Looking back through posts, I realized that this is the first time I'm doing a review for a documentary film. This was a good film though and requires one.
For those of us who have busy schedules and a lot of books to read already (yes, me), sometimes we turn to documentary videos to do a little bit of catch-up on our knowledge. Queen Victoria's Children is a three-part series released by the BBC that chronicles Queen Victoria's relationship with her immediate family and the influence she had on them over the years.
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Based on previous readings and film watchings, Victoria was a woman who never would have won any Mother of the Year awards. This documentary takes an objective approach to looking at her and Prince Albert's history and relationship, and the effects it had on how they raised their children. Both were very critical parents, and despite the outward appearance of domestic bliss in the royal household, there was an enormous amount of strife between the royal couple and their nine children.
A controlling and belittling critic of her children, Victoria at the same time drove her children away but also tried to keep them close enough to control their lives, even in adulthood. Pulling from historical events and personal papers and letters of the queen and her children, the filmmakers are able to bring to light a very detailed picture of Victoria as an occasionally doting, beastly overbearing, and appallingly narcissist mother.
From the arranged marriages she oversaw of most of her children, to the manipulative methods she used to try and keep them close, Victoria's portrayal of home-wrecker is less than ideal, but it's an aspect of her nature than helps to shed light on who she was as a queen and a mother.
Great in its use of historical fact and documents, the method of storytelling is also engaging and does not bore the viewer. Each of the episodes of well-defined in its focus point but also manages to tie into and lead to the next flawlessly. At about 3 hours, this short series is very informational and is a great view for anyone interested in Victorian history, but Queen Victoria herself.
Overall review - 5 out of 5
Well I finally got my grommets in and sat down to attach them to the support panels of the bustle.
Then I started to piece together and attach the ruffles to the back of the bustle.
Only to find out that even though I did buy the required amount of fabric, there is not enough for the tiered ruffles that go along the back. I went off to the fabric store to try and pick up some more fabric (I only needed an additional yard) only to find they didn't have anymore of the bright purple fabric I'm using.
On to plan B. Since I have the lighter purple bias tape, I had visited the notion of alternating the strips of ruffle between dark and light purple but didn't want to go through the extra work (Yep, I was feeling lazy). Well now I get to go back to the drawing board and pull up that plan.
I found a good coordinating fabric, so now I just have to sit down, cut strips, hem them, and then piece back together my dark purple strips of fabric so they fit in the area that I need them. In the end, I think the extra effort will give the bustle a really fun look.
