1857 Blue chiné taffeta dress
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1856-1860 A dress in silk taffeta with a chiné pattern
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The back of the dress
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One of the sleeves
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Detail of the waist showing the watch pocket in a seam
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Detail of the warp-printed silk fabric
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Detail of a printed motif showing the colour spreading along the warp threads
Description
The white warp of the silk taffeta was printed with little sprigs in dark blue, and when woven, the warp threads shifted slightly giving the sprigs a blurred look. This warp-printing technique is also called chiné. The weft has stripes of dark blue, about ⅛" wide, and woven through the white warp makes them look more of a pale grey; they are separated by very narrow stripes of white. The printed pattern measures 1⅜" high by 3½" wide.
The bodice is lined with ivory cotton, and the skirt and the sleeves with ivory glazed cotton. There are bones on the side seams and the left centre front edge of the lining; two channels each side of the fronts show where bones have been removed, and 3½" long bones have been put in at an angle from the side front waist.
The bodice fronts have four pleats into the shoulder seams each side, and the inner three are gathered into a width of 3", held by eight rows of stitching, 4¼" above shallow pointed waist.
The edges of the bodice fronts are loose over the lining which has 17 hooks and bars down the centre front; these are recent replacements, and the original worked eyelets can be seen beside or under the modern metal bars. The lining has a strip of the silk down the front edges, 1¼" wide on the left and 1" on the right, and the bodice edges are joined to it for the lowest six fastenings beside the gathers.
The back waist of the bodice dips slightly at the centre, with a 3" long bone.
The sleeve heads have five pleats, spaced round the piped seam with the armhole seams, which change direction where they are controlled under a row of turquoise silk fringe, about 3¾" down at the centre; the fringe is 1⅝" long on ¼" wide heading. The sleeves flare out for another 6½" with the silk fringe on their edges, and another flared section underneath is sewn to the cotton lining under the top row of fringe. The cotton lining extends down as far as the middle row of fringe and its ends are bound with the silk, ⅜" wide.
The skirt is flat pleated into the piped waist seam, with 3" of cartridge pleating at the centre back. The front opening is 11½" long, with a slight tear at the end; four modern press studs have been spaced down the placket.
There is a pocket in the right side front seam, and a watch pocket concealed under the third pleat to the left of centre front 2¼" down from the waist.
The lower 23" of the skirt has a layer of book muslin inside over the lining to help hold out the fullness; pale blue wool plaited braid is sewn under the hem, with ⅛" visible, to protect the silk on the hem from wear.
Contemporary illustrations
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Marie Frederike of Prussia, 1855
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Fashion plate in Le Bon Ton, May 1856
