FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Teri’s White Queen
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
My look is based on the White Queen from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. In the story she's depicted as a bit befuddled, a bit confused and unkempt. She's constantly losing hair pins and her shawl keeps slipping off her shoulder. She has different personas in the story. At the beginning of the story, she appears as a chess piece come to life and then seems to evolve into a sheep later.
I created a linen shirt with long gathered sleeves that would echo the banded look of the original illustration of the chess piece from the story. I also created a shawl that was made from vintage hankies that belonged to my grandmothers. To complete the look, I paired it with a previously thrifted skirt and a needle felted wool hat that I created several years ago at a fiber retreat.
Outline the construction…
The linen shirt is entirely stitched by hand. I wanted to have poufy sections in the sleeves for a segmented look. I created this by making bias tape from the linen and then stitching them inside the sleeves to make casings that I threaded through with twill tape. The sleeves get their poufs from being nearly long enough to be used as a straitjacket. In order to keep them in place, I stitched a piece of twill tape the length of my arm to the inside of the sleeve, catching the casings along the length. This kept the sleeve in place and kept it from sliding towards the floor and looking like too long sleeves.
Rather than adding a collar, I bound off the neckline with bias tape and added a length of vintage lace from my stash.
This was my first time hand stitching an entire garment by hand and I don't think it will be the last as it was quite fun. Unfortunately, I had to scrap plans to make a skirt when I had major dental surgery and lost a chunk of time to recovering. But I forged ahead with the idea the done is better than perfect and I was determined to finish at least one garment in order to submit something to the competition.
I think you have nailed the character!😊
Those sleeves and the hat create fabulous volume! The lace at the neck adds a lovely little detail, too. Well done.
This was a blast to read and to look at. I love how you interpreted the absurdity of the White Queen and brought her mix of chess figure and sheep to life, including the (invisible) hint at madness with the straightjacket sleeves. The mix of fabrics and shades of white worked really well for this character. The expression on your face is also awesome. You look like Olivia Colman!
This entry immediately caught my eye, it’s such a fun and quirky character! Classic Lewis Carroll to have a chess piece turning into a sheep! You definitely captured her cookiness in the outfit and the photos, and I love the puffy segmented sleeves, such a great effect!
So quirky – so Lewis Carroll – and those sleeves! I definitely have sleeve envy 😀