That Which Doesn’t Kill You…

…will make you cry, swear, eat an insane amount of chocolate, and quite possibly come down with a case of H1N1.

Hi!  I’m The Cheap Chick… and I TOTALLY FAILED at my Weekly Spending Tracking Challenge last week.  For those of you keeping score, every week since April Fool’s Day, I’ve been tracking what I spend my money on.  Not the boring stuff like bills and car repairs, but the interesting/nonsensical/inane things like my fast food purchases and Target runs.

However, last week I hit the wall.  And that wall was called The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth Portrait Reproduction Project, aka Project Tudor.  Here’s a visual:

For most of you looking at that photo, you’re thinking, “huh, nice costumes, but what’s the big deal?  And why did it break The Cheap Chick?  And how does this pertain to frugal living?”

Let me start with that last question and work my way forward.  Project Tudor didn’t have much to do in the way of frugal living, except that everything you see was procured/made as inexpensively as possible, while staying true to the overall project.  We did NOT have a large budget, nor the luxury of going over budget.  So what you see was frugally made.

Why did Project Tudor almost break me?  Because I chose to become deeply, intimately involved in it, without fully understanding how freakishly hard the undertaking would be.

Now for the first question – what’s the big deal?  And what the heck is Project Tudor?  Listen, my children, as I tell the tale:

Once upon a time, my BFF Larue turned to me and said, “You know what I want to do?  I want to make costumes recreating pictures of the six wives of Henry the 8^th.  Which one do you want to be?”  I, like everyone else, wanted to be Anne Boleyn (I ended up as Katherine Howard, aka The Wondrously Naughty Queen).  And after telling Larue that, I promptly forgot all about the 6 Wives.  SILLY ME.

That initial conversation grew into this – 6 costumes, one per wife, recreating their most famous portraits.  Plus, Henry the Eighth himself.  Plus, Elizabeth the First, Mary Tudor, and Lady Jane Grey – once again, all portrait recreations.  Doesn’t sound too hard, does it?  Well, try Googling a picture of say, Jane Seymour.  Notice her jewelry?  Yeah, they don’t sell that at JC Penneys.  See that dress?  Where are you going to find fabric that matches?  Oh, and don’t forget about her gable hood.  Do YOU know how to make one?  Hint, it’s really, REALLY difficult.

So take that one portrait and multiply it by TEN.  Then, throw in outfits for three ladies-in-waiting, who would attend to the Queens’ needs.  Do you see the insanity yet?  Oh, and then tell everyone you know all about Project Tudor, so there is no way in hell you can back out once you realize what a massive project you’ve voluntarily assigned yourself.  GAH.

Along the way, we lost Queens, rearranged Queens, reassigned Queens, added a portrait artist, tour guide and governess for the ladies-in-waiting, and remembered we needed a costume for our seamstress (Larue) to wear.  In the end, it all got done – except for our beloved Queen Elizabeth’s garb.  However, she came down with H1N1 the morning of the event, and couldn’t attend anyway.  Was it fate?  Perhaps – but Larue is still making the QE1 costume for our QE1, Potter.  Because we are nothing if not completionists.

In short, the last week was a blur of hand-stitching, fittings, costume assembly, and praying – which left no room for keeping track of what I spent.  Hell, I don’t even remember when or if I SLEPT.  But in the end, it was so worth it.  I got to be a Queen for the day (literally), and help my BFF with the costuming project of a lifetime.  Along the way, I gained new friends, and a new talent.  So bring on your costuming needs, because I now know how to pattern/cut/serge/sew/hand-stitch/make French hoods.

Enough of my blathering, let’s get to the good stuff – pictures!  I give you, The Accidental Seamstress’s Recreation of The Six Wives, Henry the 8^th, Mary Tudor and Lady Jane Grey (prices for costumes available upon request):

Henry and his wives, Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr.

All six, plus Henry, plus Mary Tudor and Lady Jane Grey.

Our disfunctional family portrait.

Our Henry could totally kick the MNRF Henry’s ass.

The beheaded Queens lose their heads…

Ah, that’s better.

“And we’re walking…”  Royalty on parade.

“Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock!”  Henry helps out at the Royal Navy Experience.

“I gotta be ME!”  Katherine Howard, living up to her rowdy reputation.

Co-founders of the Wench Posse – The Accidental Seamstress and her trusty assistant.

It’s good to be Queen, folks.

Time for the acknowledgments -

Thank you to the Posse, the new Posse members (Probie, Renee, MamaRox and Chum), the Fest Friends, the boys from the Royal Navy Experience, the Henches from Bristol, the lovely folks at JoAnn Fabrics, Larue’s very patient and helpful family, Dairy Queen, the makers of Junior Mints and of course, Larue herself, for having the guts to go big or go home.  One last thank you – to Larue’s Grandmother, for teaching her how to sew.