Mystery Challange

A few months back I was talking to a few friends and they mentioned this thing called the Mystery Challenge. It sounded like fun.  What is The Mystery Challenge? Basically it is a blog tour but it is a little more complex than that.  everyone signed up via Elfster and you were then nominated a person who you had to give an idea/challenge to that fell within the perimeters of the overall challenge (this time being Moments and People in history) I was given Sandy (check out her blog on Jane Austin HERE) And in return I was given Suffragettes by Barbara.
This gave me lots to think about, not only about what I was going to make, but what materials i was going to use and how I was going to stage it.  Now I am ashamed to say that I knew very little about the suffragette movement (pretty much what I had seen on TV) which when you think about how recently this happened and how influential these women were to modern life seems absurd right? So my first step was to do a bit of research. To start with I focused on the kind of clothes the women wore and I found a few images that I planned on using for my inspiration 

Then I started looking at places where I could go to have photo's taken for this. My Photographer lives in Bath so that seemed like a perfect place to have the photo's taken as I had already decided that Location shots would work far better for this theme then studio ones.  My next task was to do a little more research on Bath and how the Suffragette movement took place there. Some of the Rallies took place around the Assembly rooms and some of the more wealthy suffragettes came from The Circus and The Royal Crescent. On the day of the photo shoot I also got talking to the Housekeeper for No. 1 Royal Crescent who explained that the housekeeper there was also a member of the Suffragette movement (so of course we had to have a photo! 

Anyway back to my challenge.  I decided that creating something with a suffragette theme was just not challenging enough ( I know right ;) ) so I set myself the additional challenge that this was going to be an up cycle project.
I went to my Mum's house and raided her linen cupboard and came away with 2 Cypriot table clothes, 6 napkins and a lace parasol I purchased in Venice years ago.  

This then gave me the idea of what I was going to do.  I wanted to make the lace work a focal point of the outfit I was creating so that took a great deal of fiddlng and laying out before I even got as far as cutting 

When I was happy with the layout I finally started to cut and sew.  I used the bodice from the Jocole Endless as my start point. I lengthened the front into a princess point and downsized on the width.  I also chose to use the higher neckline.  For the back I adjusted the pattern to be able to add a concealed Zip (I had purchased little pearl buttons too but they vanished!) 
When it can to adding the skirt I wanted a slimmer fit than the pattern called for so I shortened the width of the skirt but also increased the length.  I then cut the princess point (what is that actually called? ) into the front panel of the skirt and lining before attaching them and enclosing the waist seam.  Once I added the Zip the dress was finished (Yehaw!!) 

Then I had to do the accessories (I mean no outfit is complete without accessories right?) 
I took Zoe's Easter Bonnet and stripped it down to the bare hat and then added a green and purple rosette.  For the sash I measured Zoe from her hip over the opposite shoulder and back to the hip added in a seam allowance and then dug some satin out of my stash and cut it out like a beauty pageant sash.  I added green and purple ribbon to either side and that was it finished.  I thought that I was done but when I put it all together something was missing.  The outfit didn't look done :( 

I went back and looked at my inspiration photo's again and realised one of the things they all had in common was a picket sign.  So off I went back to the craft box and 30 minutes later Zoe had a picket sign ready for the morning. 

So here it is.  My Suffragette Mystery Challenge.  Photo credits to Pete Souster Photography (who was absolutely fantastic with Zoe and kept her going even when she was more than done and got some amazing photographs for us) , The City of Bath, Bath Assembly Rooms and No. 1 The Royal Crescent 

If you enjoyed this why not go and check out the rest of the tour :) 

5/25│ The Berry Bunch - Frank Lloyd Wright │ Sew Not Perfect - Lucille Ball, I Love Lucy
5/26│ Friends Stitched Together - Prohibition/Roaring 20's │ HaCunha Matata - Jane Austin
5/27│ Zoe and Ted - Suffragetes
5/28│ House of Estrella - Woodstock/Fall of the Berlin Wall  │ Pen Seb Rox - Piet Mondriaan
5/29│ Friends Stitched Together - Impressionist Movement │ Wining Wife - Judgement of Paris
5/30│ Super Stay at Home Mommy - Madame Tussaud │ Keep Calm and Carrion - Jackie Kennedy  │ Gloria June - Florence Nightingale
5/31│ Sofilantjes - Andy Warhol │ Busy Little Bee - Marie Antoinette │ Amanda Rose -March 9, 1959 Barbie
6/1│ Pienkel - Bianca Jagger │ Huisje Boompje Boefjes - Anne Frank
6/2│ Taking it Up a Notch - Queen Victoria │ Amazing Adventures with Bubba and Bug -1964 New York World Fair │  Kelly's Sewing Creations - Steampunk Mary Queen of Scots
6/3│ Mae & K - Tesla │ Pretty Little Blog - Moon Landing │ Knot Sew Normal - Lutie Eugenia Sterns
6/4│ Sew Starly - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II │ Hibbadoray - Amelia Earhart │ Sew Far North - Countess Markievicz (1868-1927)
6/5│ Made By Sara - John Dillinger/Roaring 20's │ Create 3.5 - George Sand
6/6│ Country Bella - 1900's World's Fair/Art Nouveau │ Lulu and Celeste - Rosie the Riveter
6/7│Sew Domesticated - 1960's/Civil Rights Movement │ Rebel and Malice - French Revolution/Joan of Arch │ The Fabric Hoarder - Gypsies