p p p pick up a penguin

It's time for the third and final installment of my 'British Icons' costume posts, and it's the turn of my own costume (which I am most excited about!)

In the run up to the party I was racking my brains trying to decide which British icon I wanted to be, but all the people I came up with were unsuitable for someone on the plumper side, like myself. So I decided that I would be an iconic object, rather than a person. 

 

I looked for inspiration from around my own home and came up with the idea of going as one of my favourite things to collect- a mid century Penguin paperback book. For me, the Penguin book is one of the most iconic items of the 20th century- everyone instantly recognises the brightly coloured, simple cover designs and they are internationally celebrated for having brought good quality, contemporary and affordable fiction to the masses.

After a bit of thought, I chose the most infamous and revolutionary of all the Penguin paperbacks- Lady Chatterley's Lover, whose publication led to the company being charged under the Obscene Publications Act in 1960. Penguin was subsequently acquitted, marking a turning point in British censorship laws. The British public could not get their hands on a copy fast enough, with queues in bookshops up and down the land- two million copies sold in six weeks!

 

I had the idea to use Pearl's old cot mattress as the base of my costume, which I cut to a suitable size with sharp scissors. I'm pleased that I thought of a way to repurpose the cot mattress, as charity shops don't accept them on health guidance, so it would have just ended up in a landfill.

I bought some cheap lengths of polycotton in both white and bright orange and machine-sewed them together, to look like the book cover. I then cut some strips of the white fabric and ran it up and down my sewing machine with black cotton, to look like the pages of the book. These strips formed the top, bottom and one of the side ends of the book, which I stitched all together to cover the entire piece of mattress foam.

As I was sewing the pieces together, I stitched in some thick elastic cross-over straps, so that I would be able to wear the giant book as a costume.

Then it was time for the details on the book cover and spine. I cut out the letters and logo shapes from thick felt and then appliqued them by hand to the book cover.

I will confess that I got halfway through the rather tedious job of cutting out and stitching on the lettering and wondered why on earth I hadn't chosen to make 1984 instead!

But when I'd eventually finished it all, I was really pleased with the finished costume and it seemed to go down well at the party (although it was a little bit awkward to help myself to the buffet!)

After all that work I think I'm trying to think of another use for it- maybe a big floor cushion, or wall hanging? I'll let you know when I decide!

Have a lovely week everyone xx