The Princess & The Pea . . . . . * Tilda Style *

Greetings dear friends & readers & Happy Easter to you all !!!

A couple of months ago I received an email from my lovely friend Sally.

The email went something like this "Julie, I have bought an old wooden cot from the Op Shop & I wanted to do a Princess & the Pea theme with it ...... would you make me the Princess please?"

As you can imagine, I was most fascinated !!!

So Sally arrived out to visit me with the gorgeous Tilda book above, she had on loan from our local Library.

And the scrummy array of Tilda fat 1/4's pictured below . . .

As luck would have it - Sally even had her own crown !!!

It was about now that I had to confess "you know Sal, even tho' I have heard of it .... I don't actually know the story of  The Princess & the Pea" !!!

Having raised sons, the opportunity to read them this particular fairy tale just never arose.

So Sally gave me a brief rundown of a shortened version of the fairy tale about them hiding a pea in the mattresses to see if she was in fact "a real Princess"

Originally the order was just to sew the Princess in the book - this however, grew to me offering to make the mattresses as well.

My friend Sally is one VeRy clever lady ... & more than capable of doing this order herself.  But she has just this year undertaken an intensive floristry course, so I decided to whip a coat of paint on the cot while I was busily painting something else ...

As mentioned in my last post, I lost all my "before" & "during" photos from this order when our computer died.

As I had cut the front side out of the cot before undercoating it, I was able to just sit it back in place to give you an idea of the original red/grey colour & how tatty the little wooden cot was

Once I had undercoated it a couple of times to cover the red, I affixed a piece of flat wood slat to the side with a couple of screws.

Front View                                                                          Back View

Then I proceeded to paint the entire cot white & make the mattresses.  Some of them I boxed the corners & stuffed more thickly, others I just left thin, as in the pattern book

Next I decided to make the pillow & the little quilt - I absolutely LoVeD the fabrics I chose for these ...

It was a last minute decision to add a little frill to the edges of the cot quilt (I am so pleased I did this)

My next task was to drape the cot with some netting offcuts I had found in my stash .  .  .

.  .  .  . I was able to cut them to length & bunch together at the top - this sat quite snugly once I slid the crown over the wooden slat piece 

I worked on this project over the course of a few weeks, leaving it at times to work on other orders or baby sewing.

Everytime I would bring it out to continue with, my own real life Princess would take it upon herself to be a pain in

offer her input !!!!

Whenever I would stack the mattresses in the cot to work out their placement, she would have much delight in rearranging them for me (Sorry Sal)

During the course of this order, on a daytrip to Rotorua, I was delighted to come across a small felted ball for 50c in a craft shop .  .  .

.  .  . which was perfect for the Pea.

Unfortunately the Pea in question went missing for about 3 days when a certain 4 legged ginger helper decided it made the most wonderful play toy !!!

And finally ...... I got to make the Princess !!!
Sally had chosen which Tilda fabrics she wished me to use for the nightie & stockings ...

My one specification was that I wanted to give her "proper hair"
I did not so much like the painted-on-hair in the pattern book.
I photocopied a piece of the fabric onto medium weight cardstock & made her little crown with this

The pea got tucked under the edge of the mattresses .  .  . 
The miniature vintage china cup (found in my cupboards) was perfect for the chamber pot

Viola .  .  .  the Princess & the Pea - Tilda Style  

Sally was delighted .... she has promised me I am allowed to play with this set each time I visit her .... so long as I have adult supervision & have washed my hands first !!!!!! 😉

Wishing you all a safe & happy Easter dearest friends & readers
With Cyclone Cook bearing down on us here it is looking like we could be in for a rather wet Easter break

I have the furry ones tucked up safely inside, a new wax melt in my oil burner, & a good supply of choccy eggs stashed away .... 
I think I will be safe & sound !!!
Thanks so much for your visits here today
with much love & friendship to you ALL
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0