Dress #127: Early Victorian day dress in brown paisley

This hand-stitched paper dress is based on an English day dress from 1835-1840; the original is held by the Victoria & Albert Museum (accession T.75&A-1947). It was made from block and roller-printed cotton in a paisley design influenced by the Kashmiri shawls imported by the colonial East Indian Company. The pouf of the gigot sleeves has travelled further down the wearer’s arms, with tighter sections at the shoulders and towards the wrists. The shoulders feature the cartridge pleating typical of the time, while triangular pleats add visual interest to the bodice. According to the Victoria & Albert Museum, “The intense demand for cotton textiles and dresses in places including Britain depended around this time on enslaved labour in the United States, where this fibre was cultivated and processed.”

The dress is six inches tall, stitched by hand on 8x10 inch 100% cotton watercolour paper, which means that it will pop right into any commercial frame in that size, and be ready to hang on your wall.

Materials: Japanese paper and cotton floss on cotton paper; 24.5 x 20.3 cm (10 x 8")