I was recently planning to visit the small community of Winchester in northwestern Virginia, and a few garment-sewing enthusiasts mentioned that I shouldn’t miss the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley where there was a clothing exhibit. Winchester is a charming old town, and I love its historic nature, including red brick buildings and uneven sidewalks. While charming, it’s a sleepy kind of town, and when I heard about this clothing exhibit, I didn’t have particularly high expectations.

When I walked up the staircase of this beautifully situated museum, I was greeted not only by a docent who was eager to tell me a few things about what I was about to see, but also by a gorgeous dress worn by Angelica Huston in EVER AFTER. The elaborateness and attention to detail in the sleeves really captured my attention!

The clothing exhibit turned out to be “CUT! Costume and the Cinema,” a collection of about forty garments from the illustrious British costumer Cosprop, Ltd. If you’ve ever seen a period piece movie, it’s pretty much a certainty that you’ve seen garments from the Cosprop archives or made by Cosprop for that particular movie.

Historically accurate (although occasionally with some changes for the actors’ comfort), and sometimes using fabrics from the time period being depicted in the movie, these garments are astoundingly beautiful on many different levels. To say they were inspiring to me is an understatement. I was awed by the workmanship, and my head was swirling with ideas by the time I left.

Seeing a stunning exhibition like this always stirs my imagination. Even though I was working on garments of a completely different nature, I couldn’t wait to get home and sew. It’s simply inspiring to see what can be done with cloth.

If you have a chance to see this traveling exhibit, by all means make an effort to do so. It will be at the Heritage Museum & Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts next.