Sew Sew

Having shopped for wedding outfits for Number One Daughter's upcoming wedding I discovered that
a) I do not want to look like 'the bride's mother'  (even though I am)
b) All the dresses available in the shops at the moment are sleeveless and short or strapless, boned and long
c) Dresses made for short, fat women are made assuming the wearer is at least 90 years old.

Aaargh.

So I dragged my old Bernina out of retirment and for less than twenty quid I've made an ankle-length, flared, blue (purply blue) dress and a shot-satin jacket that looks blue or purple depending on the light, (It's curtain fabric - and hey - there are some fabulous curtain fabrics areound this season. Much more interesting than the dress fabrics. I found a suitable pattern for the jacket, but had to adapt a pattern for the dress. It's a basic princess line pattern but I've inserted long godets to make the skirt flare even more and lengthened the sleeves to elbow length. I've made a clutch bag from the jacket fabric and made little leaf-shapes from the scraps and stitched them into a plain (cheap) black fascinator to customise it.

The jacket, hat and bag are finished. The only thing still to do is hem the dress.

Sew Sew

Having shopped for wedding outfits for Number One Daughter's upcoming wedding I discovered that
a) I do not want to look like 'the bride's mother'  (even though I am)
b) All the dresses available in the shops at the moment are sleeveless and short or strapless, boned and long
c) Dresses made for short, fat women are made assuming the wearer is at least 90 years old.

Aaargh.

So I dragged my old Bernina out of retirment and for less than twenty quid I've made an ankle-length, flared, blue (purply blue) dress and a shot-satin jacket that looks blue or purple depending on the light, (It's curtain fabric - and hey - there are some fabulous curtain fabrics areound this season. Much more interesting than the dress fabrics. I found a suitable pattern for the jacket, but had to adapt a pattern for the dress. It's a basic princess line pattern but I've inserted long godets to make the skirt flare even more and lengthened the sleeves to elbow length. I've made a clutch bag from the jacket fabric and made little leaf-shapes from the scraps and stitched them into a plain (cheap) black fascinator to customise it.

The jacket, hat and bag are finished. The only thing still to do is hem the dress.

Book Log 49/2009: Tim Powers - The Anubis Gates

Tim Powers – The Anubis Gates
1983

First off, I read this book on a recommendation when I asked rasfw (rec.arts.sf.written - usenet newsgroup) for a reading list of steampunk books. I understand why someone chose to include it, but it's not steampunk in the way I understand it, though it does have a Victorian setting. This is magic at work rather than clanking oily, fantastical engines and pseudo-science.

( Fear the spoilers )

I'm not sure this always lives up to my expectations or the quotes on the book jacket. It flaggs a little in the latter part of the Egyptian section and the defeat of the Master seems to be a bit of an anticlimax, though he was the originator of the whole gate plot. Horribin the clown and Doctor Romany always seem much more fearsome and more immediately dangerous, and so they are the final opponents to be vanquished.

Book Log 49/2009: Tim Powers - The Anubis Gates

Tim Powers – The Anubis Gates
1983

First off, I read this book on a recommendation when I asked rasfw (rec.arts.sf.written - usenet newsgroup) for a reading list of steampunk books. I understand why someone chose to include it, but it's not steampunk in the way I understand it, though it does have a Victorian setting. This is magic at work rather than clanking oily, fantastical engines and pseudo-science.

( Fear the spoilers )

I'm not sure this always lives up to my expectations or the quotes on the book jacket. It flaggs a little in the latter part of the Egyptian section and the defeat of the Master seems to be a bit of an anticlimax, though he was the originator of the whole gate plot. Horribin the clown and Doctor Romany always seem much more fearsome and more immediately dangerous, and so they are the final opponents to be vanquished.

Book Log 50/2009: Elizabeth Chadwick - Daughters of the Grail

Elizabeth Chadwick - Daughters of the Grail

I’ve been hooked on Elizabeth Chadwick’s historicals ever since someone left one at our house last year. They are definitely romances, but the background is very accurate and often real historical personages are woven into the thread of the plot (as main or supporting characters).

This book is slightly more speculative, though written about the Albigensian Crusade when a force from northern France systematically wiped out the Cathars in the name of the Catholic church and just so happened to acquire the lands and property of the southern lords who had sheltered them.

Though the fact of the crusade is absolute (though minor details may be less so) the first book in the bibliography is ‘Holy Blood, Holy Grail’ and Daughters of the Grail is about the women who carry the bloodline of the Madonna and the Magdalene. Published a full ten years before The DaVinci Code, this is a historical version of the Catholic Church’s deadly search of the heretic women who not only claim to be descended from the family of the Christ, but also have powers of healing (amongst other things).

( Spoilers )

Book Log 50/2009: Elizabeth Chadwick - Daughters of the Grail

Elizabeth Chadwick - Daughters of the Grail

I’ve been hooked on Elizabeth Chadwick’s historicals ever since someone left one at our house last year. They are definitely romances, but the background is very accurate and often real historical personages are woven into the thread of the plot (as main or supporting characters).

This book is slightly more speculative, though written about the Albigensian Crusade when a force from northern France systematically wiped out the Cathars in the name of the Catholic church and just so happened to acquire the lands and property of the southern lords who had sheltered them.

Though the fact of the crusade is absolute (though minor details may be less so) the first book in the bibliography is ‘Holy Blood, Holy Grail’ and Daughters of the Grail is about the women who carry the bloodline of the Madonna and the Magdalene. Published a full ten years before The DaVinci Code, this is a historical version of the Catholic Church’s deadly search of the heretic women who not only claim to be descended from the family of the Christ, but also have powers of healing (amongst other things).

( Spoilers )