Advent Calendar Day 3

The pocket for Day 3 of my elder daughter's Advent Calendar featured a gingerbread couple so I took inspiration from the pocket decoration and made a pair of felt gingerbread people for her tree. These were made using the stitch around the pattern method - placing the template on the doubled over felt, stitching around the edges of the template using a sewing machine, removing the template, trimming to near the stitching then stuffing them and closing the stuffing hole. I used embroidery thread, ribbon and beads for their features.

Day 3 pocket

Felt gingerbread man and woman

closeup of the felt gingerbread man and woman

Despite having ginger/auburn hair, she isn't actually that fond of gingerbread, however she was delighted with this pair of gingerbread characters for her Christmas tree.

A small green dragon

My girl was so delighted with Clemence the Bramber bear sent to her by Dee and the Village Clan when Laura returned home that she decided to make them a doll-sized glove puppet.  This was inspired by the large collection of finger puppets (and stage) we have gathered over the years since my elder daughter was small.  I showed her how to design the puppet and how to stitch it, she did all the making herself, with a tiny bit of help from me.

Sewing around the basic shape, Clemence and Laura watch

Most of the finger puppets we have in the collection,
spot the one which inspired the puppet for Dee

Trimming around the edges after sewing

Stitching the eyes 

Laura shows off the glove puppet

You can read what Mossy and Ginny thought in Small, green and bossy - we thought this was hilarious.

Knut the polar bear

In the pinafore swap Anne in Germany sent us lots of additional Autumnal/Halloween goodies with the lovely pinafore she made.  So I decided to give the Sasha Commoneo Crew a bear to say thank you for all the lovely things they sent.  They have all been wishing for bears and the elder Sasha and Gregor children have sent the younger ones on a bear hunt in their garden (there are several posts, so look for the others on her blog).

I found a free pattern for a miniature bear on-line (designed by Lesley Shepherd) and resized it slightly to suit.  I made the miniature bear out of white felt which is easy and quick to hand sew, turned the pieces the right way out (this was the fiddly bit) and carefully stuffed the pieces and sewed them up.  I used small white buttons on the outside of the arms and legs as an anchor for the threads stitched through the body to make the limbs pose-able, then stitched the nose and eyes with black embroidery thread and stitched on the little ears.  For Knut I made a scarf out the multicoloured 4 ply wool I had used to make Susie's cardigan (blues and greens/yellows), for the similar polar bear I made for Dee as a thank you for the Chat n Snap I knitted a scarf from the wool I used to make Florence's cardigan.  I also made the bear in a light tan coloured felt, with a big red ribbon bow.  I did take this bear to the CnS but didn't put him out on the table to sell, I just wasn't sure how to price him (he is a bit fatter than the polar bears, he ate more honey than they did!).

This is a photo of the 3 bears just before I went to the CnS.

Dee's bear, the tan coloured bear and Knut

Each little bear is small, when standing up it is only 8 cm (just over 3 inches) tall.  In Anne's parcel I put one of my little skipping ropes (in a presentation bag) and Knut the polar bear.  It looks like Knutie has been made welcome by the Sasha Commoneo Crew who have also tried out the skipping rope.

Ride a Cock Horse

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,

To see a fine lady upon a white horse;

With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,

And she shall have music wherever she goes. 

Nicholas James and Florence
as 'Ride a Cock Horse' at the 2012 Sasha Festival

I have realised that although I blogged about the 2012 Sasha Doll Festival in the UK at the time and showed some photos of my 'dress a Sasha' entry in those posts, I have not blogged about the conception and creation of the outfits.  

In fact, the idea came in 2011 before I even had Florence, I had baby Mabel (my first Sasha) but I was in the process of buying Florence. The Nursery Rhyme theme was the most appealing because of a rhyme which comes from near where I live, but how to do this became something I thought about on my way to work in the mornings. I spent some time researching the origins of the rhyme 'Ride a Cock Horse', the most likely period and therefore also what the lady's costume should be like. I even requested an old book via the local library to find out more about riding habits of the period as well as undergarments because I wanted the whole ensemble to be as historically accurate as possible.  I purchased the white horse from the USA via eBay - an incredibly lucky find and I gave it to my younger girl for Christmas 2011.

This is what I compiled and displayed with the entry:

The identity of the ‘fine lady’ is said to be either Queen Elizabeth 1, Lady Godiva or Lady Celia Fiennes (7 June 1662 – 10 April 1741). There is no real evidence to support any of these cases; however this display is based on Lady Celia Fiennes, on the grounds that the line should be 'To see a Fiennes lady'. 

Lady Celia, whose brother was William Fiennes, 3rd Viscount Saye and Sele (c. 1641-1698) of Broughton Castle, Banbury, was the first woman to ride on horseback to every county in England, between 1684 and about 1712 , accompanied by a couple of servants.  She wrote about all her journeys in her diary, describing the places she visited, and she came to Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire, and on two other journeys rode to Banbury, one of these coming close to Stony Stratford.

Thence to Stony Stratford, so Cross ye river Aven again 12 mile, and Enter Buckinghamshire. At Stony Stratford wch is a little place built of stone they make a great deale of bonelace and so they do all here about, its the manuffactory of this part of ye Country, they sit and worke all along ye streete as thick as Can be. 
Banbury is a pretty little town, the streets broad and well pitched, the whole Country is very pleasant and the land rich – a red earth. They make some of their fences with stones – dry walls without Morter. It seemes much on a flatt and you have a large prospect, from thence to London we go by Alesbury 20 mile, thence to London 30 mile. 

Local Stony Stratford legend has it that the ‘cock-horse’ is from the famous ‘Cock Hotel’, a 15th century coaching Inn which served many passengers in the great days of coach travel.  The Cock Hotel is next door to The Bull Hotel, and travellers visiting each Inn vied with each other to tell outrageous tales of the road, known as ‘cock and bull’ stories. 

‘Lady Celia’ wears:

• A full length sleeveless linen chemise, trimmed with old lace 
• A full length gathered ‘petticoat’ skirt fastened with a button, hand embroidered with feather stitch 
• A matching riding jacket, hand embroidered with feather and satin stitch, and trimmed with bead buttons 
• A doublet of patterned brocade, trimmed with bead buttons and hand-made loop button holes 
• Gathered lace wristlets 
• A cravat made of old lace 
• A black felt hat trimmed with feathers, old lace and hand embroidery 
• White knitted long socks (hidden in the boots) 
• Knee high Black leather boots (made by Lisa Hartley), trimmed with gold bells 
• Rings on her fingers made with embroidery thread and beads 

The ostler/servant wears: 

• Linen shirt with gathered wrists 
• Brown knee length breeches 
• Long knitted socks 
• Black shoes (Sasha Marina shoes) 

The side saddle is made from salt dough, acrylic paint and leather; it is fastened over the forward facing saddle which came with the horse (Battat Morgan).

Making the Ride a Cock Horse outfits

The Riding Hat from above

Front view of the Riding Hat

I made the hat myself – it involved stitching the pieces together and soaking it in PVA glue and water then drying it to shape.  This was quite a challenge which required some experimental work.  I then stitched the gold thread around the brim and feathers and lace in place.  

The hand embroidered Riding Jacket

Close up of the jacket embroidery

Close up of the jacket embroidered right cuff

Close up of the jacket embroidered left cuff

The jacket I designed and made from scratch, in fact my earlier attempt I rejected as the style was wrong.  I loved doing the embroidery and stitching on the bead buttons and making the loop buttonholes (fine blanket stitch).  I did matching embroidery on the skirt.  

The riding skirt

Button and fastening on the skirt

Hand embroidered hem of the riding skirt

The riding jacket and skirt, doublet and chemise

The lace trimmed chemise

detail of the chemise hem

The doublet

close up of the doublet buttons and fastenings

The hardest challenge was the saddle.  The horse had its own plastic saddle, perfectly acceptable for forward facing riding, but Lady Feinnes rode side saddle and however much I tried I could not get Florence to sit on the existing saddle sideways without toppling off.  This would clearly be too precarious for an exhibition, so I made the saddle by protecting the existing saddle with cling film and moulded the salt dough over it.  The dough took a week to dry because it was quite thick, and it did crack a bit so had to be glued. I glued leather straps to the underside of the side saddle and tied them to the existing straps.  Florence had a black elastic strap tied around her waist under her clothes and this was tied under the saddle and horse, all hidden by her skirts.  This ensured that she didn’t fall off the horse.

The riding hat, wristlets, lace cravat and rings on her fingers

close up of the rings on her fingers

The lace wristlets

Sasha’s don’t have separated fingers so the rings on her fingers were beads which I stitched onto skin colour thread bangles which fitted around her fingers – she had these on both hands.  The lace wristlets were gently pushed up her cuffs once the jacket was on, they were not sewn to the jacket.  I made the socks for both the Lady and the ostler.  In the event the Lady wore the boots without the socks (though they did fit within the boots), this is partly because I was running out of time setting her up and Lisa Hartley kindly stepped in to help get the boots on her feet.

The ostler's simple shirt and breeches

Ostler's shirt with gathered cuffs

Ostler's breeches with drawstring waistband

We realised that the ostler might also fall over during the exhibition, so I showed my husband what I needed by way of a doll stand and he made a simple rod mounted in a square wooden base.  I covered the base in green felt to match the 18 inch square of ‘grass’ felt they were displayed on, and the rod went up the ostler’s breeches and was held close to him by the drawstring waistband.

I got a great deal of pleasure from designing and creating this Dress a Sasha entry. 

References:

Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/contents_page.jsp?t_id=Fiennes, freely available electronic version available at ‘A Vision of Britain through Time’, with maps and hyperlinks to the places mentioned. 
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/fiennes/saddle/saddle.html  
http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/mkm/stonystratford/docs/history.html 
http://arts-and-heritage-stony-stratford.co.uk/2012/05/the-cock-bull-window-competition-can-you-find-the-item-used-by-celia-when-riding-her-cock-horse-to-banbury/
http://www.swereview.co.uk/_local_places_of_interes.htm