Dress

Dress (robe and underskirt) of cream silk with satin stripes alternating with chevron stripes. On the satin stripe is printed a chiné rose and a spot. There seems to be a sample of this fabric in a book by the Spitalfields silk weaving company Batchelor, Ham and Perigal for 1791.

The gown imitates a basqued jacket with cut-away pleated fronts over a matching stomacher. The bodice is constructed in 'zone' front style. The bodice's side front and side back are pleated; the bodice back has a peplum creating the impression that the bodice is a jacket. The bodice and sleeves are lined with cream linen, the back is lightly boned. The wrist-length sleeves have buttons and buttonholes up the outside of the wrist. The skirt is open and sits mostly at the back of the dress. The edges of the bodice and skirt front are trimmed with matching fly braid.

Norah Waugh included a pattern of the dress in her book 'The Cut of Women's Clothes' (first published in 1968).