Description:
Sleeve plumper or pillow used to fill out the upper half of a woman's sleeve in the first quarter of the 19th century. These shaping devices, worn one on each arm, were probably placed inside the dress sleeves and fastened either through pinning or tieing to the corset strap or sleeve (the armscyes being too narrow to first attach to the arms then putting the amrs through the armscye). Although full sleeves for fashionable women's dress, known as gigot or leg o' mutton sleeves, reached larger sizes into the 1830s (reaching their widest in 1836), this sleeve plumper's shape suggests a date of the 1820s. The cotton fabric of the pllow is attached so that it lays on the bias or cross grain, helping conform to the down feather stuffing within. According to the provenance, this pillow came in a linen bag (2015.12.2).
Label Text:
Women’s and children’s dresses worn in the 1820s and 1830s featured very full sleeve heads that required interior supporting structures. Sleeve plumpers, or pillows, such as this single example were tied or basted inside. Filled with airy down feathers, these pillows provided volume without cumbersome weight.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2015.12.1 |
