Tuesday, August 7, 2012

A Day of Divine Deco-dence

Now there is no stone we deco devotees would leave unturned in our quest for the perfect costume or deco accessory, and Lady Raglan is no exception.  When she recently heard (via a friend who had been to an unrelated event) of the possibility of visiting a lady who apparently possessed a veritable treasure trove of deco clothing and paraphernalia, she kindly arranged a jaunt for all of us. 

What a wonderful outing!  We were astonished when we entered Jan’s home to find that not only did she have an enormous selection of garments and accessories, but that her house was an original deco gem and that her treasures were all displayed in the most sympathetic way.  We were gasping with admiration because all the kitchen shelves were arranged by colour.









Look at these beautiful tea cosies, somebody has put so much care into their creation.
This coffee set must have been "for best"
I would love to try to recreate the three dimensional felt applique on this bag.
 Likewise in the bathroom cupboards. 


It was inspirational and even the colours of the interior walls were in perfect deco shades.  (Primrose yellow and soft green for the kitchen for instance, I came away determined to somehow create my own corner of primrose yellow and soft spring green.  And I have to take my hat off to Madame La Poste after our discussion about the merits of different shades of green last weekend, the soft spring green looked just beautiful with primrose yellow.  Bliss.) 

Here are some more photos, I couldn’t stop photographing all the nooks and crannies and I hope you will be able to see some of the finer details.  In the bathroom for instance, there is still the original plaster work on the ceiling and there are whales swimming round the cornice! 


Also in the bathroom is this light fitting which reminded me of Prince of Wales feathers but I am not sure if it may just represent an abstract deco shape.  How fortunate that the detail hadn’t been removed when Jan bought the house three years ago.  She has done a lot of work on the property and still has plans as to how to perfect her gem. 

The selection of hats was very good and I am ashamed to say that I called Lady Raglan a nasty name when we got into a tussle over one.  Such is the passion that deco arouses in us!  All was settled amiably though, because Lady Raglan found the perfect crocheted gloves she was after and also found a perfect hat.  Mr Shoestring bought himself a coat and spotted handkerchief but Lord Raglan (ever careful with funds) managed to hold himself back. 

Jan puts on fashion shows of the vintage garments sometimes and many sets of clothes were set out on racks in preparation for the next show.  Jan let us peek into the cupboards where her most special dresses were kept and we admired the workmanship and beautiful fabrics used. 


This original 1930s dress was so cleverly constructed, the work on the pleating impressed and confounded us!

While we visited Jan we took the opportunity of visiting the op shops in her town and here I found my “best buy” of the weekend.  Since starting the pansy project to use up the donated wools I have been wanting to carry on with more of these canvas works but the canvas I need (double thread, 10 count, brown in colour so the canvas doesn’t show up) was fiendishly expensive.  In the opportunity shop I found a roll of it and was offered the whole roll for $50 (it costs $47 per metre).  Having dragged it back to my lair I was hoping I had a large amount on the roll so started to measure.  I stopped measuring at 10 metres because of cat attacks, but there were obviously a few more metres left to measure.  So I have enough canvas to last me for the rest of my life – I had better use up every skerrick of wool in my possession now, to make the most of it.  Perhaps I could cover my “new” lounge suite with tapestry?  All in the fullness of time!  This "chocolate box" representation of a cottage garden was crying out for a new home and we swept it up and put it in the gypsy room with similar sentimental scenes.



Coming home and turning over the green and yellow theme in my mind I couldn't leave my flowers in their original vase, I had to fossick around in the cupboards and get out the daffodil cup and plate and rearrange things a bit.  These minature daffodils are called "tête à tête" and if you are planning on planting any daffs next season I strongly recommend then.  Each bulb makes three strong stems of blossom so they are very prolific.



The camelias are all flourishing - the least troublesome of the winter flowers, they need no cossetting unlike these pansies which are suffering after slug attacks



The surrounding countryside is still flooded and the rain determinedly pelted down all weekend, resulting in even higher levels in the paddocks near town.  But there definitely is a feeling of spring in the air.