Monkey Parts
Hello hyperfocus my old friend.
(minor spoilers for Critical Role 3 Episode 21)
At the end of the Ep 21 Ashton Greymoore gives Fearne Calloway an artefact that is “slipped into her pouch” which then devolved into a discussion about whether or not Fearne has a pouch (as in a bag) or a *ahem* “hairy marsupial pouch.”
A hairy marsupial pouch which is where Little Mister hangs out until summoned.
As part of my plans for my vaguely historically plausible Fearne, I wanted to make a tie-on 18th century pocket but I had no idea what to embroider onto them – I thought maybe a piece of patchwork made from scraps and leftovers once I finished the costume or a cartoon of Little Mister (in the style of Captain America’s dancing monkey cartoon).
I feel like there was a bit of a tie on pocket boom in 2020/2021 in historical costuming social media – Bernadetter Banner made a youtube video about them and Sewstine has released a number of sewing patterns for pockets to commemorate and critique the last few years including this Bernie Sanders wearing mittens variant. But these have been a large part of 18th century costuming for ages – see this excellent dress diary from Jenny La Fleur or this from American Duchess.
Please note also that these very sensible crafters did not spend 24 hours stitching an entire thing in one weekend …
Jenny La Fluer’s pockets
I had been working on the head sculpt for Little Mister and forcing myself to let the foam clay dry properly before painting and finishing for about a fortnight … and then thoughts of the monkey screeched too loudly in my head and I finished him on Easter Tuesday after spending a day sewing the monkey skin together.
Something something hyperfocus rears its ugly head once again.
(Am I writing this up in the hope that I can finally banish it and actually get some work done? Why yes, yes I am).
Years ago I bought a heap of polystyrene balls and white tinsel to dress a set for a winter photoshoot on a 35 degree Australian summer day.
Little Mister’s head is based on one of these balls and his body is stuffed with the other balls and the strings of some of the ugliest tinsel known to Christendom. The head and hands are sculpted from black and grey Lumin’s Workshop foam clay. Working with foam clay is like sculpting with warm Blu-Tack. I cannot overstate how important it is to wait for it to dry before painting.
And then I tuned into Episode 21 on Friday (timezones) and my lizard crafting brain yelled at me to create my pocket with a picture of an 18th century kangaroo and a garden of nightshade and hemlock.
So here we are.
If you too would like to make a hairy marsupial pouch, you are more than welcome to follow my designs. The front is stitched in DMC embroidery floss and glass beads on silk shantung with a hairy backing. If you are going to hand or machine embroider this, don’t cut out the pattern piece until you have finished your stitches so it’s easier to stretch on a hoop.
