Monthly Archives: September 2013

A trip to the Fashion and Textile Museum

27 Friday Sep 2013

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While I was visiting the UK I took my 10 year old granddaughter and my daughter to the Fashion and Textile Museum in London. The Museum was started by Zandra Rhodes and she donated much of her collection of designer gowns and costumes to the Museum. It is now run under the auspices of Newham College.

My granddaughter loves art and fashion and really enjoyed the Zandra Rhodes exhibition that was on when we visited. It included a couple of video interviews with her which were very interesting and even our 10 year old sat mesmerised. Visitors were encouraged to draw a design and leave it on the table in the viewing room. DGD did just that and signed it and put a copyright symbol on it!! Wish I’d take a photo but she may not have given me permission to publish.

The F&TM itself was very generous and gave me permission to show you the photographs I took of the exhibition. Please bear in mind no flash was allowed and these were taken on a Samsung cellphone. They are nontheless gorgeous! If you click on them you’ll get a larger image. Enjoy!

20130823_120654 20130823_120704 20130823_120720 20130823_120736 20130823_120808 20130823_120836The F&TM is really worth a visit if you are in London. They currently have an exhibition which runs until January 2014 called the Glamour of Bellville Sassoon and you can take a sneak peek here. The Museum is located at 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF and can be reached via a short walk from the London Bridge tube station.

The Museum also runs short courses and my DGD can’t wait until she’s 12 and can do the “Draw like Designer” workshop. I just ordered the accompanying book for her but don’t let on, it’s a surprise! 🙂

 

Hello! Remember me?

24 Tuesday Sep 2013

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I know I’ve been gone a long time but I’ve been travelling through the UK, Europe and the US. I’ve had a lovely break but now I’m back and ready to start sewing again.

I went to England for my daughter’s wedding and it was just beautiful. The weather was perfect, the setting, stunning and everything went like clockwork, thank God.

My daughter and I also went to Paris before the wedding and I thought you might like to see a few photos, so here they are:

This is the queue to get into the Palace of Versaille!

20130818_114002This is a very clever trompe l’oeil done with wrought iron on a blank wall. Isn’t it effective?

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This the famous cafe Les Deux Magots where all the writers and artists used to congregate years ago. People such as Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso.

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As we were staying in Montparnasse we decided to take a look at the Montparnasse Cemetery which is huge. There are no maps available though telling you where the famous are buried. However, we enjoyed the peaceful ambience and the variety of tombs and headstones from all the different religions. On our way out of the cemetery we came across the tomb of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre by accident.

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On our last day we visited the Paris Mosque which is built in the mudéjar style and which has a restaurant and tea garden. Unfortunately we didn’t have time for lunch which smelled and looked amazing but we did have mint tea and Middle Eastern pastries which were the best I have ever had.

20130819_134032Speaking of pastries… You can’t go to Paris and not indulge in the offerings of the local Patisserie, now can you?
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So we selected our favourites for afternoon tea and they wrapped them like this! Almost too good to eat…
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I did say almost! Aren’t they gorgeous? I chose the fruit tart and my daughter the lemon tart. Both were so good we were forced to buy another set the next day just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t. The best news is that we did so much walking that despite the gorgeous food we both lost weight! Win/Win!WP_20130816_004
We visited the Eiffel Tower not because we wanted to go up, which each of us has done before, but because the last time we were here together my daughter was 11 months old and we sat together under the tower. So much time has passed!
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This is a picture of the Pont de l’Archevêché where lovers pledge their love with a padlock to the bridge and throw the key in the water. It’s on the Seine near the wonderful Notre Dame Cathedral.
WP_20130819_014I hope you enjoyed these photos. I didn’t want to show all the tourist type shots which everyone has already seen so forgive me if I didn’t show the Louvre, the Musée D’Orsay and other tourist attractions in detail.