History of Fashion & Dress
Final Project
                         Instructions:   The report should contain the following:

     A brief description of the garment.
     Photos of the garment.
An estimated "date" of the garment, with a description of the reasons/sources you used to arrive at this date.
An estimated "story" of the garment, describing when it was probably worn (parties, work, wedding?), what price range it represents (custom tailored, expensive, home-made, mass produced cheaply?), and any other important information you have been able to deduce.
A list of sources of information.
My final study garments are two wedding gowns.  The first is a two-piece dress made for the wedding of Lizzie Thompson when she married Benjamin Francis Penny in 1895 in Ellington CT.  It was graciously loaned to my best friend by her aunt, Carlese Wood.  Lizzie Thompson was Carlese�s husband�s grandmother.

The dress is made of light chocolate brown faille, trimmed with matching brown satin ribbon.  A hat and beaded bertha collar of (now disintegrating) pink chiffon were worn with it.  It was handmade and there is evidence of it having been let out in later years.

The waist is 26 1/2 inches and the shoulders measure 12 inches across.  In today's sizing, a size 2 blouse would have about the same across-the-shoulders measurement.

The bodice is 18 inches from shoulder seam to hem. It is completely lined in a tan polished cotton. The center front back bodice come to a V.  The original skirt hem circumference was about 82 inches. We figured  that Lizzie must have been 5 feet, tall judging by the hem length and overall sizing proportions.
Bodice front, showing the leg of mutton sleeves and the satin ribbon trim detail on the sleeve.  The same ribbon flower trim is on the bodice front, but does not show up well in the photograph on the left.  The bow detail is more clearly seen below:
The center back V of the bodice has five stitched down tucks.  They are not of equal size.
The dress was altered so Lizzie could wear it for her 50th wedding anniversary, in 1945.  My friend and I speculated that the alterations at this time included adding a front placket so the jacket would close, and that the brown satin ribbon trim on the bodice front was added at that time.  We came to this conclusion since there is interior hand stitching to hold the ribbon in place that did not match the other interior stitching.  In addition, the beaded bertha collar (below, left)  would have covered most of the ribbon trim. 
Bertha front,
made of gathered pink chiffon, backed with white muslin. (right)  The neck band is pink satin ribbon.The beading is done by hand. At some point, one of the strands came loose and was reattached in the wrong place.
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