Janea Whitacre

Janea is Mistress Milliner and Mantua-maker, in the Department of Historic Trades at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Her research in her trades, their products, and their technologies led to preserving the Trades of Milliner and Mantua-maker by way of Apprenticeship Program, in 1995. In 2005, she was recognized as Master (or Mistress) of her trades. She continues to research and study 18thc clothing as well as the lives, work and successes of her 18thc counterparts. And regularly shares her knowledge through workshops and lectures. She is active in Costume Society of America and local theater and dance costuming. She has appeared on the Mr. Rogers Show, Love of Quilting, and various Colonial Williamsburg productions for television. Her reproductions of 18thc accessories and clothing have been included in museum exhibits from Boston to Los Angeles as well as daily being exhibited at Colonial Williamsburg.

Doris J. Warren

Doris is a retired Elementary Liberian and Early Childhood Teacher. Her Grandmother began teaching her needlework and sewing at about age 5 and she has loved working with a needle ever since that time.  After retiring from teaching she and her husband moved from Williamsport, PA to Williamsburg, VA and she began working in the Margret Hunter Millinery shop in 1992. In 1995 she became the first apprentice to the Milliner/Mantua-maker Trade at Colonial Williamsburg and is now a Journeywomen in the trade and working as both an interpreter of the trades and fashion as well as practicing her trades in the shop at Colonial Williamsburg. She has assisted Janea Whitacre in presenting many workshops and programs on making and wearing of 18^th.C clothing.

Sarah Woodyard

Sarah is currently serving an apprenticeship as a Milliner and Mantuamaker at the Margaret Hunter Millinery Shop in Colonial Williamsburg.  She studied the history of dress at The Ohio State University and graduated with a B.S. in Textiles and Clothing in 2007. While in college she worked at The Ohio State University Historic Costume and Textiles Collection and in multiple costume shops. She interned at the New York based clothing company, a la Disposition and at the Millinery Shop. She has been a member of the Costume Society of America since 2005. At the 2008 Southeastern regional meeting she presented her honors thesis, “Made In Clean and Healthful Conditions: The Study of a White Labeled Garment” which included the study and reproduction of a garment in the Ohio State’s collection. 

Brooke Welborn

Starting at the age of 7, Brooke worked as an Interpreter and Dancer for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.  After receiving her B.A. from The College of William & Mary, with a major in Theatre focusing on Costume Design and a minor in History, she began a Milliner & Mantua-maker apprenticeship in the Historic Trades Department of Colonial Williamsburg.  She completed her apprenticeship in December 2007 and became a journey-woman in the trades.  During her apprenticeship she studied & reproduced a number of original garments, created custom garments for customers, and assisted in the teaching of a number of workshops with Burnley & Trowbridge.  In the summer of 2008 she moved to Cairo, Egypt where she and her husband teach at an international school.  She also travels extensively to various museums in England & Europe to study costume more closely.

Mark D. Hutter

Mark is the Journeyman Taylor and Supervisor in the Department of Historic Trades at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and serves as a Vice President for the Costume Society of America. For more than twenty-five years he has studied and replicated original 17^th through early 19^th century garments, in order to document and reconstruct the practices of the tailor’s trade. Mark studies clothing and its creation as a reflection of the broad social, economic, industrial, and political contexts of the age. His current studies focus on the evolution of trade techniques that follow the introduction of the new suit and new fabrics in the third-quarter of the 17^th century. As a tradesman and historian Mark shares his knowledge with visitors to Colonial Williamsburg, as well as by teaching the trade in a formal apprenticeship, and in frequent workshops and lectures.