The last 3 days have been spent in a whirlwind of fabric, design and colour. I have been on a long weekend to Bath with my local costume and textile association. I’ve been to the Bath fashion museum, three fabric shops (who could resist), The American museum, and to polish off this list the Kaffe Fassett 2014 exhibition.
By the end of the many steps taken round the various exhibits, displays and guides my camera was bleeping in distress. The memory card was full. A bit like my head! They say a photo says a thousand words. So I’ll spare you a thousand photos (and no, I didnt take that many). So let’s get started.
The following will be split in to two sections to help make sense of it all (fashion for post one, quilts and Kaffe for post two). Let me start with the Bath fashion museum. A brief intro is required. This museum has focused on clothing from the 17th century onwards.
I loved the fact these dresses could be easily adjusted for different sizes as they were fitted over corsets. They were regularly reused for new wearers or recut and shaped to make them lat longer. Clearly disposal fashion was a concept far away in the distant future.
from royal court dress to modern day interpretation of. I think the latter is ever so much more practical.
hello Jane Austen beauties……..did you know it took 6-7 yards of fabric to make these pretty things?
princess Diana wore these clothes. My favourite is the blue cardigan.
the last photo in this row supposedly was the best dress of 2012. Paired up with those trousers and cut off at the hips? its spoilt the whole look in my opinion!
and the menswear………
to be honest, it’s hard to get as excited about these suits compared to the dresses, as they just don’t have the colour I love. But, given a choice I like the more fitted tailoring with a crisp finish. Baggy does not look half as formal.
So, we now exit this building and move on to the American museum. Given I have not visited America and have not visited any previous museum specialising in the history of this vast area the contents were always going to be entirely a novelty. The building itself is very lovely, set in rolling countryside and features period rooms rescued from various original American homes all over the country (before they got demolished).
shaker sister sewing boxes. Beautifully crafted and made.
I hope you can make out that this is a shaker sister sewing room, all the furniture was very simply made, with no decoration.
the story behind these two amazing dresses is so sad. The lady who was to wear them went on a tour of Europe before she was going to get married. She died of flu before she got back and they were never worn. The first dress is particular took my breath away, it has daffodils embroidered all over it. The second dress was intended to be worn as court.
examples of American Indian work and beading. The moccasins didnt come out very clear through the glass but you can see the colours. The waist coats were so cute, and must have taken hours of work.
Finally (second post of quilting work will be saved for later when I have more energy) a view of Bath…..
sewwherenext 