1906 Alpaca coat

1906 Alpaca coat
Date	1905-1910
Category	Women
Item	Coat
Fabric	Alpaca
Decoration	Embroidery, Braid, Ribbons
Wearer	-
Maker	Gouldens, Blackpool
Acc. no.	HC.C-0.15

1905-1910 A putty coloured alpaca coat.

The back of the coat
Detail of the front neck showing the decoration
Inside the top showing the short lining

Description

The fabric has a fawn cotton warp and a natural alpaca weft.

The coat is fastened for 20½" down the front with seven hooks and eyes alternating sides and about 3½" apart; the hook at the neck is missing. The yoke slopes at the front to a point 6½" down the front edge, and at the back it curves down to 8½" at the centre. The coat has flat pleats, about 1" deep, front and back, into the seams with the yoke, which have two rows of top-stitching ⅜" apart; there is a box-pleat, 2¾" wide, at the centre back.

The neck edge has an applied decoration of a curved band of linen, 1⅜" wide, with embroidery in fawn and ivory silk and beige stranded cotton. The front ends have a tab at right-angles, 3½" deep from the neck with an embroidered square shape in its mitred end. There are six tabs of ivory silk, 2⅞" deep, overlaid across the band at intervals round the neck, and these each have three beige embroidered graduated bosses with rings of silver gilt filé. This decoration is sewn on ⅝" down from the edge of the coat; and above that round the neck edge there is a pleated dark brown silk moiré ribbon with picot edges, 1¼" wide, which is now disintegrating; a ³⁄₁₆" wide braid of ivory gimp in a chain stitch entwined with the silver gilt filé lies over the join with the embroidered decoration.

The sleeve heads have a couple of tiny pleats into the seam at the shoulders, and their lower ends have pleats into flared cuffs, 4" deep. There is more of the pleated moiré ribbon and gimp braid going round the cuffs ⅝" from their ends, which is in better condition.

The top of the coat and the sleeves have a lining of beige cotton sateen, which ends 1⅜" below the armholes and is 11¾" deep at the centre back. The front edges have a self facing 3" wide which starts just inside the lower the edge of the lining, and the coat has a hem of ⅞".

The label sewn inside the back neck is hard to read; it possibly says Gouldens, Blackpool, and in the 1911 census there is a Thomas Goulden listed as a Lady's tailor in Blackpool.