1862 Brown cape coat

1862 Brown cape coat
Date	1860-1868
Category	Women
Item	Coat
Fabric	Silk
Decoration	Ribbons
Wearer	-
Maker	-
Acc. no.	HC.C-0.4

1860-1868 A brown silk taffeta coat

A side-back view of the coat
Detail showing the trim where the cape edge joins the coat
Detail inside the lower front showing one of the little pockets

Description

The silk taffeta has very subtle stripes; this might be intentional or it could be the result of different dye-lots of silk being used to make the warp.

The coat is lined with ivory silk, quilted with wool wadding. The cape has a border lining of pale blue silk over wadding, which extends quite far in under the quilted lining.

The cape is 22" long at centre back, and the back of the skirt is gathered in under it and attached 2" up from its edge, which has a ¾" wide bias facing to the hem. It curves round to the front, covering the tops of the sleeves, with an oval button motif where it ends at the side front.

The sleeves are only from the elbow down, and are each made from one piece of taffeta folded back up at the cuff to make the lining; there is wadding between the layers.

The stitching attaching the sleeves in position has mostly gone; the upper edges of the tops are sewn to the finished off upper edge of the opening in the lining, but the lower edges seem to have been sewn to a curved opening in the skirt and quilted lining.

The skirt under cape at the back is 21" long, and the centre section of its lining has been replaced by a panel of a different, unquilted silk, although there is wadding between the layers.

There is no collar and the neck edge has a ⅜" wide bias taffeta facing. The front neck is fastened with a hook and worked bar but these are replacements; there are signs that there had been at least two more hooks and bars down the front.

Three rows of black silk velvet ribbon, ⁵⁄₁₆" wide and ³⁄₁₆" apart, go round the sleeve ends, ⅜" in from the edge, and the same trimming goes round the lower edge of the cape, ending with the oval button in the front where the cape joins the front.

Inside, about 6" up from hem and 4" in from from the edges each side, there are little pouches in the lining with a ¾" frill along the edges of their vertical openings. Their purpose is unclear; it might have been to facilitate holding front edges of the coat together from the inside, but they are rather low down for that, and their position is not a very secure place for a pocket.