate the outfits are led by Ninya
Mikhaila, and use only
traditional methods. In their workshop is probably where I would like to be.
There are so many people who love fashion, sewing, art and history. I am sure there would be the scope for another series.
I will show the other three garments in another post in a few days.
My daughter has shown me how to use Layout to arrange my photos. Never too old to learn. Expect all sorts of fancy arrangement in the future.
Just
a reminder that you can still to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for April.
Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I
would love to see what you have been working on this month.
