After dinner out, I had a relaxing evening at Carriage Corner B&B. I swear staying there is way more enjoyable to me than staying at a hotel. Less people, more personal attention and large comfortable rooms.
Saturday morning after eating an amazing breakfast, I headed over to Zooks. Another thing I like about Gaylen's B&B, most of where I want to go is within walking distance...and I always want to go to Zooks! I left Gaylen saying I'm only buying two pieces...only two!
So here is what I came back with ~
I looked at this border print when I was at Sew Camp and decided
against purchasing it but I just couldn't leave it behind this time!
Purple Mod 60s print on the left
Blue/Yellow floral print on the right
The button bags are 24 buttons for 98 cents
and the bags of a dozen were 20 cents a button
After showing considerable restraint at Zooks, cause I really could have purchased four or five more pieces, I ended up with just three. I was really proud of myself y'all! I also ended up buying every button I could at Nancy's, cause cheap shirt buttons...ummm yeah! Then I headed back to the B&B where Gaylen was ready to head out to Delaware to the exhibit.
You can see the exhibits, take the house tour, and the tram around the gardens. Unfortunately we scheduled a late house tour first. Honestly I wanted out of the house tour 10 minutes into it. I'm just not into house tours of racist rich white Americans where the tour guides whitewash history.
Next we went to see The Crown Exhibit and then missed the last garden tour tram which Gaylen really wanted to see.
I was really thrilled with The Crown Exhibit though, probably because I love the show and am anxiously awaiting the next season! The interesting thing about the exhibit, is these garments are replicas of the actual garments the Royals wore and are displayed how the actors wore them in the Netflix series. There are lots of placques and information about how the costume designers designed and created the costumes. Thrilling me to no end with all the behind the scenes information about them.
You begin the Exhibit with Queen Elizabeth's father dying and how she became Queen. So the Coronation Garments are first...
Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Outfit
The robe & suit that Prince Philip wore to the Coronation
The Coronation Crown and Scepters
The outfits were separated out by characters and events. I'm not going to highlight all of the outfits just my favorites. So after the Coronation robes, the next garments I adored were the wedding gowns of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.
Queen Elizabeth's Wedding Gown to Prince Philip
Placque showing Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip and Claire Foy,
the actress playing Queen Elizabeth wearing the wedding gown
Even the train was hand embellished!
Princess Margaret's wedding dress was a contrast
because it was simplier in make and design
A few other pictures of evening wear because it was just stunning...
The dress Queen Elizabeth wore to meet Jackie Kennedy
Princess Margaret's Evening Dress (notice the pockets!)
Queen Elizabeth's evening dress
Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Dress with the special honors on it
and the Life Magazine cover showing the dress
I loved the exhibit. Gaylen wanted just a few more costumes. I guess I knew what to expect because I watched Renee's Instagram stories several times. To me that was worth making the trip to Winterthur alone.
On the way back to the Inn, we stopped at the craft store because Simplicity Patterns were on sale for $1.99. I only purchased three - trying to only buy things I will actually sew before the season is over. I also bought 10 skeins of yarn to start a new crochet project...but more on that later!
I came home Sunday evening after a wonderfully relaxing weekend! While I didn't sew, I had an amazing time with my friends and am so ready for Labor Day weekend sewing.
If you get a chance to see The Crown Exhibit I highly recommend it. The Exhibit will be at Winterthur until January 5, 2020, so plenty of time to plan a trip!
...as always more later!
Thank you so much for this. I so enjoy an armchair tour of an amazing exhibit. Very kind of you to post the photos. I'm so glad you enjoyed your trip. (I'm jealous of your sewing shopping, love the blue/purple border print!) Always enjoy your blog. All the best and happy sewing! Can't wait to see what you come up with next!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the taking us on your trip through the exhibit.
ReplyDeleteI actually saw Princess Margaret on her wedding day as I grew up in the UK and was standing on The Mall just down from Buckingham Palace (parade route) when her carriage went by. She was beautiful--as was the deceptively simple, but very elegant dress.
I'm old enough to remember Princess Margaret and her adventures. How awesome that you actually got to see her on route to Buckingham Palace! That must have been amazing!
DeleteIt's interesting that dress resembles the style of Kate Middleton's dress. That neckline is Kate's. What goes around, comes around, especially in fashion. And yes, I am old enough to remember Margaret. She was the "wild" sister!
DeleteI just adore that dark green dress with the floral strip wrapped around it (you're standing in front of its picture). And Princess Margaret's wedding dress reminds me of Kate's wedding dress, although Kate's was more embellished. Now I'm going to have to plan a trip to see that exhibit; maybe I can find time while it's still warm, and take the garden tour with Gaylen.
ReplyDeleteYour hibiscus border print is beautiful, and the button prices are amazing. I just might have to make a trip to the button store next time I'm at the b&b. It's a good thing I didn't know about the pattern sale, because I'd have had to go buy some patterns because....well, I don't know why, exactly...
Anyway, I'm so glad that you got to enjoy the exhibit, and spend time with Gaylen!
Marjie - when you're at Sew Camp in September, you have to go to Zooks and Nancy's Notions behind it. Even Gaylen didn't realize how cheap the buttons were...and I bought a bag of every color they had because 98 cents! *LOL*
DeleteThanks for the photos of the highlights of the tour. It would be interesting to read about the people who care for the royal clothing. There must be a substantial staff with high skills.
ReplyDeleteThank you for dragging me along. I had a wonderful time. While I loved everything on display - my favorites were the floral day dress with the draped back neckline; the 'country outfit' and her day clothes. Simply elegant. g
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your photos. We talked about going to the exhibit. The costumes are gorgeous but I love your dresses. I love to see someone else who likes dresses and creating her own wardrobe. I am going to check out your new patterns. I have been making some designs of Indie designers. I agree with your wisdom to only buy what you can make this season.
ReplyDelete"just not into house tours of racist rich white Americans where the tour guides whitewash history."
ReplyDeleteI almost chocked on my coffee when I saw that. lol
Me, too! Coffee threatened my screen,for sure. I love old houses but I reject the whitewashing...which makes me "trouble."
Delete...welllllll...#truth
DeleteLMAO!!! Yup, that was tellin' it like it is! Thanks Carolyn!
DeleteCould you please tell me why you called the du Pont family racists? Henry du Pont fought in the Civil War for the Union, and when I googled their names, I couldn't find anything about the family being racist.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to more information about the Winterthur homes/museum, etc. In the first sentence, it states that the area was "chiefly inhabited by du Ponts, du Pont servants. . ." Just who do you think were the "du Pont servants?" Those homes were definitely not run and maintained by white folks! https://www.americanheritage.com/henry-francis-du-pont-and-invention-winterthur
DeleteThanks Lesley for adding the link. I believe it's really easy to think that race (for any non-white people) wasn't a problem in America after slavery ended. Reality however was another thing. The challenges of the house tour that offended me is there is a room that is covered in wallpaper of Chinese people (the abduction of the culture??) and then the guide talking about how they imported goods through a known slave market without a mention of what it really was, wanted me off the tour because I was furious and upset.
DeleteAlso Google only answers questions as you ask them...what did you google?
I couldn't find any pictures of any of the servants, so have no clue what race they were. I did find that ...A.I. du Pont took great pains to take care of his servants...putting cork floors into the kitchen and workspaces to make it easier on their legs, backs and feet...and tunnels to outlying buildings to keep them sheltered from bad weather... I googled "pictures of duPont's servants 1920" I couldn't find any specific to their home though. I did find that the majority of the pictures of that time were of white people. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the tour of the house, but the clothes, oh my, the clothes are magnificent.
ReplyDelete