Brown Striped Silk Dress

Overview: The dress, made from dark brown silk taffeta, is stitched entirely by hand.

Construction: The bodice front and the skirt have been cut with the subtle stripe running vertically, but the back of the bodice has been cut with the stripes running horizontally. Bias cording finishes the neck, the bottom of the bodice, the armseye, shoulder seam, and sleeve hem. The bodice of the dress is flat-lined with tobacco colored glazed linen. There is a center front opening with a 1" extended facing on each side. The seam allowances are hand overcast. The front is shaped with one dart on either side under the bust. The darts are edge stitched by hand from the outside before the cording was applied. The bodice shows evidence of having been taken in on the side also before cording. The side seams fall in the natural position. The shoulder seam, below shoulder point, extends 1" to the back at the neck and armholes. Evidence of stitching on the back of the bodice indicates that something above the waist was removed. The back has two 9" darts in the that taper in, measuring 3/4" wide at the waist. On each side of the one piece center back there is a triangular join at the side seam measuring 2" at the waist and 1/2" at the under arm. The piecing is not reflected in the flat lining. The back measures 13" at waist. The sleeve is one piece cut on the bias resulting in diagonal stripes. The fabric has been pieced with straight grain joins to make the fabric wide enough for the sleeves. The flat-lining has also been pieced but the join goes in the opposite direction. Sleeves are stitched in the ditch of the cording at the armhole and hand overcast. The skirt is made from 6 widths of 18 1/2" fabric. The selvedges serve as a seam finish. The top edge has been folded over 1/2" and hand whipped with light thread. The fullness has been gauged or gathered with a running stitch and attached behind the cord, but not in the ditch, with a small stitch. The center front placket is 10" long with no special finish. The skirt is 37 1/2" long and the circumference is 108". The bottom edge is faced 9" with dark brown linen which serves as a hem. A 1 1/4" hand stitched tuck above the hem disguises the hemline. The dress would probably have been worn with a bertha collar and cuffs.

Trim: The garment is plain although the striped fabric and piping that finishes all edges provide some detail.

Provenance: The garment was donated to the Costume Archive in the Department of Dramatic Art in December 2004 by Samantha Maynard.

Damage: There are no extant closures on the dress so it would have been pinned together. There are sweat stains under the arms and some fracturing and discoloration in the silk throughout the dress. The skirt is coming unstitched from the bodice. There are holes and tears in the skirt hem facing. The left sleeve has been re-stitched with very large, visible stitches. The skirt has begun to come apart from the bodice; the same thread and visible stitches as are seen on the left sleeve were used to reattach the skirt.