Thursday, October 3, 2013

1860's Striped Dress!









From the seller:

This auction is for an original Lady's Day Dress from the Civil War period. Its fabric is a gray and charcoal silk moire striped in a Jewel-like Green. The dress is trimmed with black silk taffeta on the skirt and cuffs. It closes at center front with most of its original hooks and eyes. The skirt is gored with pleats on the hips and cartridge pleating across the back waist. Its arm holes and waist are piped. The dress is shown with original accessories which are not included.

Condition is structurally fair to good. It is strong enough to be displayed. In addition to some stress tears and discoloration, damaged portions of the skirt had been cut away leaving huge missing chunks. Restoration included adding black silk in a manner consistent with period designs to recreate the original proportions on the skirt panels. Brown cotton lining was used on the inside of the silk. A small amount of the original silk was used to restore the sleeves. The original pleats and skirt length are intact.



Measurements are: The bust is 34 inches & the waist measures 24.5 inches. The length of the skirt is 40.5 inches.


From Me:

This style skirt - with that rounded front "kick" space - is first seen around 1864. By 1865, the kick space went from being just a trimmed off area to being a different color, as in this fashion plate below:


So this dress, if it is from the American Civil War, is from the VERY tail end.

2 comments:

  1. Gorgeous dress! But to me, the black trim is just plain odd. Maybe it would suit a true-black stripe instead of the grey. Or if it had lace or fringe at the intersection...

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    1. My *guess* is that what looks to us as dark gray on the dress was once black. It would have melded together quite well then. Or, the lady just threw together what she had to get a reasonable looking dress together. :-)

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