The month of July zipped right by. I was traveling for half of it, and keeping up with the World Wide Web is always more of a challenge on the road.
My trip to London was amazing. The week I spent at The School of Historical Dress was so special and I learned sooo much. You folks in the London area are so extremely lucky!! Working with Luca and Claire was incredibly inspiring, and learning from Jenny and the school’s collection just blew my mind. To commemorate, I finally got Seventeenth Century Women’s Dress Patterns 1. I will go back some day, for sure.
The research I did at the British Library and the Victoria and Albert Museum also rocked my world. Who’d have ever thought that I would hold in my bare hands a 16th century book filled with hand-waterpainted embroidery designs?? It has become clear to me from this trip that the artifacts are as important to me as the information they contain. I was emotionally moved by the experience of handling them, and found myself treating them with reverence. An important insight as I pursue grad school options.
And I also enjoyed a wonderful Georgian picnic at Chiswick House in London! I met friends new and old, many whom I’m sure I will see again. I wore my blue silk taffeta francais gown that I’ve been working on retrimming.
When I got home I just had to shake things up (a reflection of my internal experience on my trip?), with the result being a dramatically reorganized studio, so I’ll be back to my needlework tomorrow! I feel like I now have the confidence to take on a few of the projects that I’ve had in mind, but been reluctant to start.
Tally-ho!
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