Hello, my name is Tabitha Holmers, I am a milliner in Williamsburg. I own a small millinery making dresses, cloaks, shoes, coats, and much more, for local residents of Williamsburg. As a milliner I work from sunlight to sunset. I get to encounter many different people in many different social backgrounds.
The millinery is a small, comfortable, working space but sometimes it cam get crowded here in the millinery because some clothing such as petticoats and gowns are quite large. I have a bad habit of losing materials which is bad because when I order new materials from England, it takes six months just for the package to arrive here in Virginia.
I was thinking about what kind of coat I should make next when a rich European woman walks into my shop. I ask her what she wants to buy and she tells me she wants new formal wear. Formal wear is complicated to make because formal wear comes in many different parts. The first thing I do is measure her. After I measure her, I put a corset around her waist. A corset is a tight, fitted, tank top. After her corset is on, I reach over the counter and pick up a very large petticoat. A petticoat is a type of skirt that is usually used to be layered under a gown. I tie the large, ballon like, petticoat around her waist. After the petticoat is in place, I carefully pull out a gown and pull it over her head. She picks out some heeled, leather shoes and she is done getting dressed. She pays me and leaves.
As a milliner, I am in the middling class. I make around 35 pounds a year. Williamsburg as a woman is really hard; I have to work extra hard to make enough money to keep the millinery open.
When I first got married to my husband, I worked at the tailors. After I got married I made enough money to open my own millinery but I was married to legally, my millinery belonged to my husband. I pay most of the taxes but he pays some and since the millinery is legally his, he gets some input to the businesses, trades, and prices at the millinery. I sometimes think that it isn’t fair that just because I am a woman I can’t own my own business but that’s the way things happen around here.
“Can I have 35 of the least expensive shirts in here?” It was a tall man in a black hat and brown cloak. I ask him why and he tells me it’s for his slaves. “Can I also have 3 gowns and 7 vests and trousers? There for my house slaves.” I give him 35 scratchy and uncomfortable-looking shirts, 7 gowns and 3 men’s outfits. He pays and leaves. He’s probably going to give the uncomfortable shirts to his field hands and the formal wear for his house slaves. He wants to give his house slaves fancier clothing than the field hands because the house slaves are in his house and in his presence more.