1812 White cotton dress, pink, blue pattern
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1812-1820 A dress in white cotton.
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The back of the dress
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Detail of the pattern round the hem
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Detail of the frill round the collar
Description
The cotton has an all-over woven pattern of tiny motifs in deep pink and blue. A wider pattern in the same colours, 3½" wide, goes round the hem, which has a wavy edge with a hem of ⅛".
A version of the border pattern, ¾" wide, is inserted between the edge of collar and a frill, 1¾" wide, of the main fabric.
The dress has an apron front, where the front skirt panel is not sewn to the bodice, but has a tape or ribbon at the top corner each side to tie round the waist and hold it up. In this case the skirt side seams are open for 12" down from the waist, and the front skirt panel has a drawstring through the top edge, for tying at the back.
The bodice opens in front, but has no evident fastenings on the edges; it could have been pinned together. The back of the skirt is tightly gathered into 4" at the centre back waist, and there are tapes sewn inside at the base of the bodice, to tie round the front, holding the back of the dress in place; these would be tied first before the apron front was secured.
The ends of the sleeve seams are open for 1¾", and the ends of the sleeves are gathered into ¾" wide ruched bands which are fastened with a pearl button and a worked loop; a frill, 1⅛" deep, is round the ends.
Contemporary illustrations
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Anne Madeleine Henriëtte de Bosset by Charles Howard Hodges, 1812
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Morning dress, a detail from a fashion plate in The Lady's Monthly Museum, May 1816
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Fashion plate from R. Ackermann's Repository of the Arts, June 1817
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