Skip to main content
Gift of Mrs. Seth P. Holcombe and Mrs. Gilbert A. Wicke, 1981.26.10  © 2011 The Connecticut His…
Dress
Gift of Mrs. Seth P. Holcombe and Mrs. Gilbert A. Wicke, 1981.26.10 © 2011 The Connecticut Historical Society.

Dress

Original Owner (American, 1785 - 1837)
Clothing Maker
Dateabout 1825
MediumHand-stitched cotton, with modern metal hooks and eyes
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (length x width across shoulders): 52 1/4 x 15 1/2in. (132.7 x 39.4cm)
Hem (circumference): 88in. (223.5cm)
ClassificationsCostume
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Seth P. Holcombe and Mrs. Gilbert A. Wicke
DescriptionWoman's day dress of white, plain-woven cotton fabric. The dress is styled with a raised waistline (4 1/4 inches in length at the side, below the armhole seam), wide neckline, long sleeves puffed at the shoulder, and a flounced skirt. The bodice is decorated with two bands of whitework embroidery with the flower petals filled with net; each band is bordered by self-piping. The neckline edge is finished with a double row of piping. The armscyes are piped. The sleeves are gathered at the top of the shoulder and end in a straight wrist decorated with five rows of pintucking and a 1 1/4-inch wide edging of whitework embroidery in a vine pattern. The bodice front is fitted with two V-shaped double darts. The shoulderline is low in back; the seam is inserted with piping. The curved side back seams are also piped. The dress opens at the center back with a drawsting at the waist and a hook and eye (which are modern replacements) at the neckline. The bodice is lined in the side panels only, with the same cotton as the rest of the dress.

The skirt is constructed of two panels: the back panel is rectangular and the front panel is cut with the sides on a slight diagonal. The skirt is gathered at the center back waistline for about 8 1/2 inches across (from seam to seam), and it is smooth across the front and over the hips. The bottom of the skirt is decorated with three flounces, each headed by a strip of white openwork embroidery in floral patterns and self-piping. The edges of the flounces are also worked with white openwork embroidery, as is the hem edge of the skirt, which extends only slightly beyond the bottom ruffle. The width of the flounce decoration at the bottom of the skirt is about 14 inches.
Object number1981.26.10
On View
Not on view
Dress
Unknown
about 1875
Dress
Mrs. Williams
about 1876
Dress
Lucy Mather Lee
about 1822-1823
Gift of Sarah E. Plummer, 1952.18.0a-b, Connecticut Historical Society, Public Domain
Lena Lee Howard
1882
Wedding Dress
Julia E. Hickox
June 1860
Gift of Phyllis Kihn, 1980.38.4a-d  © 2013 The Connecticut Historical Society.
Marie L. Brown
1870
Gift of Phyllis Kihn, 1980.38.2a-c, Connecticut Historical Society, Public Domain
Marie L. Brown
1870
Dress and Petticoat
Lovinia White
about 1833
Wedding Dress
Unknown
5 June 1862
Dress
Mrs. Denison Rossiter Geer
about 1875
Gift of Helen W. Simonds, 1976.53.3, Connecticut Historical Society, Public Domain
Fannie Abigail Tibbals
9 September 1884