Bath Costume Museum by Victoria Chatham

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One of the joys for me as a writer of historical romance is visiting museums. No matter what the era, a museum can be a source of so much material a writer can become spoiled for choice. It is said that the devil is in the details and sometimes an extra detail is one too many, but starting out with a menu of items gives an author so much choice.

I was spoiled for choice when I visited the Costume Museum in Bath, England, last fall. I had not been to Bath for a very long time, over thirty years, but I found it had hardly changed. The sights I

Assembly Rooms ceiling

remembered were not the sights I had come for on this visit. This time my destination was the Costume Museum, housed in the basement of the Bath Assembly Rooms. Yes, dear reader, the very Assembly Rooms where so many of Georgette Heyer's heroines fanned themselves after having tripped the light fantastic with their heroes. 

My daughter accompanied me on this visit and I hoped she would get something out of traipsing around a museum with her mum. If anything, she was more fascinated than I was. Each display was a cornucopia of surprises, from the embroidered fabrics to the intricacies of how each costume was constructed. I have, in my time, been known to sew clothes for my family, all pieced together in next to no time on a trusty Singer sewing machine.

I knew how long a simple dress took me to put together but looking at some of the costumes, I could not imagine how many hours went into stitching them by hand. We spent several hours viewing the costumes, even trying some garments on in the 'dress-up' room. My daughter is small, but even she had to breathe in to do up the corset she tried on and that was after undoing the laces. 

There were bonnets and gloves, including embroidered leather gloves worn by Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II at their coronations. There were embroidered satin shoes that were so small they looked as if they might have been made for a child, but no, they were ladies' shoes. My favourite bonnet was this embroidered satin confection. I don't think I have a big head but this was so tiny I could only perch it on the top of my head. Again, this was a lady's bonnet

which emphasized even more how tiny people were during this era.

The fans were exquisite, from embroidered muslin, like these, to painted silks. In all examples, the ribs and guards were beautifully carved ivory. Parasols were stored in boxes and the ones on display were changed regularly. The young ladies on duty at the museum answered all our many questions. We both could have stayed longer.

After having worked up something of an appetite we made our way to the Jane Austen Centre, and there partook of a Mr. Darcy Special Tea. The crusts were cut off the sandwiches, the mini-cakes were a delight and the warm scones with cream and jam were, pardon me, the icing on the cake.

​Victoria Chatham

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Outside my comfort zone by J. S. Marlo

J. S. Marlo BWL Author Page

What I’ll say next might surprise some people, but by nature, I am in introvert person. I don’t like crowds and I’m not comfortable speaking in public. When my publisher suggested I do a book signing for Voted Out at the local bookstore, I said, “Sure. Sounds like fun.” But deep down, I was scared. So I met with the manager, a wonderful lady named Jackie, a few months ago, and the first thing we did was to select a date. We picked last weekend Saturday March 24^th—as you can see I survived.

 

She ordered my books, which arrived in time for the signing, and told me she might be able to  arrange for an interview with the local newspaper and radio station. Again, I said, “Sure. Sounds like fun.” But deep down, I wasn’t just scared, I was now scared out of my wits. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...they can go south in a heartbeat. An emergence arose for which I had to fly south on March 12^th and I wasn’t scheduled to fly back home until March 23^rd around suppertime. Then my returning flight was cancelled and I was re-booked on a later flight arriving at 11pm on the 23^rd amid the forecast of a snowstorm. The interviews never happened, but now I was terrified of missing my own book signing. Talk about irony!

Before I left, I had dropped posters at the bookstore so they could advertise the signing, and while I was gone I took care of some details. I had my nails done in romantic-murder-mystery theme, I got a sticky nametag with my name & logo, and I bought chocolate eggs for treats. I took all of these to the store along with business cards and novelty pens (pink, purple, and blue).

During the signing I was told it might help if I mingle with the customers, so lots of...Hello. How are you? What are you looking for? What do you like to read? Well, unless I was standing near my table, my nice nametag with my author name on it was mistaken for an employee tag. I received lots of requests for books and authors I had never heard of, but it also allowed me to suggest my book on a few occasions, and when I added I would also gladly sign it for them, they stared at me with a 'deer in headlights' look before asking, “You’re the author?” Then we would chat about everything, including my hair. Actually, many encounters started with a comment about my purple and blue hair. One lady even asked me to sign her book with the three pens so it would look like my hair. I wrote a lovely thank you for coming and nice chatting with you note inside her book, and each word was written in a different color. I regret not taking a picture...

90% of the people I met that day were strangers and I had an amazing time interacting with them. I was uncomfortable at first, but it got easier as the day when by. Some people came to chat without buying anything, some came to buy without chatting, and some came to chat and buy something. I was delighted to talk to all of them and I want to thank them all for coming and taking a few minutes to brighten my day.  It was so interesting and I had so much fun that I now wonder why on earth I was so scared.

See you next time!

JS

Note: I would also like to thank Jackie, Sarah, and all the staff at Coles in Fort McMurray for hosting my book signing. I couldn’t have done it without you!

 J. S. Marlo's Website