Wednesday, October 26, 2011






From the seller:


During the years from 1910 to 1914 women wore tailleurs, meaning tailored suits, in the city and for travel. Jackets followed the lines of tunics, with raised, lightly defined waists. During 1910 the skirts became very narrow at the hem and were called hobble skirts. This fashion was initiated by Poirot apparently influenced by Oriental fashion. Women of means wore striking hats and fur stole or scarves with their tailleurs, and carried huge matching muffs.
This matching jacket and skirt are made of silk faille with lace collar and fine tailoring. Silk faille is a ribbed silk with a soft drape and a silken sheen. The material in this suit actually has a woven pattern which is very subtle. The pattern is three leaf clovers and is achieved by a more open weave in the area of the clovers. I am not sure how this was achieved but it must have been expensive. The suit is a mix of machine and hand stitching.
The color of the suit is cobalt blue. The tunic style jacket comes to a long point in the back. It has cording around the sleeve seams, a wide square collar with an over collar of wide scalloped lace. The 3/4 sleeves have very wide cuffs with two darts and a ruffle under the cuff made of gathered net lace. The jacket is gathered in center back with decorative cord appliques. The jacket has pointed lapels and closes with hooks; the two cord appliques overlap and attach with snaps at their ends. On all of the outer seams of the jacket and skirt is overstitching. The stitching on the outside visible part of the garment is wide silk thread, like embroidery thread.
The hobble skirt has an inner waistband of black grosgrain and closes with a hook at the waist and snaps down center back. The construction is truly amazing and I will let the photos speak for themselves as I'm not sure how to describe it. The fit is achieved by a series of darts at one side of the hips with pleats at the knees which allowed for walking. All of the seams including the hem are overstitched with the silk embroidery thread.
The condition is very good with the following exceptions: There are mends at both armpits (see close ups). The lovely ecru silk satin lining has been patched at the underarms. The patches are done by hand and must have been contemporary to the garment as they are of soft antique silk fabric which is slightly lighter weight than the lining. There is fraying at the neck area of the lining next to the label. The frayed area measures about 2" long and is a half inch wide. This comes from wear. The silk lining is not shattering. Where the lace touched the neck it is slightly discoloured.
I think that part of the lining has been removed. At the bottom of the lining is a row of hand stitching in black thread. I think at one time there was lining all the way down to the hem of the jacket. There are a couple of pin point holes in the jacket back. On a few of the clovers some of the open weave threads are broken. This is only visible if you hold the garment up to a bright light. The suit appears to have been cleaned. There is a dry cleaning tag stapled on the inner waistband. The suit comes from a smoke free home. It smells and looks clean.
The suit is too large for my mannequin. It is a very wearable size: Skirt - Waist: 25 1/2", Hips: 38", Length from Back Waistline to Hem: 42". Jacket - Bust: 38", Waist: 31", Hips: 38". The length from the back neckline to the pointed hem is 32". The length of the sleeve from the shoulder seam to the bottom of the blue material is 18". The label reads, "Coats & Costumes, Boardmans, Stratford, E.

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