Silk and feathers and boots...oh my!

A lovely array of silk gowns on display at the Margaret Hunter shop.

Colonial Williamsburg, May 2012

I've heard from others who were there during that weekend that the Margaret Hunter milliner's shop at Colonial Williamsburg featured some special 1860s fashions to tie into CW's commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Williamsburg.  Silly us stopped in on Saturday (must have been before they laid those things out!) and on Monday (after they put them all away and went back to the 1770s), so we missed it!  Ah well.  It would have been a lot of fun to see the 1860s items and hear the comparison discussions that went on about the changes in fashion across the hundred years' span being represented, but even though we missed that part of the weekend, we still found lots of 18th century confections and pretties in the shop on which to feast our eyes and to satisfy our sewing souls.  Here's a collection of some of our favorites.

The "Spruce Sportsman" feathered hat, which can't help but make you smile.

A pair of handmade green leather ladies riding boots, displayed alongside the
jacket of a ladies habit (right) and some additional  "Spruce Sportsman" items.

A reproduction of a chintz banyan in the collection of Colonial
Williamsburg.  Oh, how I adore this fabric.  I wonder what it would take
to persuade CW to release it as part of their cotton fabric line next year...:-)

The tailor's work table with a silk coat in progress.

Silk, glorious silk...

A detail of the sleeve ruffles on a cross-barred silk gown.  *sigh*