I suspect some of you may be planning to go rather all-out with Challenge #6: Fairytale, so Challenge #7 dials it back just a bit.  Challenge #7 (due April 15) is Tops and Toes and focuses on accessories: specifically those that go on top of your head, and on your feet. So what does that cover?  Hats, hoods, headscarfs, caps, coifs, crowns, tiaras, diadems, earrings, eyeglasses, parasols (they go over your head, so we’ll count them) chopines, shoes, slippers, sandals, stockings, and probably a few more that I’ve forgotten! Here are a few (well, a lot) of pretties to get you inspired as you plan your Can’t wait to see what you make!

And now, with a fanfare of trumpets and a wave of a wand, announcing the Historical Sew Fortnightly 2014 Challenge #6 (due Tuesday 1 April): Fairytale Fairytales are full of beautiful costume imagery, from Little Red Riding Hood’s cape, through the dresses as golden as the sun, as silver as the moon, as dazzling as the stars, and the coat made of the fur and feathers of every beast and bird their was in Allerleirauh, to Cinderella’s famed slipper (whatever it was made from) and beautiful ballgown, and the Pied Pipers pied tunic. In this challenge, imagine your favourite fairytale set in a specific timeperiod, and make a historical garment from the fairytale.  Your fairytale can be classic, modern, Western, non-Western: as long as you can articulate why you think it qualifies then it counts! Rather than providing historical garments as inspiration, here are how some illustrators have imagined various fairytales over the years: Here is a charming 1920s does late Rococo take on Little Red Riding Hood from Project Gutenberg: And a medieval meets …