Friday, January 18, 2013

Dress Circa 1892







From the seller:

This is one of the the oldest dresses in the collection that was my mother and grandmothers.
It is from 1830, and has survived so much history.


Around the time it was created, Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales. Andrew Jackson was President, and Charles Darwin sailed from England aboard a research ship.
Since the seamstress put on the finishing touches, whole countries have been born and disappeared into obscurity... but something made of simple cloth endured.


Although the dress does have some issues... the material is still viable, and although I do not recommend wearing something of this advanced age, it is, indeed, strong enough to be carefully worn.


Made of cotton and silk, the dress has immense sleeves of brown and at the elbow the sleek black silk tapered on the arms. The cuffs are trimmed in embroidered net lace. One cuff lace needs to be re-sewn at the wrist 2 inches.


One of the interesting things I saw was the three old hooks that were used at the back closure. They are individually marked 'Nichols" "Goodman" "Excelsior" The rest are old but replacements.


The dress has the high waist. There is a satin ribbon there that has ribbon on the top and bottom as well. The same trim goes around the hem of the dress. One piece of the ribbon has come off, but is still present.


Check out the exquisite lace at the collar. Such a beautiful and delicate pattern. There is some damage to it, the most critical I have photographed for you, but by and large the majority of it is intact.


One of the brown sleeves has a one inch rip and two small holes beneath the large bellows sleeve. The other has several moth munchies beneath the sleeve I have photographed for you. Remarkably, I only saw one 1 inch tear in the skirt and no mends... excellent shape. One inch mend is needed on the silk ribbon around the hem.
Bust 32" waist 26" sleeve length to end of lace 26"


There is so much more too this collection, and I will be listing several key pieces to it today from all decades.




From Me:

No, sorry, not 1830's. You can see the sleeves in this Fashion Plate from 1892:


And a very similar styled dress in a painting from 1892-1893:



The inside really shows that this is very much from the 1890's. Dresses simply weren't sewn that way in the 1830's. After all, the sewing machine helped a bit. ;-)

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