1812 Red printed dress
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1810-1820. A dress in printed cotton.
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The back of the dress
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The back of the bodice
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Detail showing the lacing up the back
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Detail of the printed cotton
Description
The fabric may be Indian, as many textiles were imported from India at this time. It has a design of geometric shapes surrounded by stylised flower trails in yellow and black on a red ground.
The back bodice and shoulder straps are lined with white cotton and the rest of the dress is unlined.
Two lengths of ¼" wide yellow silk ribbon go through a channel along the front neck edge, as a drawstring, tying at the centre; two more are along the back neck, and also at the back waist both tying at the centre back.
The opening in the back of the bodice is fastened by spiral lacing with a ⅜" wide yellow silk ribbon through eight pairs of worked eyelets.
The skirt has deep box-pleats each side of the centre back opening, and there is a slit on the right side for access to a pocket.
Pieces of the printed cotton are sewn round the sleeve ends, reverse side up, so that when turned up as cuffs the right side of the pattern shows; they are 4½" wide on the left and 4" wide on the right.
Contemporary illustrations
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Fashion plate from R. Ackermann's Repository of the Arts, January 1810
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Fashion plate Costume Parisien, 1811
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Fashion plate in La Belle Assemblée, May 1814
