Skip to main content

Dress

Original Owner (American, 1877 - 1969)
Clothing Maker (American)
Date1896
MediumMachine-stitched and hand-stitched silk and cotton, with wool tape, ferrous metal boning, wire, ferrous metal and brass hooks and eyes
DimensionsBodice (length x width between shoulders): 18 x 10 1/2in. (45.7 x 26.7cm)
Skirt (center back length x hem circumference): 42 1/2 x 198 1/2in. (108 x 504.2cm)
ClassificationsCostume
Credit LineGift of Editha Laura Jacobs
DescriptionYoung woman's dress, consisting of a bodice (.a) and skirt (.b) of pink silk, with a wide neckline and very large, puffed, elbow-length sleeves. The bodice has a dipped waistline at front and back. The fabric is ruched into the center front waistline, with the fullness released to the neckline, where it is gathered again. The neckline is edged with a self-fabric ruffle, which has been cut off at the back of the neck. The sleeves are very tightly gathered into the top of the armscye, which falls at the natural shoulderline. The lining of the sleeve is slightly shorter than the fashion fabric, creating extra puffiness to the fullness of the arm opening. The sleeves are made to appear even larger by a wired double ruffle running the length of the sleeve. (The sleeves are actually constructed with two panels which are gathered and joined together down the outside length of the arm, 3 1/4 inches from the edge of each panel, with the extra fabric wired to stand up, forming the ruffle.) Six-inch-wide ribbon of a color perfectly matching the silk forms a large, loopy bow with 25 1/2-inch-long tails at the center back waistline. This ribbon is pleated for its length to form a band which hooks around the waist. The bodice is lined with plain, white cotton. It is fitted with two seven-inch-long darts on each side of the center front opening, which fastens with hooks and eyes. The back is constructed from six pattern pieces to achieve a close fit. All darts and seams are boned. A white silk, twill-woven petersham ribbon hooks around the inside waist. The fashion fabric fastens with hooks and eyes over the lining.

The gored skirt is very full around the bottom, while being smoothly fitted around the waist to the center back, where it is gathered. It is unembellished. There is a pocket in the proper right back seam. The lining is plain, white cotton. The waistband is wool tape, and the hem is edged with velvet over a flat, flexible wire or similar material to help stiffen the hem. A scalloped pink silk ruffle (a "balayeuse") is stitched inside the hem, over an extra six-inch-wide lining of white cotton. The center back opening extends about 10 1/2 inches and fastens with hooks and eyes. Like the bodice, the seam allowances are bound with white silk tape.
Object number1962.40.7a,b
NotesHistorical Notes: According to Editha Laura Jacobs, she wore this dress to a class reception at Hartford Public High School in May 1896.
On View
Not on view
Front of dress with evening bodice 2.

Gift of Mrs. Seth P. Holcombe and Mrs. Gilbert A. Wick…
Mary Jane Buel
about 1890-1895, altered from earlier dress
Dress
Mary Ellen Pike
about 1894
Bequest of George Dudley Seymour, 1945.1.1115  © 2011 The Connecticut Historical Society.
Unknown
about 1897
Wedding Dress
Ella Clarinda Pitkin
1888
Gift of Mrs. Vincent Brown Coffin, 1971.67.14.1a-b, Connecticut Historical Society, Public Doma…
Della Maria Brown
1891
Dress
Elizabeth Gay Sisson
about 1887
Gift of F. Ruth Johnson, 1970.39.5a,b  © 2013 The Connecticut Historical Society.
Florence May Alford
about 1897
Wedding Dress
Lucy Fiddis Griffith
1892
Gift of the New Hampshire Historical Society, 1967.94.0, Connecticut Historical Society, Public…
Madame Varney
about 1894
Dress
Unknown
about 1893-1894