Description:
Two-piece dress (bodice and skirt), made from maroon or purple silk. Made to accomodate pregnancy. Woman’s two-piece maternity dress consisting of a bodice and skirt dating to the late 1890s. The outfit is made in a matching, horizontal-ribbed purple silk fashion fabric. The front of the bodice is trimmed with 2 ½” wide bands of lace tacked vertically (two on each side of the front), and around the high neck. The skirt is undecorated.
Bodice is cut with full sleeve heads fashionable in the late 1890s (1898-1900). Each long, plain sleeve is fitted and terminates below the wrist; a slit on the inside edge of either cuff suggests a longer sleeve over part of the hands.
The bodice secures down the CF and is gathered into the neckline at the CF top. Bodice front is full and extends down to the hips. There are two side back seams on either side that help to shape the bodice to the wearer. A single box pleat at the CB suggests fit while easily accommodating increased girth from pregnancy.
Bodice interior has a loose lining that is uncharacteristic for the period when compared with other, non-maternity bodices. The lining is a plain weave printed black cotton with printed purple, pink, and green stripes outlined in white. The lining is loose at the front flaps (not attached to fashion fabric) but attached at the side seams and around the neck. The loose front lining flaps can be adjusted using drawstring ties at the bottom. Five areas of boning (steel?) stitched into the CB (1), and at either side back seam. No boning in front.
Skirt is cut to flare out like an A-line, to the floor. The drape is achieved through a combination of grain placement and gussets. While the skirt fastens in the back with a CB placket opening, no actual fastening device/hook/button is observed, which may suggest that it was left loose to accommodate changes in the wearer’s girth? The skirt is lined in the same material as the bodice.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+T.010 |
