Collections Database

Description:
Pink satin stomacher, now faded to beige except for inside fabric folds, gathered fully onto cotton backing, which would have formed front for dress. Stitched by hand into place about 1 3/4" apart creating ten rows of gathering. Stomacher tapers from 9" wide at top to 1" wide at bottom. By the mid-18th century, women's fashionable dress consisted of an open robe worn with a petticoat. The sides of the bodice did not always meet in the middle; frequently a triangular insert known as a stomacher was employed to fill in the gap. Stitched or laced to the open robe, the practical function of stomachers was often buried beneath layers of applied decoration, including trim, metallic embroidery, or patterned fabric. For participants in Colonial Revival balls held during the 20th century, a reproduction stomacher was fairly easy to make, though with perhaps a more modern aesthetic. This is a modern, in imitation of an 18th-century stomacher, probably used for fancy dress or as a prop for a mannequin display.

Subjects:
Silk; Linen; Cotton; Textile fabrics

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+93.882

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.