Bustle gowns need fabric - LOTS of fabric, to the tune of 10-15 meters - so off we went to London to the stores on Gold Hawk Road. If you know Toronto's Queen Street, or Hamilton's Ottawa Street fabric area, you've already got an idea of it. The same except much bigger - and of course in London! I liked London, by the way - the city has an energy that reminded me of Amsterdam, or Berlin.
We did also go to The Museum of London where the curator gave us a first-hand look at a number of fascinating historical bustle gowns from about 1850-1890. He had included several interesting bustle cages, including one with nifty ties to control the span at the back. The gowns presented construction puzzles, as the historic original was obviously there but sometimes altered by subsequent wearers of a different size and for another purpose. No pictures - we were under strict order not to publish any of the photos we were allowed to take for our own purposes. Sorry!
After a night at a hostel (I know... I'm getting a little old for hostels, but at London accommodation prices...) we took the tube to Gold Hawk Road. What fun! loads of little shops, all crammed into one manageable block. A few images:
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| Sofia and Jess debating strategy... |
The goods: everything except quilting cottons!
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| Velvets... |
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| Dupioni silks... |
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| Polyesters gridded with tucks... |
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| "Shot" (i.e. two-tone) polys |
For notions - here called, elegantly, 'haberdashery' - it's best to go to a stall in the adjoining Shepherd's Bush Market:
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| Our teacher Pauline and the stall keeper discussing colour |
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| Shepherd's Bush Market |
Sadly - precisely what drew us to this area is slated for demolition. The cubby-hole stores and restaurants will be bulldozed, the buildings behind renovated for (high-end) condos (well - are there any condos in London that aren't high end, by definition?).
We all got fabric to our liking, mostly within budget. It's an art to get it all done in six hours - so many possibilities, so many choices! It takes imagination to look beyond the fabric on the roll to the fabric made up into a gown. Below is mine: first on the roll(s), then in the bag. The gold lace is the icing that's going to make the cake (I hope):
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