Malvena Pearl’s Emporium

In the past few years, I’ve made an effort to either volunteer at the Dickens Fair in Daly City, California, or to spread my enthusiasm about going to the Dickens Fair to other folks.  I’ve made a bonnet or two for this occasion and assisted a number of friends with their outfits. Here’s a photograph from 2005, one of the first years I went to Dickens Fair with pals Beth (on the left) and Aimee (on the right). I made Beth’s gray and plum-colored outfit, my outfit, helped Aimee embellish her jacket and skirt; and I made both my bonnet and Aimee’s bonnet.

If you like live music, live theatrical performances, dancing, games and general holiday fun set in the time of Charles Dickens’ city of London, then you may want to go to the Dickens Fair.  Happy Christmas!

This bonnet is for a dancer who is doing workshops to perform in Fezziwig’s at the Great Dickens Fair in San Francisco.  I built it from buckram, millinery wire and cotton fabric. I’m sewing it  by hand. For inspiration, I used several sources. The Dickens Fair folk provide guidelines for costuming for their event here. I also found  many books to inspire me at Costume College, two years ago. One is a British publication entitled, “Hats and Bonnets” by Althea Mackenzie with photography by Richard Blakey, published by The National Trust, London, UK, 2004. The photos and descriptions of hats and bonnets are wonderful.  I’m looking forward to embellishing this bonnet with ribbon, trim and lace, to match the dancer’s dress, that I embellished for her earlier this year.

It’s the most Wonderful time of the Year!  Project List

With school starting and the little goblins and ballerinas getting ideas for their outfits, we’ve got a full plate here at the Emporium. (not to mention, our recent relocation a few zip codes away from the old MPE studio.) 

 Here’s a few of the ongoing projects:

8- 10  aprons for a kindergarten class so they can cook and do art

1 “Stitch” costume and 1 “Max as wolf” costume for a little boy, size 4-5; I have a size smaller piece to transform and re-use

1 Klingon costume for our friend Corvus, for whom I made a wizard costume, somce years ago, to his specifications - I like specifications!  (he sent me a photo of an action figure for a model this year - yay)

Completion of the two bonnets for the fabric-obssessed friends in the costuming group who have been promised the completion of these lovelies;  and then the preparation for Dickens Faire 09 gears up…

Now to find the copy of “Bleak House” dvd; you see, her majesty, Roo, has been clamoring for it, now that Autumn is on its way.  I think I might have to settle in with some “Jeeves and Wooster” on the dvd player,  in the background. 

I have converted two unsuspecting dvd-watchers to the wonders of  British television series: “House of Elliot” and “Jeeves and Wooster”.  And you pondered what I had been doing, when I was too busy to blog.  Hah! There’s no need to fear! The super-distractor is here!

Oh, and there are all these boxes of fabric and books to unpack, sort, label.  Ahem.

My friend got a plain, green bonnet form to match her new outfit for the Dickens Fair. She’s making the rest of the outfit so she asked me to decorate the bonnet. Here’s what I did.