Stunning 1860's Robins Egg Blue Silk Gown Civil War Antique
From the Seller
Stunning 1860's Robins Egg Blue Silk Gown Civil War. I love this piece but as you can see there’s condition issues. Fading and stains, skirt also hangs longer on one side, missing buttons. Bust: 34” Waist: 24” Shoulders: 16” Sleeves: 17” Neck to waist: 15” Total length: 60”
From the Industrious Lady
If this dress screams anything, its totally a transition dress from round hoops to eliptical. There are still pleats in the front of the dress, with only minimal skirt balance to the back. However, the neckline and the added on overskirt. While hard to say, the longer back piece does look like an overskirt with the belt applied over it in my opinion, rather than all of it being part of the belt.
Cendrillion June 1865. The blue dress on the left bears a striking resemblance to the blue one above, and could have served as the inspiration for the original dress. Although the applied piece is much shorter in the one above. Both have a blue overlay with a belt around the waste with a bow that drapes down over the piece underneath.
Besides this, lets talk about that pinking trim. Ironically I was just thinking today how few dresses we see from the era that actually show good examples of pinking ribbon applied as trim. This was a common self trim style from the 18th century, that fell out of popularity during the simplicity of the regency era only to be resurrected during the romantic and crinoline eras. Your Dictionary describes it as "zigzag cuts in fabric or wool". It was a way of finishing raw edges on strips of bias fabric that would allow for minimum unravel of the fabric that was both pleasing to the eye and logistically practical.
Not sure why, maybe I've got little women on the mind, but the neckline and the ribbon around the waist reminds me of the blue dress from the 1994 "Little Women" movie. The blue frock was first worn by Meg then passed to Amy who can be seen wearing it later on.
Image from IMDB
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