A Day in the 18th Century

So I finally "did" Colonial Williamsburg over Memorial Day weekend, after living here in Virginia for over a month now.  It was a lot of fun!  Brian the Engineer and I enjoyed a carriage ride around the historic area:

Don't we look cute in our Colonial hats?

Probably my favorite part of the day was visiting the Margaret Hunter Millinery Shop, for obvious reasons.  I especially loved the miniature millinery shop set up with dolls in a cupboard:

Fabric!  

This nice young lady told us all about a milliner's job.

I loved the tiny lace-trimmed baby mitts!

A beautifully embroidered pocket - much larger than I expected it to be.  

Hats...

hats...

and more hats!  

Look at all the pretty dresses!  

Ooh look, more hats!  

I greatly enjoyed the pile of muffs on the shelf.  

She was explaining how sleeve ruffles could be purchased ready-made, sewn into the dress and easily removed later.  

We also saw the First Oval Office project, which was pretty cool.  These guys are sewing a full-sized replica of General Washington's battlefield marquee.  

Tent-makers sewing steadily away - look at that giant block of beeswax in her hand!  :p  

This guy was explaining the tent-making process.  

They had a 1/6th scale model of the tent, to show what it will look like when complete.  

The inner chamber was where Washington slept and conducted his 

 And I *had* to buy a new hat... (I actually did need it for sun cover, and hey - it's bigger than the hat I already had, so they're not exact duplicates.  :p)

I'm totally going to redecorate it, too.  :)