1870s Bustle Gown

From the seller:

Just a wonderful 1870s three piece bustle gown, most likely worn initially for a wedding. The two piece main gown is of an ivory silk satin. It has wide sleeves with elaborate pleated rows of organdy with a satin stripe, along with silk bows. It has a tapered waist, and flares at the hip, there is padding going from the underarms to the sides of the bust. It fastens with thread buttons, is lined with cotton. The skirt is pleated off to one side in back. There is also a wide band of striped organdy that starts at the waist and continues down almost to the end of the train. The skirt fastens with hooks and eyes, is lined with stiffened cheesecloth, has a twirled rope type binding at the hem.
The sheer overdress is sleeveless, is of the same striped satin and organdy fabric at the sleeves of the main gown. It also has satin bows, rosettes, and ruffles to match the sleeves. There are black tapes inside the train to shape it, it fastens in front with hooks and eyes.

The bust on both pieces is about 34", waist is about 26". The skirt is about 41" long in front, 63" in back, to the end of the train. Sorry to have omitted the rest of the measurements, they will be added tomorrow in the afternoon. I have not used any bustles or padding while photographing the gown.

In very good condition, with no flaws to the bodice that I can detect. The skirt has one 14" light spot on the front, 5-6 others that are tiny. There is one 1 1/4" x 1/4" area with some light brownish spotting, this is at the top of the skirt, and is somewhat hidden by the organdy band. There might be some other, very minor spots here and there. The organdy has 3" x 3" area with some discoloration, 2-3 tiny holes. All pieces are strong, with no splitting or major stains, underarms are clean.

International bidders please be aware that you might be charged additional postal or customs duties that I have collected. Please contact your local post or customs office with questions about these charges.


On Mar-27-14 at 16:43:55 PDT, seller added the following information:


The bodice measures about 27" around at the waist, it's 1" between the shoulder seams in back.The skirt has a 27" waist, is 41" long in front, 61" long in back at the train. Thanks!

From Me:

I really think that the sheer dress wasn't meant to be worn with the satin dress. The satin dress is a good five to seven years earlier than the sheer dress. The sheer dress also looks like it's probably Natural Form whereas the satin dress isn't. They may have been made for the same lady but they weren't meant to be worn together. The satin dress is very early 1870's while the sheer one is probably more 1877/78.

Regency Bodice and Skirt

From the seller:
An early 1810-1820 tan jacket and skirt that have been de-accessioned from a museum collection. The cataloging tag is stitched inside the jacket. The garments are made of a silk and wool blend fabric. They are being displayed over a blouse that is not included, to show how the ensemble would have been worn. Both garments are all hand stitched. The jacket has a wide collar and a drawstring front. It is lined with cotton. The skirt fits just under the bust line and is lined with cotton. Both garments are in very good condition. There are some small pea size age spots on the back of the collar , a couple of small peas size age spots on the skirt and a few pencil tip size hole in the skirt. Bust 32 ½ Waist on skirt 28 Skirt length 40. A unique garment to add to an early textile collection.

From Me:

Although the sleeveless spencers were more popular a decade earlier, they were seen in the 1810's. What gives away the date on this outfit, however, isn't the lack of sleeves - it's the rounded collar. Very characteristic of the 1810's.

Sleeveless Spencer with Rounded Collar, back view

Upturned rounded collar

Portrait with an upturned rounded collar

Another upturned rounded collar

Sleeveless Spencer with an upturned rounded collar

These gals make everyone in the 80's who popped the collar look like amateurs.

1890's Sheer Black Skirt

From the seller:

Two beautiful but in poor condition Victorian skirts that maybe you could use for a pattern or parts. The black trained skirt has a wide silk flounce with tiny ruffles all around the circle hemline, some that are in nice condition, some that are loose from the hemline and show wear. The black silk satin stripes under the net look to be in sound condition. The netting is poor, unsound and has several rips, tears and holes. The yellow skirt with the tiny top stitched dots has several rips and tears. Both skirts are small.
VINTAGE ~ ~

LABEL ~~

FABRIC ~~

MEASUREMENTS ~ ~~

CONDITION ~ ~ POOR ~


From Me:

Based on the seam lines, the bottom flounces, and the look of the fabric, I believe these are from the 1890's. They do not look to be in poor condition. Also, I bet the "yellow" underskirt just needs a good cleaning. It looks white on my monitor.

Romantic Era Hooded Cape

From the seller:
A rare 1850-1860 beige pumpkin hooded full length cape. The cape is made of a silk and wool blend fabric. The cape has a ruffled collar. The large hood drapes over the shoulder when not worn. It is pleated at the back with a center button. The neckline has a pink and white stripe ribbon with long streamers that extend to the edge of the hemline. The cape has a hook and eye closure near the neckline. The cape has age spotting and small pea size holes that are mostly on one side. (see photo.) The ribbon trim has a few age spots but no splits. This style is rarely seen on the open market. Shoulders 15 Length 56 Width at bottom 176.

From Me:

This was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this cape.

...And I sort of had that look on my face for a couple hours while I tried to figure out when the heck it was really from because that isn't 1850's. Yes, they liked big bows - however, they also liked bonnets. The few capes that are from the 1850's and have hoods tend to have pointed hoods with tassels. Also, the capes tend to be short. I couldn't find any that looked remotely like this.

...But I knew this pattern. I knew I had seen it. I knew this style looked very, very familiar to me. That's when I realized it looks almost exactly like the Folkware Kinsale Cloak pattern. Which made me think it might be a reproduction because the Folkware pattern has been around since before I was born, I think. So having old looking fabric might not be a clue when the cloak itself is from the bicentennial.

However, I found this fashion plate from 1823:

She has a collar inside the hood.  The hood is not pointed.  There are no tassels.   And the cape is long. Then I thought it might be older than 1820's because of the stripy big bow at the neckline.  That's a bit more 1780's/1790's.   However, the button really bugged me.  They just didn't do that in the 18th century. That was more a 19th Century thing.  Then, I found this:

From Dames a la mode

Bwahaha!  She has a button on the inside of her hood!  This one is from 1838.  The 1830's had a thing for big bows...and sleeves...and skirts...and bonnets. So, because of the button, I'm going with 1830's for this one. 

Edwardian Bodice

 From the seller:
This beautiful Edwardian blouse is made from a rose pink silk chiffon. It has a lace collar and insert at the neck and is trimmed with beautiful metallic silver (darkened with age) embroidery. It's a mix of good and bad. The pink chiffon is good, the underarms are fine, it has a small hole on the neck shoulder and another on the piece that hangs down the side. The inside of the blouse, lace insert and collar are also good. The lower sleeves are hanging by a thread and shattered, they were made from a tissue silk, an a pearly gray silk that was below the pink chiffon is also shattered. The pink silk taffeta cummberbund is fine. If you want to restore it, I would just cut away the gray silk, make the blouse short sleeve (or easy to add a lower sleeve if you wanted), mend up the 2 small holes, there would be extra trim from the bottom sleeve if you wanted to put one of the circles on each side over the mend. IT measures 36 inches around the bust, waist is 25 and it's 15 inches long. as is.
From Me:

Fashion Plate from 1908

Fashion Plate From 1907

I'm leaning more 1908 on this one although it could be as early as 1907.   :-) 

Hello Kitty Pink 1840's Quilted Hood!

From the seller:

A pretty 1860’s pink cotton hood bonnet that comes from the Mosley estate in Vermont. The bonnet has rows of padding. And is hand stitched. The bonnet has a 5 ½ inch curtain and the back is trimmed with a pink silk bow. The inside is lined with tan cotton. The bonnet is in very good condition. The chin ties are missing. It has one dime size age spot and a couple of much smaller pea size spots.

From Me:

I'm saying late 1840's/early 1850's on this one. You can see a similar one went up to whitaker auctions a few years back but not in this completely awesome shade of pink!