From Ashley to Ashmolean

Mumsnet! Not something I'm in, but I expect if it'd been around in the olden days I would; but it might have been bad for me; "in my day" I found that mothers were roughly divided into those who perpetually congratulated themselves on doing a great job, and those whose errant children made their status quite clear. I was in the second category. So while whirring away on some fabric for Hagar, I was listening to Woman's Hour on R4, and hearing how there's a new description for some mums, those who have all girls: 'Smug Mothers of Girls' and the other sort I forgot the name for, and had to invent ones for me 'Apologetic Mothers Of Boys'. I see the correct title is 'Defensive Mothers Of Boys'. Anyway, Hagar's fabric was, I knew, going to look like something out of Laura Ashley's 1984 collection, all lovely little flowers, and in reality it was inspired by the colours of an Egyptian embroidered hat from 1925 in the Ashmolean museum. I'd written down what colours were on it, but before it came to applying the black, it was very definitely Ashley and not Ashmolean. Note that it is anything but random; it's hard work to make it look this random.

It became clear that to prevent the Laura Ashley look (remember the big skirt in tiers? Cornflower blue? Cost a fortune, but was worth it for the wear it got) it needed something doing to it, and so, with a mindset much like I imagine the recent rioters began their 'work' with, I attacked it, muttering 'Destroy!' and was immediately pleased with the effect. Somehow it made the fabric look both more contemporary and more ancient at the same time, and certainly more like the design I'd seen in the Ashmolean. (Evoke is a word I use a lot; it is meant to evoke Egyptian fabric.) Lucienne Day, homage to you  and your wonderful fabrics. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/feb/03/lucienne-day-obituary

I also was musing on women dressed in Laura Ashley prints, and thinking that Hagar would not be of that ilk; but then, those of us who were were not all stereotypical sweetness and light, and you could experience to your cost something of that divide mentioned above, me being among the Apologetic/ Defensive ones. So Sarah and Hagar's rivalry sounds like just another spat that would sound absolutely contemporary on Mumsnet of today. 'My husband has had a child by our au pair, as we were infertile for many years.... now she...', and 'I lent out my womb to my employers, and now find myself cast out by the very couple for whom I had the child. They made very poor provision for us....'  Perhaps we old mums can all remember some incident which ended up with a trip to casualty for someone, and I remember one child apearing with the end of a finger hanging off, and his mother livid (before driving off) demanding 'Who did this?!!' and feeling relieved it wasn't my child who'd done it, and feeling very sorry for the mother of the one who had slammed the door or whatever caused it..... I wouldn't want to go through all that bit of my life again. I find it very hard when reading the stories of Sarah and Hagar to suss out exactly why there is such enmity between the two women, where does it start? Was it all Abraham's fault? The fault of patriarchy? God and his idea of 'blessing', which results in favourites? Was there any way that the enmity could have been avoided or repaired?

There's the completed fabric above. It was necessary to go round each daisy-thing with black thread precisely twice, or else it would have been bad luck. Why? I don't know; it just would. It's a girl thing. (I'm so inadvertently superstitious). It's also done with one complete and unbroken piece of black thread.  I told myself it would be good luck if that also happened, so let's hope this thing gets done on time.

Lair today

Back to the lair.... I know.. two sewing machines..... wonderful.