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Connecticut Historical Society collection, 1950.20.0  Photograph by Gavin Ashworth.  © 2009 The…
Stomacher
Connecticut Historical Society collection, 1950.20.0 Photograph by Gavin Ashworth. © 2009 The Connecticut Historical Society.
Photographs and all rights purchased by the Connecticut Historical Society.

Stomacher

Clothing Maker
Dateabout 1720-1740
MediumHand-stitched silk, with silk and metallic-thread embroidery and metallic braid; linen tapes, linen interlining, and reed (probably) boning
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (length x width): 14 x 8 3/4in. (35.6 x 22.2cm)
ClassificationsCostume
Credit LineConnecticut Museum of Culture and History collection
DescriptionStomacher of cream-colored ribbed silk, embroidered in shades of green, pink, yellow, and blue silk and metallic threads with a design of grapes and stylized flowers blossoming on a slender, curling vine. There are six decorative tab extensions on the bottom of the stomacher; these are also made of the embroidered silk, and are edged with gold metallic braid. This metallic braid edges the top of the stomacher, also. The stomacher is roughly triangular in shape, with a two-inch extension forming a rounded point at the base; the length of this extension is equal to that of the decorative tabs. Under an interlining of linen, the stomacher is boned, probably with reed, as there is some flexibility to it. Short, linen tape tabs stitched on either side of the stomacher were used to pin the stomacher in place under the front edges of the gown bodice. The reverse of the stomacher is lined with plain-woven, undyed silk. There is an original eighteenth-century pin stuck in the back of one of the decorative tab extensions at the bottom of the stomacher.
Object number1950.20.0
NotesAttribution Note: The shape and style of the stomacher suggests that it was embroidered and constructed in Connecticut or possibly in England, around the second quarter of the eighteenth century. The design and workmanship of the embroidery indicates that it was done by an amateur, but it is charming in its design and use of color. According to family history, Captain Lemuel White purchased the silk in China, had it made into a stomacher in either England or the United States, and then gave the stomacher to his wife, Mary Wells White, in 1794. However, the stomacher is much earlier than the family history states, because women were no longer wearing stomachers on their gowns by the 1790s. (Bassett 3/28/2001)
On View
Not on view
Front of dress with one petticoat
Unknown
about 1905-1915
Dress
Sarah Congdon Munger
about 1887
Gift of Hannah Whittlesey, 1840.7.1a,b  Photograph by Gavin Ashworth.  © 2009 The Connecticut H…
Hannah Edwards
about 1746
Front of dress without the matching cape.
Lyle N. Roapelye
about 1885
Mary Elizabeth Smith
about 1903-1905
Gift of Charles S. MacDonough, 1847.12.0  © 2008 The Connecticut Historical Society.
Commodore Thomas MacDonough
1812-1814
Woman's Clog
Unknown
about 1740-1770
Waistcoat
Unknown
about 1770-1780
Dress
Amelia Kellogg
about 1881
Gift of Stella P. Olmsted, 1976.58.12b-c, Connecticut Historical Society, Public Domain
Emma D. Sharp
1884-about 1889
18th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Civil War Reunion Ribbons
Lieutenant William Augustus Wetmore
1887-1895
Child's Shoes
Walter Chipman
mid 18th-mid 19th century