All posts tagged: 17th century
Pretty princesses in yellow
Last week Theresa came to town from Melbourne, and of course we made time to do what we do best together: get dressed to the nines and take pictures. Last time our theme was late Victorian, this time we went yellow: Ninon on me (yay, finally!) and the pet (Oooooh) on Theresa. It was a cold, windy, drizzly, overcast day , so an outdoor photoshoot was out. Ninon can NOT get wet, and I’m not too sure about the water-fastness of the chintz the pet is made from. Where to go in Wellington that is indoors, attractive, has good lighting, and where they will let you take pictures? The old Dominion Museum building, now the arts building at Massey University. We got soooooooooooooo many beautiful pictures. I managed to edit an hour and a half of photos down to 250 keepers. Then I had to edit those down to 90 that I really wanted to show you. More grueling editing, and I’m at 75 that I really, really want to show you. By the time …
The ‘Henrietta Maria’ dress
This week’s challenge on the Sew Weekly commemorated the Royal Jubilee celebration. The brief said, make something inspired by “any member of the royal family, past or present” and I immediately thought “Past!!!!”. I mean, this is me we are talking about. So I started brainstorming an idea and working on my project. Then, with the garment done but for the hem, the Sew Weekly inspiration board came out. Mena’s inspiration board is all from QEII’s life. I guess by “past” she meant royals who were alive during Elizabeth’s early life. My “past” is a little more “past” than that. By three centuries. Oops. So. Umm… Anyway… This was my inspiration: Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, may be a long time in the past, and only barely related to Queen Elizabeth, but she was a member of the royal family, she’s someone who fascinates me, and I love the fashions of the 17th century. Oh boy do I love the period from 1630-1660. It’s so pretty. The full skirts. The sloped shoulders. The slightly …