Created and Developed By Sandy Snowden

"The Forgotten Tudors": A continuation of the Tudor theme which I had explored in 2004.

International Quilt Festival
Houston, 2006

A Page from My Book: Journal Quilts 2004

A Page from My Book: Journal Quilts 2005

 This month is Henry VII, who is usually overshadowed by his infamous son. Legend says that at the Battle of Bosworth Field he discovered the crown hanging on a hawthorn bush. He was instrumental in reuniting England by marrying Elizabeth of York. The symbols of the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of Yorkshire were combined to make the now famous Tudor rose. So, I did crowns + roses and acrylic painted nappy liner on card to represent the armour-strewn battlefield.

February - White Rose of Yorkshire

I did some design work about Elizabeth of York. Henry VIII's mother. One of my experiments was a line drawing with gold pen on black paper...oh so striking! SO, I had to do it in fabric. I used invisible thread and tissue paper to get the lines on the black velvet, but hand embroidered with gold thread. Also beaded, stamped and painted with Lumiere paints. DH calls her the African Tudor!

This page is shown in a Vidcast on Bonnie McCaffery's website. VidCast “International Quilt Festival - Houston, TX 2006″
http://www.bonniemccaffery.com/wordpress1/?p=28

Design work inspired by a less famous portrait of Anne of Cleves in an orange and black gown gave me the idea of using Anne’s portrait cleaved/ripped by the black sharp points. What it would feel to be a foreign Lady, expecting the privileges of a Queen, yet rejected so publicly. Yet, she ended up with the best life of all of them in the end. I used black lace, semi-precious stone chips, wire bullion and pukalet beads on hand dyed fabric. The portrait is printed on paper, and coated with PVA glue. I hadn’t intended to do Henry’s wives, but this just HAD to be made, so I will probably do the rest. I did Anne Bolyn in 2004.

April -

Lady Jane Grey has always been a bit of a hero to me. When I studied her life, I learned how much she had been used as a pawn by her power hungry father-in-law. She was Henry VII’s granddaughter, through his youngest daughter, Mary, but would have preferred that the throne pass her by, as decreed by Henry VIII’s will. On this page, I explored several ideas inspired from the brocades fashionable at the time of her life. I included paper, buttons, plastic, organza, and Xpandaprint.

Henry finally got his son by his third wife, Jane Seymour. But unlucky for her, she died soon after... Or perhaps she WAS lucky, as he hadn’t yet tired of her. I chose to develop some ideas that came to mind when looking at her sleeves. I used plain, and shrink textured velvet, gold thread and various embellishments. Some of the design work for this has also been used in a Tudor inspired winter coat I made for my City and Guilds: Fashion course.

June - Abandoned Queen

I hadn’t ever really felt sorry for Catherine of Aragon until my Tudor research revealed a more personal side; her marriage to Henry’s brother, her many miscarriages and stillbirths, (including at least one son), and how she was treated after 20 years of marriage and no longer able to conceive. I used a Jenny Rayment method to crumple a sheer layer over acetate satin and Catherine’s portrait, representing the idea of crushed up and thrown away. I also used a soldering iron to burn words and distress marks onto silk and embellished with bits of broken discarded jewelry and pearls… representing the discarded Treasure I am sure she must have been.

July-

Catherine Howard, what an enigma. Is this truly your portrait or is it someone else? Were you young and naive? Were you calculating? Did you seek revenge in some way for your cousin Anne Bolyn? With Henry’s track record, why would you dare think you had much of a chance as the 5^th wife? And then why, oh why, would you be so bold as to cuckold the King of England, never mind his morals?    Alas, no answers.    After writing Why? on spray painted black paper, and embellishing with various bits and pieces, I covered the portrait face with metallic organza to illustrate Mystery. I realized her headdress formed question marks of a sort, so added beads to draw attention to the covered face. The little gold wires made great question marks that help pull the eye around.

August-

Katherine Parr, Henry’s sixth wife was a widow before and was actually in love with Jane Seymour’s brother when Henry decided he wanted her instead. However, from what I read of her, it seems she was a woman with a Heart of Gold, the sort who could bring out the best in every situation. She nursed Henry through his last years of ill health, helped to get his children, Mary and Elizabeth, reinstated, and became like a mother, at least to Elizabeth and Edward. After Henry’s death, she did marry Seymour, but died after the birth of their child. I was inspired by the dress, experimenting with gold sprayed laces, Imitation and real gold leather, embellishments and red polyester satin to evoke its look. A soldering iron was used to make marks that become words and motifs on the satin.

At first, I felt I should try to do a combination of Henry VIII’s siblings. Instead, I chose Mary, Queen of Scots. Although she was a Stuart, she was Henry VII’s great granddaughter through his daughter Margaret. Her controversial lifestyle and activities in Scotland influenced English affairs of state, especially in Elizabeth’s reign, and at last her son James became King when the Tudor line had ended. This piece is based on a portrait of Mary that I have loved from the minute I saw it years ago. I have always wanted to have a go at copying it in some way. I used china silk layered over hand dyed cotton lawn, gold braid, beads, and pearls. I meant to leave the portrait out, and loved the piece as it was, but all the other pages had some sort of likeness of the person. So, I covered the head with silk organza to tone it down, and inserted it into the neckline.