Friday 11 May 2012

Bon voyage corsage!

Have you ever heard of the Snibston Museum??  No?  Me neither, well not until recently anyway. 

The Snibston Museum is located on the site of the former Snibston Colliery.  It’s an interactive museum with Country Park, historic colliery railway and nature reserve.  Snibston houses the largest collection of vintage clothing and costume outside of London!  Who knew?  It’s clearly a very well kept secret.  I found this clip on Youtube which showcases a little of what you'll find there. 



Looks pretty good doesn't it?  Did you see the giant image of the lady wearing a red jumper featured in the first few seconds?  It's from a Stitchcraft magazine, so stylish!  If that wasn’t enough though, there's more!!  From the 26th of this month, right the way through to May 2013, (gives you plenty of time to visit), Snibston museum are having a……….

UTILITY CLOTHING 1942-1949 EXHIBITION!
(can you tell from the capitals that I’m a little excited???)

Picture taken from the Snibston website
Well, how does this post relate to my corsages I hear you ask.  Well, back in March at the Little Vintage Lover fair, I was approached by a lovely lady who works for the museum.  She liked my corsages and, given the new exhibition, thought that they would fit in perfectly.  I was asked whether I would send them some to be sold in the shop!  I was honoured and or course said yes.  These last couple of weeks have been filled with preparing a stack of these lovely bright bunches.


All the posies that I am sending were made using original 1940’s patterns.  I make a few tweaks to the patterns for longevity and also because, sometimes, instructions in these period magazines are somewhat lacking!


First up is the rose, which I’ve blogged about before.  It’s from an original 1941 Stitchcraft magazine.

  
Next is a little bunch of English marigolds, again from a 1941 pattern, but this time from a Woman and Home magazine.  Each stem is wired which means the bunch can be shaped to stand out on the lapel.  These ones are the most time consuming, the flower heads being two sizes, one just under the inch, one just over.  They are all individually hand drawn onto the felt then cut out and sewn to make individual flowers and then wired together to make a posy. 


  

Last, but by no means least, are these giant ones.  I got the pattern from a Needlework Illustrated magazine which I think dates from 1942.  I say think because it has no cover but it’s large in size, which makes it from the early war years, but has a stars and stripes jumper which, in my opinion, puts it post Pearl Harbour so I'm guessing 1942.  If anyone has this exact pattern and can tell me the date, I'd love to know.




The Exhibition is on for a whole year which gives me plenty of time to persuade Mr Y to go and take a look and to see my corsages.

As well as finishing the corsages, I’ve been busy getting ready for an event this weekend.  We're turning back the clock 70 years and heading off to Bassingbourn Airfield for their 1940's event.  The Memphis Belle flew from Bassingbourn during WW2 – I love the film – and I’m hoping to get some good shots to share with you next week. 

We’re camping and thankfully, after all the hail, thunder storms, down pours and generally grotty weather, the sun is shining and spring seems to have finally sprung, well for now anyway!

Wish me luck!! :o)

8 comments:

  1. Holy moly! Thanks for the info about the Utility exhibition, that is definitely something to get excited about! I'd never heard of the Snibston Museum either and it's only an hour away from me. Thanks for the info and your posies look fab!

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  2. Wow! They are gorgeous.
    I have some Vintage corasges for sale on my Folsky site.
    Julie xxxxxxx

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  3. Wow - how brilliant that your corsages are being sold at a museum! Looks like a fascinating exhibit.
    Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

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  4. Ooh thanks for the heads up on the exhibition, I shall look up where the museum is. Great news about your posies, well done. I know they are really time consuming to make. I do have that same Needlework Illustrated mag pattern but my copies are in binders and they've had the front covers (and hence dates) removed too! Hope you have a top weekend, we're off to the Bluebell Railway's 1940's event. Looks to be sunny, hooray!
    Hen x

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  5. Good luck! What an interesting discovery on the museum! Also lovely corsages....no wonder they wanted to sell them for you!! Have a fabulous weekend!
    May x
    walkinginmay.blogspot.com

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  6. How exciting.... well done! Your corsages are beautiful. Have a great weekend :)

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  7. That museum looks great- wish it was closer! Your corsages look lovely too- I haven't made any for ages as I find I can't sit still long enough to finish them- like you say, they are rather time consuming and that's not good when your a fidget! I'll have to tie myself down, as I have two weddings coming up and I need flow-flows! T x

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  8. Thanks for the info on Snibston, I think we may well venture there in the next month.
    Cheers
    Lynda

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