Friday, December 23, 2011

Late 1840's/Early 1850's Dress








From the seller:

Just lovely, extremely well made, and very heavy, this cocoa colored watered silk gown has pagoda sleeves and a pleated, dropped bodice with a crenellated peplum, both are trimmed with velvet trim and silk fringe. The cartridge pleated skirt has the same trim in two rows down the front, though only one is showing in the pics. In between is a row of thread buttons that resemble acorns. It's lined with white cotton, closes in back with hidden hooks and hand sewn buttonhole type eyes. It would date from the early to the mid 1840's, with a very wide sweep, as you can see.

It's 32 1/2" around at the bust, 26" at the waist. It seems to be entirely hand sewn.

Good overall, with some splits and tears at the left shoulder and front bodice, which you can see in the pic below. This is confined to these area, the rest of the fabric is sturdy. The white cotton lining is very crisp and clean, for the most part, but there is some brown streaking about 7" high, mostly concentrated in the front of the lining, with some similar spotting towards the back half of the white lining. It's more or less at the same level, about half-way up from the hem. This does not show through to the outside. There is some fraying to the wool tape at the hem edge here and there. Underarms are good, and the color is a cocoa shade of brown, with no red or blue tones, as might show in the pics.


From Me

My guess is this is more 1850's than 1840's. The sleeves are more inline with the 1850's.

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