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Image Not Available for Woman's Cape
Woman's Cape
Image Not Available for Woman's Cape

Woman's Cape

Clothing MakerMade by Unknown
Dateabout 1895
MediumMachine-stitched and hand-stitched wool, silk, and cotton, with glass beads, and ferrous metal hooks and eyes
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (front length x hem circumference): 26 1/4 x 107in. (66.7 x 271.8cm)
ClassificationsCostume
Credit LineConnecticut Museum of Culture and History collection
DescriptionWoman's shoulder cape, made with fabric from a striped paisley-type shawl and black velveteen. The cape has a yoke and 2 1/2-inch-high standing band collar made of the black velveteen. A 4 1/2-inch-deep flounce of the black velveteen is stitched around the bottom of the yoke, over the paisley fabric, which constitutes the main fashion fabric of the cape. The paisley fabric is woven in stripes of red, black, white, maroon, green, orange, and light blue; each stripe is woven with multi-colored patterns. Trimming the collar is a woven black braid edged with black beads. This same beaded braid is stitched over the seam between the yoke and the flounce. The center front opening fastens with hooks and eyes. The lining fabric is probably reused from a dress; it is burgundy silk woven with black ribs in groups of two and three. A strip of the lining fabric is stitched inside the back of the neck for hanging the cape.
Object number1985.176.0
Subject Terms
    On View
    Not on view
    Lucy Elvira Morey
    about 1893-1894
    Gift of Charles S. MacDonough, 1847.12.0  © 2008 The Connecticut Historical Society.
    Commodore Thomas MacDonough
    1812-1814
    Front of dress without the matching cape.
    Lyle N. Roapelye
    about 1885
    Dress
    Jennie Holcomb Yale
    about 1894-1898
    Dress
    Eliza Wadsworth
    about 1909-1912
    Gift of F. Ruth Johnson, 1970.39.5a,b  © 2013 The Connecticut Historical Society.
    Florence May Alford
    about 1897
    Front of dress with one petticoat
    Unknown
    about 1905-1915
    Gift of Mrs. Houghton Bulkeley,  1969.48.4  Photograph by David Stansbury. © 2009 The Connectic…
    Virginia Grover
    1942-1945
    Gift of Phyllis Kihn, 1980.38.4a-d  © 2013 The Connecticut Historical Society.
    Marie L. Brown
    1870
    Dress
    Unknown
    about 1893-1894