1765 Pink dress
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1765-1775 A fitted open gown in striped silk and linen; it is shown over a modern petticoat and stomacher.
The dress has been mounted by The School of HIstorical Dress with a reconstructed silk taffeta petticoat and stomacher.
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The back of the dress
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The inside of a sleeve showing the flounces and the pocket with the weight.
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The inside of the dress showing the linen foundation
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Detail of the trimming over the shoulder at the top of a sleeve.
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Detail of the silk and linen fabric on the inside of the skirt; the running stitched seam can be seen with some back stitches.
Description
The warp of the fabric is striped silk in shades of pink with a narrow black stripe, and the weft is pink linen with narrow white stripes.
The body and sleeves are on a white linen foundation.
A gathered strip, 1½" wide with pinked scalloped edges, is sewn round the back neck and in a slightly wavy line down the robings each side of the body.
The two centre back skirt panets extend up to the neck where there are pleats facing in to the centre at the seam, with two more pleats each side facing the other way; the pleats are stitched down from the neck to the waist. The rest of the skirt is flat pleated into the bodice as far as the side fronts. The side front seam on the left is open for about 11" down from the waist, for access to a pocket which would have been tied on round the waist under the skirt.
The sleeves have a double flounce on the ends with pinked scalloped edges; a pocket with a lead weight is stitched inside the left cuff to make the sleeve hang better, but the weight is missing form the pocket in the right sleeve. The sleeve heads have four pleats into the shoulder.
The dress may have had a petticoat in the same fabric, or it could have been worn with a contrasting one.
A pattern of this dress can be found in Patterns of Fashion 6 published by The School of Historical Dress and available from their website.
Contemporary illustrations
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Deborah Hall by William Williams, 1766. Brooklyn Museum.
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Dorothy Quincy (Mrs John Hancock) by John Singleton Copley, c.1772. Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
