Worthing Museum Costume collection

19th century dress

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18th century waistcoat. The detail on the embroidery is exquisitely dainty

Detail on embroidered waistcoat. 18th century (I think!)

17th century jacket. Look at what fantastic condition this is in!

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More detail

Pam invited me to a special opening of the collection of costumes that Worthing Museum had on Saturday. We met at Lorraine's jewellery workshop, where we had a picnic lunch on the lawn! I hadn't been to Lorraine's workshop before so it was really interesting to see, and she showed me how she gets the patterns on to the aluminium that she uses to make large chunky bangles and earrings. Bit too expensive for me though!

At the museum, we looked at the collection on show, very dated displays, and now a bit boring to be honest. But, then we went upstairs to the main collection, and were gobsmacked! We saw racks and racks of dresses, mostly 18th and 19th century, but some 20th century as well. We rifled through them a bit, and found some really bright and vibrant colours which suprised us novices! There was drawers and drawers full of buttons, buckles etc, and racks of shoes! We were shown some waistcoats and aprons with the most exquisite embroidery, and a little jacket from the 17th century! Think how old that must be!


It was absolutely fascinating, and I now want to be a volunteer at the museum! I'd love to find out more about costume, and go to the costume society talks and symposiums, but I'm not sure I've got the time atm!