Downton Abbey: Must See Period Costume Drama

If you haven't seen Downton Abbey yet, you are in for a real treat! I'd call it an Edwardian soap opera (first season set in the years 1912 – 1914), and it is riveting. It has it all: mysterious pasts, jealous sisters, gay footmen, medical dramas, secret ambitions, inheritance scheming, backstabbing housemaids, smart dialogue, the legendary Maggie Smith, and .... and... AWESOME COSTUMES!!

I know many of these costumes were reused from other productions, but it doesn't matter at all. You can run these episodes on mute and just be dazed by one glorious costume change after another. Especially if you know your costume history, it is just delicious. Get a sketchbook, a big piece of chocolate cake and watch these back to back for design inspiration overload!

Perfect period style.

The dress. The gloves. The lace!!

The evening dress choker!! (Hmm.. that looks familiar from another well-known film. Still gorgeous though!)

Castle Inspired Striped Scarf Crochet Pattern

I love the scarves worn by Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle on the television show “Castle”. In opposition to the usual classic grey/black/white scarves for men, Castle’s scarves often have bold geometric color combinations while still being extremely masculine.

I made this Castle inspired striped scarf for my wonderful DH as a special gift.

Here's me modeling the scarf. Sorry I'm not a great model ... and I forgot to put make-up on that day!!! ... but you get the idea :)

I've had quite a few people enquire about it so I decided to post the pattern here. It's one I made up just for my DH :) and it hasn't been formally tested, but if you'd like to play around with the pattern and make your own Castle inspired scarf, please enjoy. I wrote this from memory, so if anyone finds a huge error, please let me know!

2 skein bulky (5) yarn in Burgundy
1 skein bully (5) yarn in Navy
1 skein bulky (5) yarn in Dark Plum

I used Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky which is *fabulously* soft and luxurious on the skin and very, very warm. It is a bit pricey though, so feel free to substitute another bulky yarn.

Hook size: K

Pattern -
ch 23

Row 1: With burgundy, hdc in third chain from hook and then hdc in each chain all the way across.
Row 2: Turn, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in back loop only of next stitch, *hdc in front loop only of next stitch, hdc in back loop only of next stitch*, repeat from * to * all the way across, making sure to put the last stitch in the top of the ch 2 turning chain.
Row 3-16: Repeat row 2.
Row 17: Change to dark plum yarn; with dark plum, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next stitch, hdc in each stitch all the way across.
Row 18-22: Repeat row 2.
Row 23: Change to dark blue yarn; with dark blue, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next stitch, hdc in each stitch all the way across.
Row 24-28: Repeat row 2.
Row 29: Change to burgundy; with burgundy, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next stitch, hdc in each stitch all the way across.
Row 30-44: Repeat row 2.

Repeat rows 17-44 until the scarf is as long as you want. My scarf had 4 repeats.

Fasten off and weave in the many ends.

School, Art History & Dracula

Hi everyone! It's been a long, busy summer, but school has finally started up again for my little munchkins ..... they are soooo excited! With school back in session and Saturday Market (where I sell my jewelry in person) wrapping up in 2 more weeks, I'll soon have more studio time to devote to my biz and my online activities :)

Until then, I want to share with you a fun contest. If you know your art history, some of these paintings are just a blast! Worth1000.com challenged members to take an existing historical painting and add to it, filling in what was happening "off-camera". Here are some of the entries from "Beyond the Canvas: If Artists Had More Paint"

Lady of Shalott altered by Mishikal

The Scream altered by irishbryan

The Kiss altered by drucom

Love that last one especially. Reminds me of "Bram Stoker's Dracula", a movie memorable for its cinematic photojournalist style and ... its costumes! In fact, it even won the 1992 Oscar for Costume Design. What girl wouldn't love to wear one of its gorgeous fantasy Victorian frocks?

Mina's Red Dinner Bustle Dress [back view] from Bram Stoker's Dracula

Spring Cleaning

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day! We gorged on sugary baked goodies on the couch and watched the romantic fairy-tale movie "Ever After". Just love the winged, beaded crystal dress Drew Barrymore wears to the ball. Ethereal wings, beaded crystal shoes ... what's not to love?

"Ever After" ballroom dress
Image from Pretty Geeky from the "Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen" exhibit

I want to gush a bit about an exhibit I learned about while looking for this dress picture. "Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen" is a traveling exhibit features thirty-six exquisite period costumes worn by movie stars in major motion pictures, from critically acclaimed films Dangerous Liaisons and Sense and Sensibility to blockbusters Indiana Jones and Titanic. It looks like an absolutely dreamy exhibit! You can learn more about it here and here and here. Regretfully, it's not traveling anywhere near me. If anyone knows where I can get a hold of a beautifully illustrated exhibit guide with killer photos, I would be most grateful!

In other news ... this week the weather has finally warmed up and Spring is on the way! How do I know? Well, there are the tulips coming up .....But I've also been seized with the sudden urge to begin Spring cleaning. The great thing about doing a thorough deep cleaning is that you find all sorts of forgotten treasures deep in back closets. Look at this cute Japanese brush box I rediscovered! I think it makes a very nice tool caddy.And what's in that cute little drawer at the bottom?? Antique chandelier crystals!I think this repurposed box makes a gorgeous and utilitarian addition to my jewelry desk.

What treasures do you have around the house that can be repurposed and given a second life?

Enchanted Blue and Rose Dress

As some of you may remember from this post, we took our little guys to see Enchanted, the movie, when it come out and they just loved it! Loved it so much that when it came out on DVD, we decided to buy it. The point being, we watch it pretty often as a family, so I'm getting to know the costumes very well. I was flipping through random art books at Borders (being heavily side-tracked from finding literary reads, but hey! that happens sometimes at a well-stocked bookstore), and found this John Singer Sargent painting. Hmmmmm..... looking mighty close to Giselle's blue and rose dress, don't you think?Yes, I confess ... I am a movie costume nut. And proud of it! :)

Starting this post, I'm going to try something new. I was looking through my blog archives and thinking about how much love and work went into some of those entries and how timeless and beautiful some of them were and how they deserved better than to be buried for eternity .. so, I'm going to try to link related posts from now on. We'll see how it works :)
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Other posts you might enjoy:
Drawing From History

Drawing From History

(images from The Costumer's Guide to the Movies)
We recently took our two little guys to see Enchanted at the theatre. We don't often go to the movies, so this was a special treat for the whole family. They both just adored it! My youngest now wants the soundtrack so he can dance and sing along with Giselle. So cute! As a student of art history something seemed vaguely familiar about the dress the animated Giselle was wearing, but it was a fun, happy movie and I didn't dwell too much on it. Then I saw this comparison of her dress to the Art Nouveau illustration by Alphonse Mucha and I knew what my brain had been trying to dig up! Definitely some strong design influence there.

I wouldn't mind having something that gorgeous in my closet! :)

The Great Paper Dress Swap: Part II

"And the lady's wardrobe was filled with pretty dresses: satin, velvet, lace and silk. Each one a dazzling work of beauty glimmering in the candlelight ......."

OK, it's time for Part II of the Paper Dress Swap! Read Part I here.

Minutes after I sent out the last official swap letter, I received a request to join from Sandra. Missing a swap by just minutes .... now how could I say no? Answer: I couldn't :) So Sandra became my third swap partner. Above are the dresses I sent her: A spooky spiderweb dress, a Spanish style one foofed with black lace, and a Parisian cafe dress trimmed with roses and lace.

And these are the gorgeous multimedia creations she sent me! A pink gown worthy of any belle at the ball, and a cleverly accessorized autumn dress - see the cute hat and bag?


I also received the sweetest e-mail from Erin. She was having great fun making paper dresses and could she send a dress or two to me as a hostess thank you? More dresses???? Of course! And I would *love* to reciprocate with a few dresses as my thank you to her for being such a thoughtful and generous person. Now hanging in her home are a spooky spiderweb dress (with one of the shy little web weavers making an appearance), a garden party frock with a rosy sash, and an elegant plum dinner gown with a classic pearl necklace.

And here is the swanky and stylish attire she sent me. Soooo ritzy and beautiful! I wish you all could reach out and touch these because her papers are so tactile and lush, they are more like textiles than paper.

Thank you to all my swap partners! And a big thank you to everyone who joined in the paper dress swap!! You are all awesomely talented paper artists!!

And now ... I would like to invite everyone who participated to comment on this post with a link to their dress posts. We can have a "virtual fashion show" and see everyone's lovely creations!

One last note...... I'm sure it will come as no surprise to learn that I adore historical dramas, costumes, jewelry and period decoration.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age, the sequel to Elizabeth comes out tomorrow! It promises to be a sumptuous feast of costumes and jewelry. I hope it's smartly written too, but that seems to be the rare case these days in film. I've gone out of my way not to read anything about it, so it will be a surprise. Hopefully, a nice one :)

Marie Antoinette: Pretty, Pretty Shoes

This was going to be a fabulous post about exotic adventures, priceless shopping treasures and amazing creative goodies. But ..... the flu moved into our house this week so those things didn't quite happen :) I DID make a closet full of lovely paper dresses, but can't share those quite yet :) I'm still brainstorming on what, if anything, to do to the backs before sending them off to their new homes. Pretty dresses were making me think of pretty shoes to go with them. So... how about a dose of pretty Marie Antoinette shoe eye candy?This stunning collection of artfully piled Versailles shoes is from Moda Pra Ler. Why don't my shoes look that cute when I let them pile up?

These next two shoes shots are from the movie Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst. Aren't these yummy! Love those pastel candy colors! Reminds me of frosted petite four candies. Who else but Manolo Blahnik could have designed these beauties? Personally, I thought the movie was a bit vapid, but really enjoyed it as cinematic eye candy.

And this last one is from Shoe IQ. Looking at the white pair, you can really see the unique shape of shoes of that era. High heels were a must along with embroidered silks, rich brocades, painted leather, and large showy buckles. They don't look terrible comfortable, but who knows? Maybe they were. Did you know that very little remains of the actual wardrobe of this notorious French queen? I've heard there is only one actual shoe, not a pair, but a single shoe still existing that is attributed to her.
In other news ..... I finally finished my patio!!! Yeah!!! I'm now trying to encourage moss to grow between the pavers. Really hoping for that old English look. How do you grow moss? Use this handy recipe: Take some existing moss and puree in a blender with yogurt and cheap beer (You're whipping up a moss spore and moss food combo). Paint mixture on patio pavers. Keep moist. Watch moss grow. Moss grows slowly, so it might take a while :)

Next post .... a "Patio Finished Party"! And maybe my first giveaway too :) Have to get rid of this pesky flu first :)