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Dress

Date1800-1802
MediumHand-stitched watered sarsnet (a lightweight silk, plain-woven), with silver braid and silver thread buttons, the threads wrapped over a wooden core
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (length x width): 47 1/2 x 14in. (120.7 x 35.6cm)
Hem (circumference): 90in. (228.6cm)
ClassificationsCostume
Credit LineMuseum purchase
DescriptionWoman's tunic-style day dress of pink watered silk, trimmed down the center front opening with narrow silver braid and 17 (original number) high-domed buttons of silver threads wrapped over wooden cores. This opening is false at the hem, and extends 23 inches; it is open and the buttons are functional above this point. The dress is lined with light-weight, plain-woven, pale pink silk (called "persian" in the period). The bodice of the tunic has a V-shaped back, the arms of the V extending into shoulder straps, which were originally stitched to the outer corners of the bodice front. The fit of the front is created by two 4 1/2-inch darts. The waist is high; the CF length of the bodice is 7 5/8 inches. The skirt is knife-pleated into the waist in the front and around the sides; it is cartridge-pleated at center back. Originally, the hem was decorated with a band of net-type lace, as there is a very small remnant of it left at the center back of the skirt; there is also evidence of a sewing line 3 1/2 inches above the hem.

The dress came from a house in Greenwich, Connecticut. It belonged to a family related to the American Impressionist painter Julian Alden Weir.
Object number1986.22.1
On View
Not on view
Dress
Yale family
about 1860
Front of dress with one petticoat
Unknown
about 1905-1915
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Rebecca Taylor Bacon
1851-1852
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Clara Eglantine Comstock
about 1888
Gift of Mariette Newman Fitch, 1952.73.0  © 2013 The Connecticut Historical Society.
Nancy Diantha Terry
about 1860
Wedding Dress
Libbie B. Tuller
1892
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Unknown
1863-1865, with later alteration
Dress
Nancy Diantha Terry
about 1875
Gift of Stella P. Olmsted, 1976.58.12b-c, Connecticut Historical Society, Public Domain
Emma D. Sharp
1884-about 1889
Dress
Charlotte Lee
1880-1885
Lydia C. Robinson
1841, with later alteration