Green flowered and striped silk gown fragment

ExpandFavorite

View PDF

Status

Not on view

Date1760-1780

Medium/TechniqueSilk

DimensionsOverall: 12 1/4 in. × 6 3/4 in. (31.12 cm × 17.15 cm)

Credit LinePurchased by the A. Alfred Taubman Acquisition Endowment Fund and partial gift of an anonymous donor, 2004

Object numberW-2784/A

DescriptionThis fabric is plain woven celery green with both stripes and flower motifs. The stripes alternate in width and design. The thin stripes are a ribbed cream; the medium stripes are a ribbed cream flanked by an unribbed cream, then a ribbed purple, and a ribbed brown; the large stripe set is a ribbed purple flanked by unribbed brown, a strip of ground fabric, unribbed cream, ribbed purple, then ribbed brown. The ribbed stripes are done with supplementary warp floats, similar in technique to 1/7 corduroy. In general, the stripes are ordered large, medium, large, small, large.

Between the stripes are colorful bundles of flowers done in discontinuous weft brocade. The bundles are share the same form, but alternate in direction and color: switching between sloping up to the right, then up to the left. Those that slope up the right have a large white rose done in boucle yarn, dark green leaves, and light pink and bright pink flowers. The other groups have the same white rose and dark green leaves, but the remaining flowers are purple and grey-pink.

The fabric also has a subtle, white floral vine motif. This is done with by floating the wefts, which are white through the fabric. Since the floated wefts are structural, the floats appear on the back in the warp.

The both the green warps and the white wefts of the ground weave are unspun filament, or lightly S-spun that has loosened further within the weave. The light pink of the brocade is S-spun. The white boucle yarn of the large flowers in the brocade is 2-ply S with one element spun tighter than the other, causing the yarn to loop around itself and ply unevenly.

There is a seam down the center of this fragment with both edges raw and a 1/2 inch seam allowance. The seam is held by running stitchings in white Z-spun thread. The seam was originally pressed to the left (viewed from back), then pressed open. These actions may have been done in quick succession and both have been present in the same stage of the garment.

A piece of a patch is evident at the top left where the rectangle is removed. There is also evidence of several removed seams. The one stretching from the center bottom to the top right shows a crease with stitch lines on either side. There is some remaining Z-spun 2-ply S thread left in the stitch lines. (The same thread is present at the bottom of the central seam.) The rest, which are focused near the top and bottom edges, consist only of stitch lines: two near the top and at least four near the bottom. The lower stitch line along the top edge shows the same thread as the creased stitch line.

Mount Vernon's object research is ongoing and information about this object is subject to change. For information on image use and reproductions, click here.