Lesson 13: Work with your Study Garment
My best friend borrowed the first one for me from her aunt. The dress was worn by Lizzie Thompson when she married Benjamin Francis Penny in 1895 in Ellington CT.
The dress, 2 pieces, made of light chocolate brown file, trimmed with satin ribbon. A hat and bertha collar of (now disintegrating) pink chiffon were worn with it. It was sewn by machine and by hand. There is evidence of it having been let out and altered in later years.
The waist is 26 1/2 " and the shoulders measure 12" across. We
figured that Lizzie must have been no taller than 5', judging by
the hem length & overall sizing proportions.