In Jane Austen's England

Well, we’re all here and accounted for (though finding folks at Heathrow this morning proved a bit of a challenge!). We went straight to the Victoria & Albert Museum for luncheon, then had a couple of hours free to see exhibits before meeting up for our private study session in the costume storage area. As with the Museum of London last year, we are not allowed to share photos of the objects displayed, but I can tell you we did lots of ooohing and ahhing! We saw a stunning 18th-century court gown, an 1880s day dress, and an ethereal Regency gown with silver thread embroidery. When I have time, I’ll look up the call numbers on the V&A site and post links so you can see, too! At left is a 1780s gown we saw last year (it was one of the inspiration pieces for my Ladies’ 1780s Portrait Dress pattern, now in progress).

After finishing at the museum, we boarded our coach for a rainy drive to Wiltshire, enjoying lots of visiting back and forth in the coach as we rode. The sun broke through the clouds in dazzling glory right at the end of our trip, casting that golden English glow over the countryside and lighting up the rain-wet trees and stone walls. It was stunning! Too bad I had packed my camera away by that point. If the weather holds tomorrow, I’ll be sure to get our gorgeous view.

Here are some highlights from today:

Back of a Grace Kelly gown on display at the V&A

Suzi showing Mom a photo of her bonnet for Bath. It's yummy!

Man's banyan coat made of a military toile, if you can imagine such a fabric!

Exquisite Victorian baby gown from the British Gallery at the V&A -- all lace!

My favorite gown in the British Gallery -- lots of amazing whitework on this trained Regency gown.

My girls peeking into a miniature room display, which was really astonishing in its detail.

Things to come... A bunch of us will be seeing the special Grace Kelly clothing exhibit next Monday afternoon!

That’s all for today. Tomorrow we head to Leominster in Herefordshire to see the Snowshill collection at Berrington Hall and enjoy the delights of the Hereford Museum costume collection as well! Cheers!

Hard to believe the 2010 Tour is already upon us. The year has just flown by! We are so excited about this year’s tour. We have a group of 15 lovely ladies going along, and I’m really excited that my dear mother will be with us this trip. We haven’t been in England together since 1988, so this will be a wonderful memory-maker.

Stay tuned for blog posts about the trip, as time permits (and when I have WiFi access!). I’ll be taking all the pictures myself this time (a rather daunting prospect!), so I’ll have to get the hang of using this new camera and formatting photos.

We’re going to be in London, Wiltshire, Hereford, Exeter, and Somersetshire this year, seeing historical garments from world-renowned collections and touring beautiful manor houses at the same time. I’m excited to meet curators who specialize in areas that are new to me (lacemaking, anyone?), and Suzi Clarke will be along as before to guide us through all these delights. Hope you’ll tag along here for all the fun!

All the checklists are crossed off, the tickets are purchased, and our group is set to cross the Pond and enjoy our time in beautiful England! I’ll be blogging about the tour each day if all goes well (and the Internet connection is reliable!), so be sure to bookmark the blog to “follow” us through Wiltshire, Hereford, Exeter, Somersetshire, and London. It’s going to be a fantastic journey!

…but if you would like to be placed on the waiting list in case of drop-outs, please let me know! We did have folks who had to drop out last year, which meant there were slots available later. I’ll be happy to keep you on the list if you’re interested. All the details of this year’s tour are at this link. Thanks!