The bad news was that the poor thing had been used and abused as a fashion show item for Lord knows how long before it came to me.  The fabric is a tissue silk and is just that fragile.  I didn’t know if it could withstand any sewing.  The hem of the dress had gotten wet at some point so that was entirely rotten and I had to remove about 5″ all the way around, still were two large vertical stains that I didn’t know how I was going to deal with.

The dress was one-piece but the seam was coming apart anyway so I separated the bodice from the skirt to make it easier to work on. The fabric across the shoulders was light-rotted, nothing I could do about it but cover it with a lace collar.  The sleeves were the real nightmare.  Not only were the underarms rotted away but they had been enlarged and repaired once before, in fact the side seams of the bodice had been let out all the way down.  I decided the only way to tackle this was to take the sleeves completely out, resew all the seams back to where they were originally and patch.  Since the dress will only be displayed, it just has to look decent.  I removed some fabric from the back closing of the skirt (there’s yards of  it in the gathers) to use for patches and found that they blend very well.  I did the same for the stains at the hem.

I basted the torn lace trim on the front of the skirt and mended piping that was hanging loose (frankly, everything was hanging on this dress)  The result is a fair approximation what the dress originally looked like for a very short woman with long arms.  Granted the skirt is 5 or 6 inches shorter than it originally was but it comes to mid-calf on my 5′ mannequin.  And the sleeves are about 5 or 6 inches too long on her arms, go figure.

 But I feel some statisfaction at saving another little piece of fashion history from oblivion. Remember I said I knew the name of the bride and her husband? She was Eilzabeth Abbott and she married Horatio A. Hall in 1850 in either Michigan or Iowa.  If anyone recognizes these names or has any further info, I’d love to hear from you.  I’ll post some before and after photos once I get that part figured out.

I’m also an avid collector of hand-colored fashion engravings and have about 200 years’ worth of them.  I like to look for those done by either Jules David or the Colin sisters, and those portraying wedding or mourning fashions.

 I’m a bride nut as well, I have about 20 or so actually wedding gowns from the 1850s to the 1940s, headpieces & veils, shoes, cake-toppers, photos, you name it.  Never outgrew the fondness for playing bride!

 I collect just about anything with lilies of the valley on it. That’s my birth flower.  Currently have a china cabinet full of stuff & will soon need another.