Down A Tudor Rabbit Hole
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Yesterday I was looking for some old pictures and I came across this one of a pattern I made a few years ago:
Elizabeth I - Gloriana. Sometimes I kinda forget the patterns I made; or they sort of get pushed aside by New Things! I was happy to stumble upon this pattern and it sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole.
This is the original sketch I made from a painting in the National Portrait Gallery in London (plus the tracing I made when I decided to stitch it.) I didn’t sketch it with the intention of making an embroidered version. I like how the sweep of her cape makes a nice contained shape that was easy-ish to turn into a pattern.
I had also sketched Elizabeth’s papa (Henry VIII if you’ve lost track of the English kings) and I have thought many times that I’d like to make a pattern of him too. But I think what has stopped me is that he isn’t making such a nice contained shape. It feels like it would be weird to make the Henry pattern with legs but Elizabeth has no legs. I dunno… maybe I’ll just stitch him as he is in the sketch and chop off his legs by the knees!
I also sketched Elizabeth’s siblings, Edward and Mary, but I’m not sure happy about those so I don’t think they would make good patterns. And I’m not sure I want to turn into a ‘Tudor royals portrait pattern designer’! :-D Although for one, very brief, second I thought “Ohh that would be a fun challenge!” But no.
What I could do, perhaps, time permitting etc etc, is make a pattern of the older Elizabeth. I quite like all the textures going on in this portrait with the fancy collar and the embroidery and gold and stuff. Who knows, more Tudors may be in my future. :-)
If you’d like to stitch it, the Gloriana pattern is available in my Payhip shop (and in my Etsy shop.)
I hope you have a nice weekend.
x Carina
P.S. Next week is the last week of the August Mandala Stitchalong. If you have been meaning to join, or just want the patterns with all the extras, now is the time to get it because it will only be available until August 31st.
Some Things I Enjoyed This Week
We watched the film Free Guy this week. It had some laugh loud funny moments (plus a lightsaber) and was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.
In the film they played the song Make Your Own Kind of Music by Paloma Faith. I really like that song and I’ve been playing the whole album, The Architect, several times since, it’s good!
The sketching course I’m taking part in is wonderful but also quite time consuming. Which is good. More sketching, less scrolling on my mobile! :-D