1876 Grey taffeta dress

1876 Grey taffeta dress
Date	1875-1879
Category	Women
Item	Dress
Fabric	Silk taffeta
Decoration	Fringe
Wearer	-
Maker	-
Acc. no.	HC.D-3.11-2 a,b,c

1875-1879 A dress in grey silk taffeta

The dress from the side
The back of the dress
The end of the right sleeve
Detail of the skirt showing the pocket on the left side

Description

The dress consists of a jacket bodice, a skirt and an overskirt.

The bodice and sleeves are mounted on white glazed cotton, and there are bones on the side seams. The inside waistband is a white cotton tape, ⅝" wide, with a hook on one end and two eyes, ½" apart along it, on the other. There is slight padding from the shoulders down to the top of the bust darts, between the silk and the mounting cotton.

The centre front has ten covered buttons down to the waist, over ten hooks with corresponding worked bars on the other front edge.

The stand collar is ⅝" high with a hook and worked bar at the front. A watch pocket with piping round all its edges is on the left front at the waist.

The lower edge of the bodice has a grey silk fringe, 3¼" long, made of 2" long tassels cross-knotted on to a ⅜" wide heading; the bodice edge dips down to a shallow point at the centre back.

The armhole seams are piped; the lower ends of the sleeves have the fringe trimming sewn on at an angle, 2¼" up from the edge rising to 4¼". At this point there is a self bow, 7½" up from the end, with a 5¼" long tail which has the fringe round its edges. Sewn inside the sleeve ends is a pleated white tarlatan strip, ½" wide, with a ⅜" wide machine-made lace edging on its edge.

The skirt has a self waistband, 1½" wide, with two hooks and eyes spaced 1¾" apart along it; there are two double box-pleats each side of the centre back opening. The hem is faced with a starched white cotton band, 11½" deep, and a beige plaited wool braid, ⅝" wide, is sewn inside the edge with ⅛" showing, to prevent wear on the silk of the hem.

The overskirt has a ½" wide self waistband with one hook and two eyes ½" apart along it at the side back opening, and there is a 7" wide box-pleat at the centre back. A bow with its loops pointing down is on the centre front seam, 12" down from the waist; a 6" long tail with the fringe, the same as on the sleeves, hangs under it; another one is 10" below that.

A large self pocket is on the left-hand side, 11" below the waist; it is 8" deep and 6" wide where the silk is gathered in with three rows of stitching, ½" apart and 1½" down from the top edge where the silk is folded over and sewn inside to the starched white cotton lining. The base is pleated in to a bow like those on the centre front, with a 7½" long tail.

The silk tasselled fringe goes all round the hem, with another row 4" above it; the hem dips to a shallow point at the centre back.

Inside, there are a pair of tapes, 13½" below the waist, on the seams each side of the centre back, to pull the fullness round to the back when tied; another pair is on the side seams, 23" down from the waist, and there are stubs of a third pair 18" down from the waist, which have been cut off.