Introduction
Sewing, Seams, Quilting and Cording
A sleeved brace of corsets and busk of pink watered silk trimmed with pink silk taffeta threads. ( English, 1660-1670 )
The 1660s and 1670s were transitional decennaries for adult females ‘s manners. Until so stylish adult females ‘s frock consisted of a two or three piece ensemble of a richly decorated bodice worn with and every bit rich half-slip and overskirt. It was during this clip that the bodice changed its map from an outer garment to go an undergarment, the corsets, worn under an outer bed, such as the mantua. The map of the corsets was to be a support or remain for the mantua which was a loose unstructured robe without any boning. Such robes were unfastened at the forepart and met at the centre front waist, go forthing a triangular part of the forepart of the corsets seeable which was covered by a stomacher.
This brace of sleeved corsets are handstiched throughout in pink silk yarn, and all the borders are bound with twilled silk thread. The boning is highly all right and arranged to accomplish and stress the stylish attenuated figure figure of the 1660 to the 1670s. the corsets are constructed in 10 subdivisions. The chief seams of each subdivision are covered in thread which can be seen clearly in the drawings. The craming extends below the waistline. The item shows the centre back with the molded cardinal check or tail of the corsets and silk threads which are cosmetic instead than functional. The arms are elbow length, and cut directly without any determining. They are attached at the armholes by pink taffeta threads fiting those on the tail of the corsets. The arms are optional and could be removed if desired. The busk was placed at the centre forepart and held in place by intertwining, leting for an accommodation in tantrum every bit good as protecting the wearer from the uncomfortableness of the lacing.
A adult female ‘s jacket of linen embroidered in silk yarn and trimmed with bobbin lacing. ( English, 1620s )
Narrow bobbin lacing in black and white linen, inserted between the borders of the black arm seams, echoes the color strategy of this blackwork jacket dating from the 1620s. The unbleached linen is embroidered in black silk in a pattern typical of the early seventeenth century. Scrolling stems bearing a assortment of flowers, insects and birds, worked in a scope of cosmetic stitches.
The high waist and reasonably narrow arms indicate the passage period between the long-waisted, tight sleeved manner of the late 16th and early seventeenth century, and the short-waisted, full sleeved jacket which became popular for adult females during the reign of Charles I.
Pair of pockets, quilted silk with linen tape. ( English, 1740s )
Eighteenth century adult females ‘s gowns did non include pockets. They were separate points worn under the hoop, singly or in a brace, suspended from a tape around the waist. Access to the pockets and their contents were gained through gaps in the side seams of the half-slips and its overlying gown.
A rich buttercup-yellow silk, quilted in a simple form, makes up this beautiful brace of mid eighteenth century pockets. They are wedge form in signifier, with dorsums of undersealed xanthous silk. A diaper form fills the centre, with a scrolling moving ridge design around the boundary line.
A adult female ‘s gown of twilled linen. ( English, 1775-1780 )
An illustration of a bed screen being given a 2nd life can be seen in this finely twilled linen gown of the late 1770s. It has been made from a bed screen dating from the mid eighteenth century. One border has been transformed into a boundary line of the skirt with a dumbly twilled spiral land, over which curl stylized fruits and flowers worked in nappy quilting. Above the boundary line ‘s molded gable border float more twilled flowered and fruit motives. A all right running stitch in linen lineations the compartments through which the cotton cord was drawn.
Gathers, Pleats and Looped Drapery
A adult female ‘s gown of printed cotton with gilded polka-dot overprinting ( Dutch, 1780s )
The comprehensiveness of the skirt is contained by the tightest possible gathers around the waistline of this 1780s unfastened gown of printed cotton.
A stylish gown for twenty-four hours wear, it has a tightly fitted bodice with low vitamin D & A ; eacute ; colletage and cubitus length arms. The open-fronted skirt would hold revealed a half-slip of either a light-weight silk or matching printed cotton. The characteristic cut and manner of the 1780s can be seen in the dorsum of the bodice with its deeply pointed Centre making good below the waistline.
A adult male ‘s formal twenty-four hours coat of felted wool with silver-guilt buttons ( English, 1750s-1760s )
The manner of the 1740s for excessive full-skirted coats made with stiff interlinings had declined by the 1750s and 1760s. The plait of this coat flank the unfastened seams which extend from hip to hem on each side of the coat, and are partly closed by a brace of button corsets. The unfastened seams in work forces ‘s coats were partly due to the fact that eighteenth century gentlemen were entitled to transport a blade.
Softly rounded side plaits on the skirt of this fabric coat are quiet full and have been interlined so that they hang in heavy creases.
Mantua and half-slip of ruddy silk embroidered with Ag yarn ( English, 1740-1745 )
This ruddy silk mantua is an illustration for the tallness of formal manner and the professional embroideress ‘s accomplishment. The manner of the mantua was absolutely suited for maximal show of wealth and art, the broad hoop half-slip a canvas for the acerate leaf, and fitted, trained mantua offering ample potency for elegant curtain.
Collars, Cuffs and Pockets
A adult male ‘s embroidered Court frock coat and vest of embroidered velvet and silk ( Gallic, 1780s-1790s )
The manner of work forces ‘s frock by the terminal of the eighteenth century was slender and fitted the figure. Full side skirts with stiffening and cushioning had wholly disappeared from coats to be replaced with curving or cut-away foreparts, level plaits and longer skirts which formed dress suits at the dorsum. Sleeves were longer and tighter and turnups smaller. Vests lost their skirts and were cut consecutive across at the waist. Short base neckbands appeared on coats in the 1760s and became stylish in the 1770s when they besides appeared on work forces ‘s vests. As coat neckbands rose in tallness over the following two decennaries, vest neckbands about matched them in size.
A adult male ‘s dress coat of sprigged silk velvet embroidered in silver-guilt yarn ( French/Italian, 1760s )
This frock coat is abundantly embroidered in silver-guilt yarn, purl and spangles. It forms portion of a suit with fiting vest. The embellishment extends down each forepart and around the pockets and the unfastened turnups. The item shows the turnups from the back uncovering a richly embroidered white satin liner.
A mantua of white satin embroidered and trimmed with chenille ( English, of Gallic embroidered silk, 1775-1785 )
This late eighteenth century mantua is decorated with chenille embellishment and plait on a white satin land. Colored silk turn and chenille yarn in a form of flowers and leaves decorate the cloth. A wired plait of chenille togss wound into a form of more flowers and foliages, trims the borders of the arm frills, cervix and sides of the mantua train. A blond and chenille spool lacing edges the plait and outlines the cervix.
It has the characteristic broad set of cloth of the clip, trimmed and gathered across the back waist. The side panels have disappeared. The long train is an extension of the two panels of silk used for the bodice back. By the 1780s the broad hoop had been modified to a unit of ammunition form of more modest dimensions, similar to those worn with informal frock. Sleeve ruffles remain but are reduced from three tier to two grade.
A adult male ‘s vest of bluish ribbed silk embroidered in Ag yarn, foil and sequins ( English, 1730s-1740s )
Glittering silver-thread embellishment combined with Ag foil and sequins decorate the pocket flap of this silk vest. The embroidered ornament is applied down the forepart borders and all around the pockets and pocket flaps. The flared skirts of the vest are stiffened with buckram or horsehair to retain their form. The buttons down the front extend from cervix to hem though the corresponding buttonholes merely widen to the waist.
The item shows a pocket flap which has a button stitched on each corner and four stitched below the flap. All of them are cosmetic, there are no button holes. This outfit could hold been a portion of a nuptials outfit.
Kniting
A adult female ‘s jacket of hand-knitted silk and silver-gilt wrapped silk, lined with bluish linen ( English? 1630s? )
A deep coral-pink silk and yellow, partly wrapped with silver-gilt strip, make the form of curvilineal flowered branchlets on this seventeenth century knitted jacket. It is comprised of rectangular panels of changing dimensions which constitute the arms, foreparts and back. The design has been worked in carrying stitch, with a basket-pattern boundary line at the hem. This attention-getting garment, and others like it, pose many inquiries refering their method and day of the month of production. Opinions are divided as to whether they are Italian or English, frame or hand-knit.
The design consists of separate flowered sprays rendered in a curvilineal manner, proposing a day of the month comparable with jackets embroidered with similar motives, that is the 1630s. With lone eight stitches to the inch, the knitwork frame was a reasonably rough instrument at this period, and there was no agency until the 1730s of suiting the purl required for ribbing or the basket form shown here. So the gage of 17 stitches per inch and the ribbed squares at the hem regulation out a stocking frame for this jacket. What is vexing is the purely rectilineal defining and sawn bindings, instead than knitting methods, to complete the cervix and forepart borders. It would look that knitters in the seventeenth century had non yet discovered how best to work the elastic belongingss of knitting for garments covering the upper trunk. The usage of rectangles with, in some instances, sawn-in Gores, reflects the traditional cut and building methods utilizing woven cloths. The linen liner and bindings are besides conventional ways of completing borders and guaranting the garment keeps its form. It is possible that these jackets were purchased as a set of panels and made up at place therefore leting accommodations to be made to suit the wearer.
While these jackets were originally thought to hold been made in Italy, recent research in to the knitting industries in Britain indicate that by the 3rd one-fourth of the sixteenth century, the silk for such knitwear was being imported from Naples and made up in London.
Stomachers
A stomacher of embroidered silk ( English, 1700-1720 )
Stomachers are decorated V-shaped panels which cover the forepart of the bodice and were a portion of adult females ‘s frock from the 16th to the eighteenth centuries. The item shows a extravagantly embroidered stomacher. It has a land of laid and couched silver thread with bifurcate flowers embroidered in long, abruptly, satin and concatenation stitch and Gallic knots. On really expansive occasions stomachers offered a perfect background for the show of superb gems.
A stomacher of cotton whitework ( English, 1730s-1740s )
The full surface is quilted and embroidered in linen yarn, in running and back stitches and Gallic knots. The bold design includes flowered and leaf motives, Punica granatums and shells. This stomacher would hold been worn with a twenty-four hours ensemble.
A stomacher of embroidered silk with lacing ( English, 1730s-1740s )
A silk stomacher embroidered in colored silk, laced with Ag cord and trimmed with Ag plait. The set of check at the underside and the criss-cross lacing are endurances from late seventeenth century stomachers. Ribbons are sometimes used alternatively of cord. The lacings served a double intent being cosmetic and supplying and anchorage for the terminals of a kerchief. The weaving flowered embellishment was designed specifically for the stomacher and includes clove pinks worked in satin, root and back stitches with set work in silver yarn. Most stomachers are lined in apparent linen but this one is lined with a block print in Rubia tinctorum dye of the 1740s or 1750s.
A stomacher of embroidered silk ( English, 1730s-1740s )
A colorful stomacher embroidered in colored silks and Ag yarn in satin stitch and couching. It resembles the old one though it lacks intertwining and has a broader, less elegant form.
Baseball gloves and Places
A baseball mitt of embroidered leather ( English or Gallic, 1610-1625 )
Silver and silver-guilt embellishment and fringing adorn the gantlet of this leather baseball mitt. Silver guilt sequins are scattered between the embroidered motives. A assortment of metal togss have been used, making elusive alterations in texture. To inspire the design, portion of the embellishment has been worked over pieces of ruddy satin. The form is based on leaf forms formed by a raised tablet of linen stitches over which the silver-guilt yarn is couched. Baseball gloves for work forces and adult females were frequently perfumed.
A baseball mitt of embroidered leather ( Gallic, 1660s )
This richly decorated leather baseball mitt has silver and silver-guilt embellishment on the gantlet. As the century progressed, the form of the baseball mitts changed. The gantlets became smaller and the fingers less elongated. Embroidered ornament frequently revealed a penchant for strictly metal thread embellishment, the designs arranged in simple forms and utilizing a broad assortment of togss. Metal bobbin lacing and Ag and silver-guilt fringing retained their popularity.
A mitten of embroidered velvet and silk ( English, about 1600 )
Crimson silk velvet with richly embroidered silk gantlets. The embellishment is worked in Ag and silver-gilt yarn and purl with couched work, and the colored silks are worked in long and short and satin stitches. Familiar flowers, front-runners of the embroiderers, such as tailwort, pink and lilies, every bit good as insects and fruits, scattered among luxuriant leaf, adorn the gantlet turnups.
A adult female ‘s shoe of leather decorated with plaits ( English or Gallic, 1670s )
Narrow ruddy silk plait has been meticulously applied in close parallel lines, to make an attractive additive form on this adult female ‘s fan leather shoe. The usage of cosmetic plait was a popular characteristic of stylish places in the late 17th and early eighteenth century. The shoe has an elegant form with tapering uppers completing with a narrow square toe. The heel is reasonably high and thrust good beneath the pes. Until the 1660s and 1670s places for both work forces and adult females were normally fastened across the instep by threads. This shoe has bantam holes in the lingua and latches that likely accommodated a narrow silk thread finished with points or a little buckle.
This shoe was likely perfumed. Scented vesture in the seventeenth century was popular, and as personal hygiene was non a precedence, helped to dissemble organic structure smells.
A adult female ‘s slipper of embroidered velvet ( English or Gallic, 1650s-1660s )
A adult female ‘s slipper of ruddy velvet amply embroidered in raised and couched silver-gilt yarn. A figure names have been used for such places including pantoffle, pantacle or pantable. Historically these footings have been used slightly randomly.
In the 17th and eighteenth century both work forces and adult females wore the manner known as slipper, but work forces had low heels while adult females ‘s slippers had elegant high heels.
