#6526 $2,950
Rare bottle-green homespun dress, c.1825
Most of the clothing that has come down to us from the early 19th century is formal wear meant for special occasions. Because of the financial and sentimental value of these items, they were carefully stored away and preserved.
Everyday clothing and garments produced in rural areas were usually discarded as rags after being worn until they died. Thus, fine homespun rural clothing from the early 19th century is rarer today than high style clothing from Boston or New York. To the collector, the former is often more valuable than the latter.
This extremely rare dress is a special find for the serious collector because it is both rural homespun as well as a serious effort—with modest success—at fashionable clothing of the day. The dress came from a Brandon, Vermont estate many years ago and has since been residing in a private collection.
Given the attention to stylish detail, I believe the dress was homemade from homespun fabric in a rural area as an attempt to reproduce the latest fashionable style. The fabric is a rough plain weave wool. The slightly uneven color, which does not look like fading, indicates that the fabric was dyed at home, probably with a natural vegetable dye. The dye bath might have combined mineral indigo, which could be purchased as a powder, with a local yellow dye plant like goldenrod. Testing by a textile expert would yield fascinating information.
The dress is completely hand sewn. The seams and top stitching are carefully stitched with thread that was dyed to match the fabric. The inside is finished with a combination of ivory and tan overcasting: perhaps the seamstress ran out of the thread that was dyed to match.
The dress closes at the back neckline with drawstring ties and at the empire waist with loops and glass buttons. The drawstring ties and loops are braided from the yarn used to weave the dress. The long sleeves are cuffed at the wrist with self bands. The skirt hem has two rows of decorative tucks.
In her authoritative book, What Clothes Reveal, Linda Baumgarten writes that curators and collectors are "more likely to value an artifact's continuing history, evidence of age, and alterations, rather than demand pristine, unchanged quality."
The condition is almost excellent. I found one tiny moth nibble; one of the neckline ties is a replacement. Otherwise, the dress is all original.
It measures: 34" bust; 29" empire waist; 15 1/2" from shoulder seam to shoulder seam; 26 1/2" sleeve length, including the ruffle; 9 1/2" from the shoulder to the empire waist; and 52 1/2" from the shoulder to the hem.
