Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Sewing Scenes: The Tailor of Gloucester

Uh oh, I spy more singing, sewing mice! Rodent seamsters represent an enduring literary and cinematic trope that cannot be avoided, it seems. And all for the better, I say. Reader Lucy referred me to the animated version of Beatrix Potter's The Tailor of Gloucester. (I also highly recommend reading the original book, all of which is available online here.) How sweet and apropos it is, as we're tailoring our own coats!

This animated short film is available in 5 parts on YouTube and it's well worth a watch (I've posted the first part at the bottom of this post). In it, a group of little mice prove to be quite competent little sewers when a tailor falls ill and can't complete the mayor's wedding day ensemble on time. I'm sure we sewists can all relate to the poor tailor's feverish dreams of embroidery and buttonholes to be completed! And of our cats sabotaging our sewing, but that's another story altogether.

I also learned a couple fun facts while researching The Tailor of Gloucester. First, it was written in 1903 but it's based in the mid 1700s. Hence, the clothing was period dress even for the author. Beatrix Potter researched the tailored men's clothing of the period at the non other than the V&A museum! She wrote this to her publisher:
'I have been delighted to find I may draw some most beautiful 18th-century clothes at the South Kensington Museum. I had been looking at them for a long time in an inconvenient dark corner of the Goldsmith's Court, but had no idea they could be taken out of the case. The clerk says I could have any article put on a table in one of the offices, which will be most convenient.' (source)
The article points out that the clothing was so thoroughly researched that you can recognize the pieces Ms. Potter used as inspiration, like the embroidered waistcoat below, which remains in the museum's collection.

Here is one of the charming illustrations, in which you can clearly see the inspiration:
As to the second fun fact. Apparently, Ms. Potter presented the book to her own tailor, who passed it along to the trade publication The Tailor & Cutter. The publication reviewed the book on Christmas Eve 1903 and said the following:
 . . . we think it is by far the prettiest story connected with tailoring we have ever read, and as it is full of that spirit of Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men, we are not ashamed to confess that it brought the moisture to our eyes, as well as the smile to our face.
Aw! Now you guys are gonna bring moisture to my eyes!

Anyway, without further ado, please enjoy the first part of The Tailor of Gloucester. If you're eager to get to the animation, skip to around 2:30. And then do go enjoy the other four parts; you won't regret it! (Unless, that is, you have some sort of vendetta against singing mice.)

21 comments:

  1. Love it!

    You may well like the 2006 movie Miss Potter, a lovely biographical gem worth the time to watch IMHO.

    Susan

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  2. What a fun post - I just love Beatrix Potter. ;)

    Even better than the movie, Linda Lear's biography of Beatrix Potter (2008) was a great read.

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  3. I remember reading this book as a child and intensely wanting the beautiful embroidered clothes, but my favorite Beatrix Potter book was actually The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit, which contains no sewing and is pretty violent.

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  4. This is a new movie for me. Thanks for opening my eyes to this little story. My girls and I are watching it now. They love singing mice.

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  5. This was my favourite Beatrix Potter book when I was a little girl. It's so different from the others and I remember bursting into tears when the cat hid the 'twist' under the dish. It certainly brings a tear to my eye thinking about it now, especially the line about the stitching being so tiny and perfect it could almost have been done by mice! x

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  6. I watched it without the sound (I'm at work). I love sewing so much that just seeing an illustration makes me want to go home and sew.

    ~Sewjourner

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  7. There is also a live action movie of "The Tailor of Gloucester" which can be found on YouTube as well. (Starting here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2fKsjNuOuk ) My mother taped it off TV for me when I was very small. :)

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  8. My favourite Beatrix Potter book when I was little (although I did have a soft spot for Jemima Puddleduck and Jeremy Fisher too; but not Peter Rabbit for some reason). I even had the make and paint your own plaster casts of Hunca Munca with her dustpan and brush and her husband reading his newspaper on his reel of thread...

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  9. Wow! Thanks for sharing all the extra information about the writing of the story! I read lots of Beatrix Potter as a child but haven't had anything to do with her since. Now I'm tempted to go back and re-read it all, as well as find the biography mentioned above!

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  10. Oh my, I do love Beatrix Potter, and I do remember reading this as a child.

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  11. My daughter (nearly 3) also likes the Fierce Bad Rabbit. I liked the Two Bad Mice. Also Tom Kitten. I always thought DIsney got the Cinderella mice from the Tailor of Gloucester.

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  12. Oh, I really enjoyed all 5 parts of this. Thank you so much for the link. Such a sweet story.

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  13. Thanks for sharing that link Gertie.

    The drunk mice/rats were a bit creepy... The mice were lovely though. I would let mice live in my walls if they helped me out in sewing emergencies!

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  14. My daughter had these videos as a little girl... seeing this made me very nostalgic.

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  15. I always love the Potter bunnies the most, but the little mice are so sweet! I love when realistic mice act human, especially Stuart Little, which I'm pretty sure has no sewing in it.

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  16. I would definitely watch that if my internet were up to speed, I used to make my parents read me Peter Rabbit as a bedtime story and correct them if they got even one word wrong... and my cat is just like Miss Moppet, although I call her Chunka Munka as a nickname, which is more like Hunca Munca from the Two Bad Mice... love Beatrix Potter! (Haven't seen Miss Potter but the series with, um, Niamh Cusack, from memory, was very sweet, about 10-15 years ago)

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  17. I actualy live 10 minuets away from Gloucter in the UK! There used to be a museum in the place beatrix got the inspiration from all decced out like the tailors worksop i went there when i was a kid, it's closed now though! :(
    I watched all the films of the books when i was at preschool there all so cute!
    Becky ♥ xox

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  18. Wonderful post. I love this story and am so fond of the illustrations. thanks for the research on this story--much appreciated.

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  19. Aaah! This is most definitely my favourite!

    I had no idea there was a film, though. I loved the illustrations in the little Beatrix Potter storybooks I had as a kid.

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  20. I watched that when I was a child. I liked the cut garment peices, and the style of the animation. The fabric was nice too. :)

    I didn't know it was set in the 1700s though.

    Sabrina Wharton-Brown
    http://thesewingcorner.blogspot.com

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    , If you want one too. can visit this address, The backpacks are
    beautiful at there. I think you will be love it too.

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Thanks for your comments; I read each and every one! xo Gertie

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