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Dress

Clothing/Dress/Costume

Entirely hand-stitched 3-piece dress made of Robin’s egg blue and honey beige silk taffeta with 2” cross stripes. Skirt (a) - 7 full-gored panels. Coarser white underlining. Seams piped with rather thick, soft blue. Large boxy pocket, no waistband. Speculated to have been cartridge pleated. Day Bodice (b) - blue thread first, then black and gold. The center back seams are not topstitched. Straight waist. The upper chest front is padded with a thin layer of cotton wool. Blue ribbon ruching edged with narrow black lace on each side and applied to the top and edges of 2-tiered pagoda sleeves. Evening Bodice (c) - lined with natural glazed cotton. Splendidly stitched with silk thread looks odd because it was black and has faded to gold. Wide scoop neckline. Back opening. Tiny cap sleeves edge with narrow blue braid. Bones removed. The center back seams are topstitched. Very slightly pointed waistline in the front with piped edges.

G98.038a-c

Bruce and Susan Greene Costume Collection

Adult, Female

Historic Costume

Dress

Female

Taffeta

Glazed Cotton

Blue

Yellow

Black

1850 - 1860

American

3

Skirt - G98.038a Day Bodice - G98.038b Evening Bodice - G98.038c

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