Thursday, August 13, 2015

1890's Dress with both the Day and Evening Bodices






















From the seller:

This Victorian gown has 2 bodices, made from a burgundy silk with a moire pattern. The first bodice is heavily trimmed with black beading / passementerie and fine silk chiffon in black. One of the chiffon sleeves has a long tear and a bit of browning under the arms, the tear can easily be mended with the extreme fullness of the sleeve. The fitted lower sleeves have black beading. The black silk collar and band around the waist are good, they are trimmed with ribbon flowers and bows. It has 1 long tear on the left side over the bust that is straight and would be easy to mend and never be noticed. The bodice is lined in cotton and has bones in the seams. It measures 36 inches around the bust, waist is 28 1/2, across the back shoulder is 12 and shoulder to center front bottom is 19 1/2 inches. some of the beads have a white film on them. The plain bodice has splits and stains under the arms. It has a draw string around the neckline, and lace sleeves with an elastic cord around the bottom ,which may be newly added. 38 inches around the bust, waist is 27 and is 20 1/2 inches from shoulder to center front point. It's lined in ivory cotton with bones, it looks like it was an older bodice, maybe Civil War Era. The skirt was probably remade, the grosgrain ribbon waistband is stamped with the dressmaker. It has a lot of wear around the upper skirt below the waistband as well as around the bottom. some wear on an old fold but no holes there and some faded areas. It has a nice lace dust ruffle around the inside of the hem and is lined in a beautiful garnet colored silk taffeta. Minor damage to the dust ruffle. The garnet lining is also used on the fancy bodice for the sleeves under the black. I would use the damaged bodice and maybe some of the skirt lining to make repairs to the skirt, you could use the garnet taffeta for ruffles etc. to cover any damage to the skirt. It measures 31 1/2 inches, hips are full and it's 44 inches long in front. Plain bodice and skirt as is, the fancy bodice is very good.

From Me:

The one with the black beading is the "day" (or most likely, dinner) bodice and the one with the pumpkins on each arm but no lower sleeve is the Ball gown bodice. Both bodices are from about 1894/1895.

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