Images(3)

Dress

Original OwnerProbably originally owned by a member of the Yale family (American)

Dateabout 1860

MediumHand-stitched silk with glazed cotton lining and brass hooks and eyes; buttons are made of silk thread over wooden molds

DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (length x width across shoulders): 53 1/2 x 17in. (135.9 x 43.2cm) Hem (circumference): 128in. (325.1cm)

ClassificationsDecorative Objects

Credit LineGift of Miss Elizabeth Yale Hall

Object number1950.16.25

DescriptionWoman's day dress made of silk fabric with narrow horizontal stripes of black and brown (originally a purple-brown). The bodice has a center front opening with eleven small thread buttons. The neckline is high, and the shoulderline is dropped. The sleeves are decorated at the top of the arm with two rows of puffs. The sleeve is full below the puffs and then pleated into the cuff, with the pleats stitched down so that the sleeve is tight for several inches above the wrist. The bodice seams are piped at the neck, waist edge, and armscye, as are the inside sleeve seam, and the seaming of the sleeve puffs.

The skirt is box-pleated in multiple, deep layers to make it very full. The skirt is slightly longer in back than in front to allow for the fashionable shape of the hoop, which is deeper in the back. Two rows of brown silk fringe decorate the skirt around knee level. The hem edge is bound in twill-woven wool tape. The skirt opens to the right of center.

The entire dress is lined in a glazed brown cotton. The bodice lining closes with hooks and eyes. The bodice seams are boned. There is a pocket stitched into the side seam on the proper right side of the skirt.

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