Diamond Wedding Anniversary Part 1
My Grandparents will have been married for 60 years this coming August and to celebrate their special day I decided to create a small textile piece as a present.I started by looking through their old photos and fell in love with their wedding photo, thinking this would be a perfect choice for this occassion. I love 1940s fashion and this picture conjured up nostalgic ideas from fabrics to layout design, so I started to think about expanding on elements that naturally existed in the picture and how I could create a 40s feel. If I could pick up on some of the key features of my Grandmother's dress and veil, I hoped that I might capture some of the 'Wedding Day' and 40s nostaglia in my design.
I printed a copy of their photo in a slight Sepia tone onto 100% cotton fabric, which I sell through my eBay store (Sara's Texture Crafts - eBay Store) and set off for Covent Garden Market where I know a lady that sells lovely antique lace. Fortunately, she had some antique fabrics with scalloped edges, made around 1940/50 which reminded me of my Grandmother's veil. This was a perfect start! I then came across some really pretty lightweight, lawn fabric with embroidery anglaise foliage and plaque designs - this was going to be my border.
After the market it was a short stroll up to Tower Street for The Bead Shop. I couldn't resist adding texture with some vintage look beads! If I combined these with small embroidery stitches, I could create an almost 3-D texture (I was hoping this would add some decadance to my work, which I think is necessary if we are talking nostalgia! Even if it's not true to post-war 1947!)
A little closer to home, I found a frame perfect for my design, with a silvery vintage, paint effect. By choosing my frame early it gave me my final space measurements, this is I think, an essential when you are planning a work which is going to be displayed, for two reasons. Firstly, it saves the budget as you don't want to end up in a situation where you may need to make a custom frame to fit your odd shaped design! Don't get me wrong custom frames can give you an extra special finish, but sometimes they can also blow your budget! You can always customise your frame if it's not quite right! Secondly, it's good planning to work to an estimated dimension - it allows you to precut some materials to size ready for use and will also give you an indication of how many beads, how much thread and how much fabric to buy in the first place. Especially if you are buying from a market stall, as some owners might not be avaliable the next week if you forgot something!Come back soon for Part 2... Meanwhile I will be focusing on my next Etsy collection due to go into store this week.
