FEBRUARY 4, 2021
Like others, I won’t be travelling this year. Locations are unreachable in a world were we used to choose a destination with the click of a button and arrival was only a few hours or a day’s journey away. Hopefully travel holidays will be possible soon for everyone that has been yearning for an adventure this year.
My fabric-scapes (tea–cosies with solid colour and print fabrics) are reminiscent of places I remember.
Tea Cosy, crown print, red, white and blue
London
When I was a child I moved regularly because my father was an officer in the RCAF. We didn’t have any of the enviable postings over seas, like the Black Forest in Germany that I heard about from my friends. Our one international posting was in the United States. We moved to Key West, Florida for two years. Travel was not something we did for family vacations. Holiday time was spent at the cottage on Black Lake, Ontario or on the ski slopes near Ottawa. My first travel by air was an exchange trip to Vancouver with my high-school band in grade thirteen.
Janice & friends was the name of my boutique, to show and sell my designs under my label, Janice Colbert Toronto
After five years of marriage, Jim and I bought Eurail passes in 1983 for a three-week trip to twenty-one countries in Europe. I had my fashion business and a retail boutique. My mother-in-law— a retired bookkeeper—and my aunt—a retired director of nursing for an Eastern Ontario hospital—offered to mind the store so my sales assistant could have her regular days off. They thoroughly enjoyed a fashion–holiday of their own making.
London was my first destination in Europe. We arrived in Gatwick, took the train to Victoria Station to catch the train to Dover. I felt like I had been dropped into another world, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I took a quick look outside while waiting for our next train. I loved the hustle and bustle of the double decker buses and London taxis zipping by and the 1860s architecture. From Dover, we were on the Hoverspeed to Boulogne next morning with connections for an express train to Paris.
Our last destination in Europe was Amsterdam, followed by a train to Hook of Holland to catch the ferry to Harwich and then another train to London. We arrived on July 1, 1983 for a two-day visit before flying home to Toronto. We took the Round London sightseeing tour. (July 1, “excellent tour” was my noted in my travel journal.)
From the Parliament we walked by Westminster Abbey, the Horse Guards, through St. James’s Park (July 1, “beautiful” in my journal) to Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus. We tried to buy theatre tickets but the good shows were sold out months ago. It wasn’t as easy as it is now to make reservations ahead of time. Ticket reservations were made buy phone or fax and the payment by credit card. But just the same, it hadn’t occurred to us to reserve in advance.
18 Argyle Square London
The Langley, a townhouse hotel on Argyle Square, is where we stayed. It’s still there, with an updated exterior, a black and white theme, divided lights on the windows, balconies on the second floor and renamed, The Gyle. The Langley is now a luxurious Georgian townhouse hotel, in Camden. The Langley (or The Gyle) is just one mile away from the British Museum.
The stores and markets were on the next day, Selfridges, M & S, Fortnum and Mason, Harrods, Kings Road, Chelsea Market (July 2, “punkers have just about taken over the area”, my journal notes again). There’s a list in my journal, noting the fashion that I saw along the way—knitted sweaters with shoulder seams ripped out, black and grey post nuclear-war fashion (shop on King’s Road), Laura Ashley look, dropped waist dress with horizontal tucks on hip band, Tyrol fashions, white romantic blouses, smocked dresses for adults (Kings Road), blouse with lace yoke, bow tie, dolman sleeve (Amsterdam.) Photography was more cumbersome back then. We used film and had to wait until we returned home to have the negatives processed for prints; or slides that were projected onto a screen from a slide projector. Sometimes it was just easier and faster to sketch something that caught my eye.
We didn’t travel again until 1985. We spent seven nights in London on our first family holiday with out nine-month old daughter. One of the sites we visited was Paddington Station and we bought a Paddington Bear near the London Zoo. The bear was larger than her. We were there leading up to Christmas and so the splendour of Harrods ramped up with holiday lights left a vivid first impression. Of course Father Christmas was discussing Christmas lists with tiny customers in the toy department. From there we toured England and Wales. The United Kingdom was a comfortable travel test-drive for inexperienced parents. We knew it would be easy to communicate with doctors if she was unwell.
On the London Double Decker Bus
Paddington Bear
Tea time in Wales
When newly graduated boomers entered the work force in the 80s and 90s they made good money and spent it without hesitation after years of living the student life. People would fly to London for a few days to see some shows and be back home before anyone noticed they were gone. It was less cumbersome to travel before 911; airport security did not add inordinate hours to departure and arrival plans. The majority of travel time was spent in the airplane. Jim arranged a just-the-two-of-us fifteenth anniversary surprise-trip to London in 1994. We left our son and daughter with Jim’s parents at their cottage near Ottawa. I didn’t know where we were going but thought we might be going to New York. Jim just said to pack for September weather and to bring something dressy to wear for dinner. From the Ottawa airport we flew to Halifax, so I thought we were going to Prince Edward Island, where my childhood summer vacations were at my grandparent’s farm. But no, we had a 9:55 p.m. flight to catch to London! We left on Thursday and arrived home on Sunday. It was out of character for us because we were farsighted in our approach to money, so it was a big surprise that we were doing what I had only read about! We saw two shows on our three-day theatre vacation, the musical Cats, from the poetry collection by T.S. Eliot with the musical composition by Andrew Lloyd Webber on Friday night. The following evening we were at the ‘New’ Starlight Express with music also by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Famously, the actors performed the entire show on roller skates. It sure was fun to experience London theatre, something we missed out on ten years before.
Capturing memories
We returned in 2000 with our fifteen-year old daughter and twelve-year old son for the London sights, and a ten-day tour of England with highlights that included Blenheim Palace, Oxford, Windsor and Legoland, Stonehenge and the Salisbury Plain chalk plateau, Appledore, Clovelly, the fortified manor house Powderham Castle, St. Ives and Lands-end. Travelling with children adds an extra complexity to a trip in the effort to meet everyone’s expectations. Friends have often said to us, “Why go to the extra expense to bring them along? They won’t remember what they saw.” That was never the point. They remember that they traveled with us and we had special experiences. Our children learned to be good travellers over the years when we made their summer holidays a priority. Travel has given them the confidence to go out and create their own experiences. Something that I never had.
Five years later in 2005 we were kicking around the London galleries. We were on the tube (on our way to lunch with Jamie Oliver at Fifteen) at King’s Cross Station when the tube bombing happened on July 7. We were so deep underground that we had to walk up an infinite number of escalators and hurried to exit the station. Once outside the chaotic scene of Bobbies, barricades, fire trucks and sirens overwhelmed us. The underground was closed for the day. Taxis were always full. The only option was to walk, about a forty-minute walk if you knew where you were going, to the restaurant. After lunch we walked from Hoxton to our hotel in to Bloomsbury, about another forty-minutes. We paused and looked at neighbourhoods along the way. Sticky and cranky and flummoxed about making a few wrong turns, the British folks were wonderful on route in giving directions, handing out maps and bottled water. We didn’t really know what happened until sitting down to dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. The Canadian journalist Patrick Brown was having dinner with his son, at the table beside us. We chatted about the days events but it was only much later at bedtime when there was finally news coverage on what happened. The following day we left London, for a thirty-day driving trip of Scotland and Ireland, that included a check-in with our son who was on a summer school adventure in Edinburgh and Dublin.
In 2012, I was shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. We were back in London to see the Royal Academy Exhibition and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and Flotilla on the Thames. From there we caught the Chunnel (Channel Tunnel) to Paris and Brittany.
Our last trip to London was in 2019 for our fortieth wedding anniversary. Surprisingly it was our first time to visit Buckingham Palace. The palace can be closed for official duties, so bookings never seemed to align with our travel dates. The closest we have come on a previous trip was to visit the Royal Mews, a collection of equestrian stables, of the British Royal Family.
By now since we have seen many of the major attractions in London, we focus on the small museums. The Fashion and Textile Museum, founded by Dame Zandra Rhodes is the only museum in the UK dedicated to showcasing contemporary fashion and textile design. I saw the retrospective on Orla Kiely’s work.
entrance with exhibition banner for Orla Kiely: A Life in Pattern, Bermondsey
small portion of the Wall of Handbags
Orla Kiely designs for women
The Brunel Museum tells the story of the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel known to have been constructed successfully underneath a navigable river and was built between 1825 and 1843 by Marc Brunel and his son Isambard using the tunnelling shield newly invented by the elder Brunel and Thomas Cochrane.
After seeing the Brunel Museum we came across The Rotherhithe Picture Research Library and Sands Films Studio while walking around the neighbourhood. We were reading a plague about it when we were invited in have a look. It is a small British film production company, founded in the mid 1970s. The business is housed in a former granary and has its own soundproof stage, workshops, costume department, set construction workshop, cutting room, cinema and other services needed to make films.
coiled wires for making corsets
the sewing room
The red, white and blue National Colours of England are the same colours in the flag for the United Kingdom. The colours are taken from the white and red flag of England, and the blue and white flag of Scotland.
London-scape (detail) cotton fabric, solid red, navy and white stripe and print, crown print on white frill
London, on hold for now, but we will return there, and other places to boot!
I made this Christmas shirt that for my husband over 40 years ago.The heritage 1784 Viyella is the oldest branded fabric in the world. The strong but soft twill-weave fabric is a wool and cotton blend, 80% lambs wool and 20% Egyptian cotton. The fabric was the first and most natural performance fabric centuries ago. It kept one warm in cold temperatures and cool in hot temperatures. Modern technical fabrics offer this today. Viyella is known for cosy clothing styles. Designers with a vintage flair, for example Laura Ashley, were drawn to it. The original wool/cotton blend is no longer available. It has been reversed to 20% wool and 80% cotton unless you can find a vintage design like this shirt.
I don’t think I was missed; the kids were still enjoying the tree and the decorations, when I came downstairs with the skirt.
Two red sweatshirts were required. I shopped the stores to assemble the bric-a-brac. The craft shop had the bells, fabric paint, ribbon and glitter. I didn’t know if I could find unadorned old-fashioned sweatshirts in children’s sizes. If I came up with nothing, that would be the end of the project. Cotton Ginny had them in sizes XS and S.
Jingle Bells in green paint is hand printed on the front of the left sleeve. A sleigh bell dots the “I”.
I have been a doll enthusiast from a young age. The first one, a Suzy Smart doll from the 1960s, was on my wish list for my first Christmas in Key West. She sat in her school desk, dressed in a plaid jumper, waiting for me beside the Christmas tree. If you pulled a string, she could spell, add and recite. I received my first fashion doll when I was ten-years-old. She was a Christmas present from my uncle sent by mail from his home in California. I had not heard of Barbie and was delighted to receive his gift complete with a carrying case for her and all her clothes.
He wears a fresh cotton chef’s jacket with a cardinal print and polka dot kitchen pants. The cardinal is a traditional symbol of beauty and warmth of the holiday season. Ribbon suspenders are attached with wood buttons to the waistline. Rag-wool socks were cut to make the doll’s socks and the toque utilizes the red stripe. Black shoes are tied with silver threads. Django wears a black bistro-style apron embroidered with his name. The blue star, sewn with the utility-stitch, refers to a nautical flag he designed that travels with him, most recently to Copenhagen and Moscow.
