Category Archives: Local Museums
The second shop girl
Basic white shirt and black skirt.
The white shirt is stunning up close.
I love, love, LOVE the cap on the sleeve!
The skirt has little details that make it more than just a black skirt.
Edwardian fashion is starting to grow on me.
Strike 1919 fashions
The Costume Museum’s 1919 Strike display will feature fashions that a working person might wear. I imagine that a head housekeeper might wear something like this on her half day.
The shirtwaist paired with this coat and skirt is wonderful!
The insertions and embroidery are so pretty! I’m not sure insertions is the right word for that kind of work in the open spaces. May be cutwork embroidery is a better term? Comments and corrections are welcome!
Costume Museum of Canada ode to the 1919 Winnipeg Strike
I got to the museum last night for a meeting and there was a display for the 1919 strike. This post will be of the men’s wear. Next few posts will be on the women’s wear. 
The first mannequin depicts a news boy and the second would be more of an office worked…perhaps a clerk.
The third mannequin depicts a worker in something like grocery work.
There isn’t a ton of men’s wear in the museum. Perhaps men tend not to have as big a wardrobe as women. They will also wear them till they are needing to be tossed and they tend not to be sentimental hoarders who hang on to an outfit because they wore it for this or that occasion. And families tend not to hang onto Grandads pants after he passes.
These very reasons are why a lot of women’s wear in the collection is grand occasion things like wedding and evening gowns and very few things like muck in the garden wear.
Annual Train Robbery
It is a bit late in the season, but my group and I finally had our annual train ride on the Prairie Dog Central train. It was a colder day so I thought the jacket on my 1895 Walking Suit would be perfect. Turns out, I could have used a shawl as well. 
Lottie wore her lovely 1880’s outfit with the velvet jacket. She too, was cold. Shirley was a bit smarter and wore a coat over her ensemble.
Shirley was also smart and brought something to help pass the time.
We met the lawmen guarding the train.
But alas, they were of little help. Because just over the horizon…
Those dastardly villains were very frightening!
Once we were relieved of our valuables (which were donated towards a cancer cause) we stopped for lunch and some more photo ops.
They added a new feature for the train trip. There is an old caboose that has been converted into a little nature museum. It was full of dead stuffed things which I thought was a very Victorian interest spot. I thought this would be a fun screen saver!
Tuesday’s treasures: a new exhibit
I used to do a feature I called Tuesday’s treasures. I would volunteer at the Costume Museum on Tuesdays and I’d share something I saw. Then, for two years I couldn’t volunteer so the feature died. I’m back at it now so let’s see if I can resurrect this old feature.
This past Tuesday the museum was setting up a new pop up exhibit in our work space. It is ladies undies and PJ’s through the ages. I didn’t take photos of everything…just the stuff I’m interested in or that I worked on.
I wasn’t too wildly excited about all that white cotton and linen but the travelling case they are displayed in is pretty awesome.
My main job was setting up the display drawers with fans, stockings and jewelry. My work mate and I decided not to go with consistent dates in each drawer but more along the lines of color and pattern.
The black lace drawer.
The swirl in the middle is a hair necklace and just above that is a hair brooch.
The white drawer.
The carved fan on the bottom middle is lovely!
This drawer is a bit of a mish mash. They would have suited other drawers but there was already to many other items in them. Lets call it the overflow drawer!
There are two chainmail purses in this drawer. If you look at the fan in the top/middle…just to left of it is a small coin purse and just below the fan is a slightly larger one with finer links.
This drawer featured painted fans. I adore the bag in the middle!
The pink and mauve drawer.
The fan on the bottom middle has a cool little metal lever in the slot. Moving the lever up and down will open and close the fan!
The beads and feathers drawer.
The two little pins on the bottom are pictures of birds made with tiny little feathers.
The paper drawer. The fans are mostly made of paper.
Guess which one is my favorite!
My latest foray into the Edwardian era has me interested in these undies. I don’t need more junk in my trunk but the corset cover could be useful.
Few of my favorite things: Sir John A MacDonald’s clock
In the study at Dalnavert Museum there is a clock on the mantle.
Dalnavert was built by Hugh MacDonald, the only surviving son of Sir John A MacDonald, first Prime Minister of Canada.
There only a few pieces in the museum that belonged to the family (most of the original items in the house were auctioned off after Hugh died and his wife sold and moved out). The clock on the mantle is a MacDonald family heirloom.
It was once in Hugh’s father’s office. I’ve been up close to an item owned by the first Prime Minister of Canada. So cool!
Tuesday’s treasure: blingy Edwardian shoes
I get to do this blog post on my computer. It isn’t working perfectly (the battery I ordered may resolve the final issue) but for now it is at least usable. Yeah! No more pecking away on my phone!
Last Tuesday I had another session at the Costume Museum. This past session was focused on going through the shoes and jewelry. I’ve been through some of the shoes a couple of years ago so if these darlings a repeat I beg your forgiveness!
Aren’t they amazing!
Another sale!
The Costume Museum of Canada is selling off some of the unaccessioned items that don’t fit the current need or mandate. Last month it was buttons and this month it was patterns, lace and some brickabrac. I scored again!
I got some carte de visited that I will share another time. I got some glove stretchers.
These will handy (pun intended) for the gloves I own which are too tight for my cubby paws.
I got some nice lace that will work as a lappet. 
So dainty.
I also got two prices of lace that may work on the skirt of my latest project or on sleeves.
I may be able to make my own lace with my very own lace thingy. Step one: learn what it is called.
I got an amazing collar that looks very Edwardian to me. It is about half the size of my neck so I will have to make some clever changes to it if I am ever to wear it.
I got another apron which I adore! 
And finally and very randomly I got a beaded hummingbird that I have hung in my car to give me joy while I drive.
Few of my favorite things: the Warriors
My computer is still broken so you get another post done with the hunt and peck typing method on my phone.
My favorite things feature is about different things I can get up close to and study, now that I am a volunteer at Dalnavert and not a tourist. For this post, we will go into Hugh McDonald’s study.
I love these little figures.
Most of the items in the house were not originally owned by the McDonald’s but they are appropriate to the date of the house and one could easily imagine them in a Victorian gentleman’s study.
