Friday, December 30, 2011

Late Victorian Detailed Dress






From the seller:
Greetings and welcome to our auction.

I attended an auction held by a local museum and purchased several vintage pieces. They were selling off excess items to raise funds for an expansion project. So this has been carefully displayed and stored for many years.

This 2 piece dress/gown dates back to the turn of the century.

It features:

* A high collar with detailed bodice

* Winged Lapels

* Beaded trim on winged lapels and around the waist band of the jacket/blouse

* Boned bodice

* Long, full skirt with scalloped ruffled trim around the bottom

* Fastens with Hook and eye

* Beautifully Lined

* It is both machine stitched and hand stitched

* I don't see a label inside this to identify the maker or manufacturer

* Done in a rich dark chocolate brown and a golden colored fabric

* I'm not sure of the fabric but the dark brown looks like a grograin ribbon fabric and the golden colored fabric has a slight sheen to it. I don't believe that it's silk.

* The back of the skirt is pleated so that you could use a bustle with this.

* There is some kind of a boning sewn in around the bottom of the hemline to give it some slight flare to prevent it from hanging limp from the weight of the fabric.

* This is very small and it doesn't fit my mannequin which is a size 4. I would say this is a size 0-2.

I think this is actually PRETTIER than I'm able to capture with the camera.

MEASUREMENTS for TOP: All measurements were taken when article of clothing was laying flat on table.

BUST: (measured from under the arms) 18"

ACROSS THE SHOULDERS: 12 1/2"

WAIST: 12"

LENGTH OF ARMS: (measured from under the arms to bottom of sleeve) 17"

LENGTH from back of neck to bottom of jacket: 17"

MEASUREMENTS for SKIRT: All measurements were taken when article of clothing was laying flat on table.

WAIST: 12 1/4"

HIP: FULL

LENGTH: (measured from back of skirt at the top of the waistband to bottom of hemline) 42"

CONDITION:

ANY WHITE STREAKS YOU SEE ON THE FABRIC IS ACTUALLY LIGHT SNOW COMING DOWN WHEN I WAS PHOTOGRAPHING.

The skirt appears to be in very nice, gently used vintage condition. There are a couple of small tears or holes in the front of skirt, near the hem that have been repaired. I see a repaired area near the bottom that measures 2" long. There are a couple of small worn areas in the fabric, near the bottom, that have not been repaired.

The bottom edge of the skirt is nice and clean. One would think since this is long it might be dirty underneath but it isn't.

I have this pinned in the back because it was too small to fit the mannequin. The hooks all work and are present.

The jacket/blouse displays some wear. In the 10th and 11th photos I tried to show you one arm that has been repaired and the other has a tear that was not repaired. There are a few other areas on the jacket that have been repaired. The waistband in front also displays wear as shown in the last photo. Some of the beading is coming loose.

I think there may be some slight discoloration as associated with age.

All in all I would say this is a very nice early piece.

I hope to have hit the high points, please let me know if you have any questions.

Even though I have disclosed the flaws in this please note that I am selling this in "As is" condition. I think I've found the areas of concern but there may be a few that I have overlooked.

Please LOOK at our other listings. I hope to be listing some Victorian era capes and blouses that I purchased from this sale within the next day or two.

I will always combine shipping.

I didn't know how to price this so I have started it low with a MODEST RESERVE.

Thanks for looking and have fun ebaying.


From Me:

This dress is a lot of fun. It's clearly 1890's but the lady who made it still loved the decadency of the Bustle Era skirts (look at those ruffles!) and most likely learned to sew thirty or forty years earlier. The shoulders on the bodice are more commonly seen on pre-American Civil War era dresses (notice how they slope).

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