Portfolio

This is a selection of the work Sarah Woodyard has done over the years at the Margaret Hunter Millinery Shop in Colonial Williamsburg, during her graduate studies and with her business, Sewn Company. You will see she is a trained Mantua-maker and Milliner (in the 18th-century definition) but also a scholar of clothing. This portfolio is organized with the following thoughts in mind: she learned to hand sew from the past, to be more present today, in order to stitch a better future. It is remarkable what the hands can do with practice. Studying extant examples is the foundation of her study of historic dress. The information from extant examples informs her about the makers and wears, even if they are anonymous. She takes this knowledge and applies it to historical trade work to sew for live bodies and museum exhibits to provoke the viewer towards inspiration and questions about the past. This inspiration can be used today in the 21st-century as a guide to make new clothing and “remember what our hands can do.”