Day Dresses

[DJenne]

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"Grenadine dress, one of the most elegant designs of the season, has a white ground powdered with pansies of the natural colors and light leaves. The bordering at the edge of the skirt is a deep sea-green, headed by bands of black resembling velvet. The corsage is in the Pompadour style, with rich muslin guimpe and sleeves." Godey's 1863

The black and white is so graphic. I found a Mode Illustreé print at Goodwill not to long ago with a black and white dress and had to have it.

My ancestor Nancy Jenness (Richard's widow) probably wore her wedding dress as a day dress. It has very simple adornment.

Her neighbor has too. Looks to be better quality and wool.

My ggggrandmother Turzah Rogers has a dress similar to the re-enactors adress above, with the plaid print. I like the epaulettes low on her shoulders. I believe she is pregnant in this photo which begs even more questions about style and day dresses of this period.

 

[18thVirginia]

Thank you so much, DJenne, for the photos. Lovely women in lovely dresses.

The standard for the day dress of the ACW era was a waist a little higher than a natural waist. Perhaps that was to accommodate pregnancy in a day when women had a new pregnancy about every 2-2 1/2 years. My mother said that with the clothes they wore, you couldn't tell if a woman was pregnant for quite awhile. As my mother had no imagination, I imagine that was something she heard from my grandmother, who was a "tell it like it is" sort of person.

 

[18thVirginia]

I once read (somewhere, long ago) that the majority of women had two dresses.

One day dress they wore when working around the home or farm six days of the week, and one dress for Sunday to go to church in.

Any truth to that?

Sincerely,
Unionblue

Given that they had a bunch of children to clothe as well as themselves, that probably was true for a certain level of yeoman farm women. For the urban women of the South, during the war years, their clothes were patched and remade, redone, or adorned with lace/trimming from some worn out dress. I believe that Mary Chesnut talks about her former finery which is now patched. Cornelia McDonald mentions making an outfit for a young son out of her window curtains from her former home.

Here's a selection from a long piece from Godey's Lady's Book in 1866 about how the women of the Confederacy made do:

Evening dresses were unheard of towards the close of the war; even brides, unless they were the daughters of quartermasters or blockade-runners, never aspired higher than Suisse muslin, and many contented themselves with humbler fabrics. I saw the waist to one wedding dress made of the flounces of an old tarlatan skirt. They were sewed together and drawn at the seams, so as to make one of the pretty puffed waists so much in fashion two or three years ago.

Any kind of simple muslin dress and even thick, dark skirts with white muslin spencers, figured in elegant ball-rooms without seeming out of place. As many things may pass muster by candle-light which cannot stand the glare of day, it was comparatively easy to dress for evening. I have seen ladies look very well in old silk petticoats trimmed with black lace or white tarlatan ruches. Of course, all things are by comparison, and what looked very fine in those days, would be intolerable now. Our style of dressing degenerated so gradually that we could scarcely perceive the change from one season to another and did not fully appreciate our own destitution till the blockade was raised and we compared ourselves with the rest of the world. http://www.tudorlinks.com/treasury/articles/acwdifficulties.html

 

[18thVirginia]

Is that taffeta? Does it say?

@MaryDee mentioned printed wools. The other thing that's not as common today is various glazed fabrics. Although you still find glazed cotton sometimes.

"Circa 1862 silk, cotton, and wool Afternoon dress."

 

[18thVirginia]

Some dresses are described as "Walking Dresses" or "Promenade Dresses." This is a walking dress.

Green Silk, 1865

dresshttp://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/158262?rpp=60&pg=2&ft=dresses&when=A.D.+1800-1900&where=United+States&pos=82

 

[18thVirginia]

A Promenade Dress. 1860.

metmuseum.org

Cotton 1860

 

[southern blue]

Found this at the Mill Museum in Edinburg VA. The description simply says Civil War era Homespun Dress.

 

[18thVirginia]

How wonderful, southern blue! I'd seen that dress elsewhere, but it was a teeninsy little photo and didn't seem worth posting. Thanks.

Glad people are enjoying this thread. I had to go on my least favorite site ever, Pinterest, to find many of the photos.

 

[18thVirginia]

Silk plain weave (taffeta), with warp and weft float patterning; fringed silk buttons

Day dress of purple, black, deep cream and white silk plaid taffeta; fitted bodice, buttoned down front; high, round neckline, three-quarter length, bell-shaped sleeves; full skirt, slightly longer in back with fullness arranged in pleats at waist; three ornamental buttons on front of bodice made of purple-fringed black and white ribbon with black velvet center; two flounces of purple, black and white silk plaid taffeta ribbon on sleeves.

http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/womans-day-dress-112136

 

[18thVirginia]

A charming 1860's burgundy, green and black stripe dress on a tan background. The neck, armscyes and waist are piped. The bodice is lined with cotton and has a front button closure. The bottom hemline on the skirt has bands of fabric stripe fabric that are laid at an angle creating a pleasant effect. The skirt is unlined except for a wide band of cotton at the edge of the hemline.

http://www.extantgowns.com/2014/02/plaid-1860s-day-dress.html

 

[18thVirginia]

Reenactor day dresses

http://blog.historicalfashions.com/2012/11/1860s-fall-dresses.html?m=1

 

[18thVirginia]

Day Dress 1855-1865

Woman's 1-piece day dress. Handsewn, wool fabric with stylized floral and geometric pattern in blue, gray, yellow and black. Bodice is lined and boned, with hook and eye closure at center front. Piping at neckline and armscye. Long pagoda sleeves are bias-cut and pieced; sleeve diameter is 12" at bottom edge. Sleeves are trimmed with two rows of gray-blue gathered ribbon and lined with basted-in undersleeves. Gathered skirt is sewn into piped waist of bodice. Skirt has been shortened; the original hem, which is now turned under, is bound with wool braid and faced with brown polished cotton.
http://statenisland.pastperfect-onl...5773743B-6AB4-414D-BEF5-350150743630;type=101

 

[18thVirginia]

An interesting dress--wonder if the plaid was left over fabric from another day dress?

 

[MaryDee]

Unless a woman was wealthy and in a high social position, 2 or 3 dresses were often the most she'd have. The newest dress would be the "Sunday dress" until she acquired a newer one, when the old "Sunday" dress would become an everyday dress and probably the oldest one was worn out. A poor woman might have only one dress which would be sponged, spot-cleaned and spiffed up with collar and cuffs for Sunday wear. It appears that wool was used what we would consider surprisingly often for everyday dresses, because it wore much longer than cotton and kept its appearance much better.

As for the dress just above, according to Juanita Leisch's Who Wore What?, for younger, more fashionable ladies, trims of another fabric were not unusual during the Civil War era. I really like this one with the same plaid trim used for sleeve caps, skirt trim and belt. The trim could have been purchased separately or have come from a garment bought used. While I definitely could be wrong, it's possible the above dress was made of wool with plaid silk trim. (Those more experienced in interpretation, please don't hesitate to correct me!).

Bias ("cut on the cross") trim was popular, too, as shown on the skirt of the horizontally striped dress a few posts above. One of the dresses we examined at the recent Oregon City Conference was an 1860's dress of broad vertical striped material. The fashion fabric front of the bodice was cut on the bias so that the stripes formed a "V." It was really striking. I may try this on my next dress attempt! I was warned that a good firm lining would be needed to stabilize the bias bodice front and keep it from stretching out of shape.

I'm really enjoying the wonderful photos in this thread!

 

[18thVirginia]

from Pinterest

 

[18thVirginia]

1865 Cotton
http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ci/original/C.I.67.37.1_F.jpg

 

[Allie]

View attachment 68945

View attachment 68946

1865 Cotton
http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ci/original/C.I.67.37.1_F.jpg

I'm guessing this was white, or at least whiter, originally? It must have looked spectacular but it seems very easy to get dirty!

 

[unionblue]

View attachment 68945

View attachment 68946

1865 Cotton
http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ci/original/C.I.67.37.1_F.jpg

18thVirginia,

I get the impression that most of the day dresses you have posted are just a bit below 'fancy' or for upper crust ladies.

What kind of dress would a woman wear when slopping the hogs or doing household chores around the farm?

Sure would like to see a picture that showed that side of a woman's life!

Sincerely,
Unionblue

 

[Allie]

18thVirginia,

I get the impression that most of the day dresses you have posted are just a bit below 'fancy' or for upper crust ladies.

What kind of dress would a woman wear when slopping the hogs or doing household chores around the farm?

Sure would like to see a picture that showed that side of a woman's life!

Sincerely,
Unionblue

They looked very similar, honestly ... Does anyone remember where to find a particular photo which I know has been posted, of a number of ladies doing laundry in a courtyard? I think they may be refugees?

 

[18thVirginia]

18thVirginia,

I get the impression that most of the day dresses you have posted are just a bit below 'fancy' or for upper crust ladies.

What kind of dress would a woman wear when slopping the hogs or doing household chores around the farm?

Sure would like to see a picture that showed that side of a woman's life!

Sincerely,
Unionblue

Civil War nurse http://civilwarsaga.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/civil_war_nurse.jpg

LOC

Contrabands at Foller Farm LOC

Sewing flags in Philadelphia

Filling cartridges in a factory