Sarah Appleton - Textile Artist Blog

My time at the  New Carnival Company  has come to an end. I'm now back home in Dorset, feeling a little discombobulated after the Mardi Gras yesterday but very grateful and happy to have been involved in this incredible event! On Friday we focussed on finishing Gina's elephant. When I arrived in the morning she had already made him tusks and eyelids: Gina and George / Ellie / Bob I started the day by making heck loads of ruffles from sequinned fabric: Sequince We also had a make-up artist come in and test out face painting ideas on us for the next day. It was nice to have a mini pamper after we'd been working such long hours! Then Gina and I draped a headdress for him which was upcycled from a duvet cover: And I used my sewing skills to sew that and the ruffles together while Gina finished the details and decorated him beautifully: Later I finished a few little touches for my peacock costume (leg cuffs and final headdress adjustments) and was very surprised...

Today I started working on some of the big, exciting carnival costumes at  Carnival HQ . The first job of the day was to spruce up an existing peacock feather backpack; mending bent feathers and tidying it up a bit using special industrial glue: We're planning to add a few more feathers to it so that it can be worn in the Mardi Gras... if all goes to plan it will be me wearing it! This is really exciting because I will have helped design and make my own costume, something more fabulous than I've ever worn before (and I've worn some pretty fabulous stuff)! After the peacock, I started on this little red and yellow number: Before Again mending loose feathers and adding a couple more in. This one had been rained on at last year's event and needs a bit more TLC; we'll be adding more red feathers when the delivery comes in. Here's a picture after I'd started mending it: After It still needs a little more work. I've never worked with feathers b...