Persuasion letter project
So,I've been trying to come up with an idea for Captain Wentworth's letter to Anne Elliot, in a crafty sense that is. My art days are long gone, or my first thought of inking it is an impossibility, so what's my other option?...stitching it. I've seen poems stitched, so I know it's do-able, so why couldn't a letter be stitchable?
For those of you that don't know the story of Persuasion...I'll summarize briefly...rich girl meets poor boy, they fall in love and want to get married but her family & friends persuade her to say no, so she does. Eight years later, her family's no longer rich, she's "lost her bloom", and she's still totally in love with him. He, on the other hand, is mega rich (even richer than Darcy in Pride and Prejudice BTW), and totally still pissed off at her. But due to a series of events, they are shoved together again, she thinks he doesn't love her anymore and is forced to watch him flirt with others. He slowly stops being pissed and watches others flirt with her. They rarely ever talk to one another, but they always seem to be around each other, they almost can't seem to help it. They are almost like two magnets turned backwards.
Then one day, they find themselves once again together, in a room full of people...she is having a conversation with someone else about men, women, love, relationships and constancy, and he is supposedly writing a letter to a framer, but he can't help but over-hear her conversation and he starts a new letter...one to her. The room begins to clear, he hides her letter under his gloves and leaves to go to the framers, but returns under the guise that he forgot his gloves. He grabs her attention to the secret letter, promptly exits the room again, and she begins to read the most romantic letter quite possibly ever written, and trust me, I have books of famous romantic letters, and none come close IMO. The two magnets, my friends, are now aligned properly.
Miss A.E.
I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in
F. W.
I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.
Yeah...if you didn't let out an audible sign when you read that, then something MUST be wrong with you! Even Anne herself says "such a letter was not to be soon recovered from". And yes, I can quote most of that without having to look it up (although various movie incarnations of it confuse me sometimes and that last bit always escapes me). Needless to say, she accepts his proposal, and since Frederick is now wealthy, there is no family opposition to the marriage, and they live happily ever after.
So back to the question at hand, how would you stitch it? Does anyone have any thoughts? The lettering is not the problem, it's the border. Neither Anne nor Fred are flowery kind of people so a flowery-type border is probably out the question. Most Austen books have illustrations, and there is an illustration for this particular scene. Should I incorporate it? There really isn't a high enough resolution picture on the web of it though to do so.
For those of you that don't know the story of Persuasion...I'll summarize briefly...rich girl meets poor boy, they fall in love and want to get married but her family & friends persuade her to say no, so she does. Eight years later, her family's no longer rich, she's "lost her bloom", and she's still totally in love with him. He, on the other hand, is mega rich (even richer than Darcy in Pride and Prejudice BTW), and totally still pissed off at her. But due to a series of events, they are shoved together again, she thinks he doesn't love her anymore and is forced to watch him flirt with others. He slowly stops being pissed and watches others flirt with her. They rarely ever talk to one another, but they always seem to be around each other, they almost can't seem to help it. They are almost like two magnets turned backwards.
Then one day, they find themselves once again together, in a room full of people...she is having a conversation with someone else about men, women, love, relationships and constancy, and he is supposedly writing a letter to a framer, but he can't help but over-hear her conversation and he starts a new letter...one to her. The room begins to clear, he hides her letter under his gloves and leaves to go to the framers, but returns under the guise that he forgot his gloves. He grabs her attention to the secret letter, promptly exits the room again, and she begins to read the most romantic letter quite possibly ever written, and trust me, I have books of famous romantic letters, and none come close IMO. The two magnets, my friends, are now aligned properly.
Miss A.E.
I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in
F. W.
I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.
Yeah...if you didn't let out an audible sign when you read that, then something MUST be wrong with you! Even Anne herself says "such a letter was not to be soon recovered from". And yes, I can quote most of that without having to look it up (although various movie incarnations of it confuse me sometimes and that last bit always escapes me). Needless to say, she accepts his proposal, and since Frederick is now wealthy, there is no family opposition to the marriage, and they live happily ever after.
So back to the question at hand, how would you stitch it? Does anyone have any thoughts? The lettering is not the problem, it's the border. Neither Anne nor Fred are flowery kind of people so a flowery-type border is probably out the question. Most Austen books have illustrations, and there is an illustration for this particular scene. Should I incorporate it? There really isn't a high enough resolution picture on the web of it though to do so.
Comments
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