At HMS Victory with the Nelson Quilt, May 2015
Lucie Bea is the person behind is there room for me to sew? She sews wherever and whenever she can usually by hand rather than by machine. When not quilting, she is researching 1930s silk queens, reading Hilary Mantel’s work, and running the Georgette Heyer Readalong on twitter, which she set up during the pandemic in 2020.
Lucie Bea was awarded her PhD in 2018 for a thesis about the early career of British film director Maurice Elvey and that research has inspired some of her quilts. The most significant silent film theme – and the subject of four projects – is Admiral Lord Nelson, inspired by Maurice Elvey’s 1918 biographical film Nelson. The most ambitious of the Nelson projects is The Nelson Quilt, made up of 3,200 one inch squares and completely stitched by hand. Other projects include the Nelson’s Column Quilt. These pieces are not the result of an interest in Nelson himself, but are inspired by in Elvey’s film, Nelson’s place in popular culture, and the huge number of commemorative artefacts that started to be produced from the 1790s onwards.
Nelson’s Column Quilt collage – inspiration and finished piece
Other sewing projects are inspired by books – including current stitchery on a Hilary Mantel-related Thomas Cromwell sewing project .
Lucie lives in London with far too many books and more fabric than she can ever use.
More information about Lucie, her research interests and her thoughts on quilting slowly and enjoying the quilting process rather than rushing to finish can be found on a June 2015 post published by slowstitching.com
Nelson waiting to cross the Solent, September 2014
There is no such thing as “too many books”!
Well, no, but they are everywhere. Mind you, at least I am never stuck for something to read!
Pleased to have found your blog. That Nelson quilt is unbelievable, I am relatively new to quilting and question whether I would have the patience to make a quilt like this. Did you use a pattern or just work from a picture? I like the idea of listening to audio books when sewing but as I mainly machine sew I think there would be a lot of rewinding.
Hello there. I worked out a plan for the Nelson Quilt based on a portrait by William Beechey. It took 13 months to complete the top and I’m quilting now but Nelson is so big and heavy it feels a little daunting. Audiobooks work for me because I sew by hand – on the rare occasions I get my machine out I have to rewind a lot! Good luck with your sewing.
I admire your work and creativity using history and literature as your quilting muse. Such patience to work entirely by hand, it must be like meditation and vey relaxing.
Thank you – I get very tense when using a machine! Good luck with your blogging – it looks good.
Wow… You are very talented, and what a unique talent at that! Your blend of silent film research and quilting is wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing
Thank you! I have just been enjoying your lovely knitting and look forward to seeing more.
I’ve just added your blog to my blogroll – very pleased to have found it. I’m currently returning my focus to hand-sewing and interested in the distinction between that and using a machine. For me, hand-sewing is like walking, machine-sewing like driving a car: both have their place, but there isn’t too much space for meditation while doing the second ones…! It’s primarily about getting from A to B. Anyway, thank you. It’s good to find fellow travellers.
It is great to find s kindred spirit. I don’t like making things quickly for the sake of it. Enjoy the process and walk through it…