The Show Has Come To Town

Happy New Year!

In contrast to yesterdays post I wanted to share with you a Snug that is all about exuberance, glamour and pizzazz. I’ll start as I mean to go on and this Snug demonstrates excitement, drama and flare. 2013 here I come!

This is Sateen Damask. She is directly inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge. I adored this movie when I saw it. It is visually stunning and the director’s attention to detail is out of this world. I am a massive geeky fan of all Mr. Luhrmann’s films but there is something very special about this one. (I’ll just ignore the Greek tragedy ending for now and focus on its lighter qualities.)

My Sateen is engulfed in hand-knitted flowers. Each one was individually knitted and sewn into place. I had found a great six petal flower pattern in a book and experimented endlessly with needle size, wool thickness and texture, and the number of petals to come up with several different looks. I knit flower after flower and sometimes I thought I would never finish. But I have to say I think the effort was really worth it in the end. I sewed beads and jewels into the centre of each one, like hidden treasure to be found in the clusters of soft petals.

I had found the eyes I used in a haberdashery. I loved that they had long eye-lashes. The jewelled head-piece that sits on her forehead had been donated to me (I’ll fill you in on these donations at a later date.). If you have seen the film you will know that there are amazing Indian inspired costumes and this is where I got her look from. She has a single large orange-red feather to add glamour and drama.

There is a lot of work gone into this Snug. She is another flight of fancy of mine (probably gone a little too far!). But I do like to believe there is room for some over-the-top, thoroughly decorative bits of whimsy in the world. I prefer to live on a planet where the tea cosies are decked out in jewels, feathers and flowers.

I hope your 2013 is getting off to an exciting start. I hope you are surrounded by things that are useful but also visually interesting, stimulating and also just a little bit silly.