More Extant Dress Pictures
Feb. 17th, 2010 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
isabelladangeloThis one is fun. :-)
I *think* it was originally made some time before the 1820's, redesigned in the late 1820's/early 1830's, and then redesigned -again- very slightly in the late 19th, early 20th c. I say that for three reasons: a) you don't get burn marks/stains/ or other such blemishes beneath pleats or in other spots where no one will see (there is a smokey mark on the underside of the puff on one of the sleeves and another similar mark else where on the dress in a "no one will see it here!" type placement), b) you don't go hand sewing two stripes of gold trim down around the hem of your gown unless both better darn well show (I got some excellent pictures of this. One strip of trim is still visible but the other is tucked up and under the hem!), and c) you don't spend countless hours hand sewing a gown, the pleats, and everything else just to tack one tiny piece of lining back with a sewing machine in a color of thread that is not found anywhere else on the gown.
Like I said, this one is fun. It has orange, mauve, yellow, brown, black, white, and gray threads used to sew this gown together. I think each person that redesigned this gown decided to use a totally different thread.
The front lining was taken out completely. There is a piece of lining sort of just stuck to one side and I'm not entirely sure why. The back lining looks to be completely original. The sides were taken out at some point (in the pictures, you'll see triangle inserts beneath the arms. I guess someone wanted to widen the waistband...which is also pieced. Whoever widened the dress did a very excellent job). They also shortened the dress by just tacking the hem under rather than cutting the excess fabric (thank goodness!) at some point. You can feel the original hem (it feels like it was lined in linen) but you can't see it.
Click on the bodice of the dress for many more pictures up on my Flickr page.
If you have any questions about this dress, feel free to ask. I'm not sure I can answer them all, but I can always take more pictures!
I *think* it was originally made some time before the 1820's, redesigned in the late 1820's/early 1830's, and then redesigned -again- very slightly in the late 19th, early 20th c. I say that for three reasons: a) you don't get burn marks/stains/ or other such blemishes beneath pleats or in other spots where no one will see (there is a smokey mark on the underside of the puff on one of the sleeves and another similar mark else where on the dress in a "no one will see it here!" type placement), b) you don't go hand sewing two stripes of gold trim down around the hem of your gown unless both better darn well show (I got some excellent pictures of this. One strip of trim is still visible but the other is tucked up and under the hem!), and c) you don't spend countless hours hand sewing a gown, the pleats, and everything else just to tack one tiny piece of lining back with a sewing machine in a color of thread that is not found anywhere else on the gown.
Like I said, this one is fun. It has orange, mauve, yellow, brown, black, white, and gray threads used to sew this gown together. I think each person that redesigned this gown decided to use a totally different thread.
The front lining was taken out completely. There is a piece of lining sort of just stuck to one side and I'm not entirely sure why. The back lining looks to be completely original. The sides were taken out at some point (in the pictures, you'll see triangle inserts beneath the arms. I guess someone wanted to widen the waistband...which is also pieced. Whoever widened the dress did a very excellent job). They also shortened the dress by just tacking the hem under rather than cutting the excess fabric (thank goodness!) at some point. You can feel the original hem (it feels like it was lined in linen) but you can't see it.
Click on the bodice of the dress for many more pictures up on my Flickr page. If you have any questions about this dress, feel free to ask. I'm not sure I can answer them all, but I can always take more pictures!