1760, Spitalfields

1760, Spitalfields

Identifier
T.58-1911
Collection
Material
Technique
Depiction
Dimension
50.5 cm (width)
Production time
Production place
Type of object

Description

Unique A woman's sack and petticoat, 1760s, English; Yellow silk, figured with narrow white satin stripes, brocaded with floral motifs, Spitalfields, 1760s, altered 1870-1910 A woman's sack and petticoat of yellow silk, figured with narrow white satin stripes, brocaded with floral motifs in white, green and shades of pink. The sack is open at the front, with elbow-length sleeves and double, scalloped and pinked sleeve ruffles. The bodice front has a half-stomacher piece on either side. The bodice and sleeves are lined with linen. At the back are two double box pleats, stitched at the neck line. The sack is made of 6 widths of silk with a triangular gore at the side front. The waist seam runs from front opening to the bodice side back seam. The skirts are pleated into the waist on either side of the pocket openings in the side seams. A ruching of pinked, scalloped and box-pleated silk runs around the back neck and down the front edge of the bodice and skirt. Another row of ruching runs down the skirt fronts and the triangular space it creates, is filled with a scalloped and pinked ruching, gathered into puffs, arranged in a zig-sag. The petticoat is made of 5 widths of silk, with a box pleat at the centre front of the waist, and flat pleats at the side and back. The waist is bound with a wide silk ribbon, which forms the fastenings at each side of the pocket openings. The petticoat is lined with coarsely woven wool. The front is decorated with a deep flounce of scalloped, pinked silk, arranged in a serpentive line. Below is a straight line of box-pleated ruching, a curved line of the same above, and a serpentine line of puffed ruching in between. The sack was altered for fancy dress in the late 19th century. Tucks made in the bodice fronts and the front edges of the stomacher were shaped and boned for a late 19th century corset; hooks and thread bars added. Ruffles of machine-woven net were added to the sleeves.