Friday 2 August 2013

Ancient Mongolia??

Like most mothers who have put a child through primary school I am used to requests for costumes. This year my ingenuity has been tested by a Victorian outfit and a costume inspired by art for DS. However I was completely stymied when DD came home from Guides claiming she needed an ancient Mongolian costume for camp! She is off to a large Scout and Guide camp; each section of which is named after an ancient civilization.

When I had recovered the power of speech, my initial reaction was "No, you have got to be joking!" followed by "Why couldn't we get Rome?". An internet search revealed that ancient Mongolians favoured heavily embroidered, brightly coloured tunics. My mood was not improved, but eventually I decided to give it a shot and trawl the charity shops for inspiration. Surprisingly quickly I found a double duvet cover which had an embroidery inspired print:

Before!
I have blogged before about conquering my fear of sewing machines. I would now call it a mild anxiety as opposed to a full-on dread, thanks mainly to the encouragement of other bloggers. I can now thread it and sew in a straight line. This is Major Progress in my world!

Fortunately I only needed to produce a shapeless tunic. I created a pattern by the crude method of lying DD on the duvet and drawing around her. Not a method I've seen on the Great British Sewing Bee, but I wasn't going to spend hours faffing with a tape measure, thank you very much!  The only difficult part of the actual sewing was the neck-line, and I remembered enough of my needlework lessons to negotiate that one.

After!
Quite what it will look like after being in DD's camp bag for a week is anyone's guess. Ancient Mongolians didn't have steam irons so she will look authentically creased!

8 comments:

  1. Your daughter looks brilliant , is there a prize for best dressed ? I,ve seen on the news about a big scout and guides camp what is happening at Lincoln show ground , don,t suppose that's where your daughter is

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    1. Thank you Joan! I don't think there's a prize. She's not in Lincoln - there must be a lot of Scouts and Guides busy packing this evening! Lesley x

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  2. Awesome! You did a great job.

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    1. Thank you! I did enjoy it, which surprised me. Lesley x

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  3. Lesley this is absolutely amazing and shows how a little imagination and creativity can create something special - I definitely give you first prize on all counts, well done. I am glad that you are using your machine - up to this year I would find any excuse not to use mine - couldn't thread it, change the needle, the spool change was nigh impossible so I would have to hand sew everything - always saying how much I loved hand sewing! I am still apprehensive using it but getting much better as you are. Today we will conquer the sewing machine, tomorrow the world Lesley! Have a wonderful weekend, hope you will enter my giveaway, not sorted the prize yet but will do soon. Lovely post as always, you always make me smile Lesley, thank you.
    Lots of love
    Dorothy
    :-)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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    1. Thank you for the encouragement! I have quite a way to go yet - I won't be inserting a zip any time soon! Next on the list are curtains for DD's room. I keep putting off ordering the material - I need to have courage and get on with it! Lesley x

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  4. Fabulous!!! I love your pattern making technique, and you have encouraged a 62-yr-old-formerly-scared-of-sewing-machines to have courage....and maybe try again to use one :) Thanks for posting, Leslie!
    Gracie xx

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