1916 Navy blue suit
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1915-1920 A suit in navy blue wool
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The back of the suit
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The skirt
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Detail of the front
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Detail of the lining showing the inside pocket
Description
The wool is in a twill weave.
The jacket is made with tailoring techniques. It is fastened with two self-covered domed buttons and bound buttonholes to the left of centre front as if the jacket was double-breasted, but there are no corresponding buttons on the right front.
The side front panels are top-stitched with a lip of ½", from below a sprat embroidered in dark green silk thread; the edges turn at right-angles just below waist level, towards the back, meeting the side back panels sewn in the same way. Non-functioning buttons with buttonholes are placed in the corners, 2½" up from the lower edges. The skirt of the jacket has an inverted box-pleat below all the side panels, 2" deep each side, and about 2½" in from the vertical edges of the panels.
The sleeves have 3" deep cuffs stitched on round the ends and loose at the top, to look turned up. They have top-stitching ½" in from the top edges and on a lip down the sides, with a non-functioning button and buttonhole.
The jacket is lined with pale grey cotton sateen printed with a design in two darker shades of grey. Inside the left front is a patch pocket, 4¼" deep and 3¾" wide, with a box-pleated frill along the top edge.
The skirt is unlined and has a black petersham waistband inside, 2⅜" wide, which is stiffened with six vertical bones (two now missing) spaced round it. It is sewn on with top-stitching ⅜" down from the top edge of the skirt and fastens at the centre front with three hooks and eyes. The skirt is flat at the front and back with gathers each side over the hips; it opens at the left side front with a hook and worked bar to fasten at the waist and four press studs spaced down the placket.
Two flat pleats about 3" each side of the flat centre front and centre back are top-stitched ⅜" in from their edge for 5½" down from the waist. Inside the skirt the pleats are held across the front and the back by sets of ½" wide black silk/linen tapes sewn to the edge of the folds; one set is 15" below the waist and the second set is 12" up from the hem; these tapes are now mostly broken. The same tape also covers the top edge of the 3¼" deep hem on the inside.
A self belt, 1⅜" wide, goes round the top of the skirt, held by a stitch at the side back one side, the stitch the other side has broken; it has an oval abalone slide buckle for decoration at the centre front which is 2" from the mitred end of the belt, and there is a hook underneath to fasten on to a worked loop on the other end of the belt.
Contemporary iluustrations
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Fashion drawing in Weldon's Home Dressmaker, 1915
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Fashion drawing in Home Fashions, November 1915
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Standing left to right: Amy Menzies, her husband George Griffiths, an unknown woman; seated: an unknown soldier, 1914-1916
