A lovely antique silk taffeta dress that dates to the late Civil War era in a configuration not commonly found.  I’ve had many original gowns from the 1860s over the years and they are all amazingly similar in construction.  This dress, though, is slightly different in that it is 2 pieces – bodice and skirt.

The bodice is fully lined.  The body is light brown twill and the sleeves are brown polished cotton.  There is quite a lot of hand sewing throughout.  At the right center front, a piece of boning – looks to be whalebone - has come through the twill lining.  Closure is at center front and all metal hooks and eyes are present.  The decorative buttons at the center front are especially wonderful.  All appear to be present, but the bottom two on the bodice are missing the “dangles”.  Although there is no belt, it is possible one was worn, causing them to come off.  The coat sleeve style sleeves have a band of ruching at the dropped shoulder and at the cuff.  Bands of beadwork below the shoulder ruching and above the cuff ruching come to a point and are decorated with matching buttons.  There is piping at the armscyes, cuff, and waist.  The stand up collar helps us to date this in the mid to late years of the Civil War.

The skirt is unlined and, rather than the customary directional knife and/or box pleats or gauging, the fabric is gathered to a band of the skirt material, which fastens with hook and eye.  The hem facing is very deep and covers at least halfway to the waist. 

The condition is very good.  The bodice, being fully lined, is really quite nice.  There are underarm stains that are not very noticeable due to the pattern and color of the fabric.  The skirt has some splits mostly right above where the hem facing is sewn – the worst one is clearly shown in the photos, but could easily be hidden in the folds of the skirt.  I fastened the skirt at the front, just right of center, as most of the original (1 piece) dresses do.  The skirt could easily be fastened in other locations to hide the splits.  Also, the silk is split in several areas where the fabric is creased, such as the top of the waistband, etc. and there are several small holes, as pictured, none larger than a pencil eraser.

Overall, this delightful example of vintage mid-19^th century Victorian clothing will display very nicely and the beading and buttons do make this especially desirable!

Bodice Measurements:

Bust:                     33”

Waist:                   25”

Neck:                    14”

Sleeve:                  28 ½”  (from center back neckline to end of sleeve)

Skirt Measurements:

Waist:                  24”

Length:                 42”