As in last month’s fashion plates, Ackermann’s November plates feature a morning gown and a walking dress (although this month labeled with the fancier title “Promenade Dress”), and a lady with a book in hand. I wonder if after the tumultuous summer and fall in the aftermath of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, ladies were spending more time at home or on quiet walks than they were socializing?
Plate 27, the morning dress, features a petticoat topped by an unusual cross-bodice jacket, rounded at the bottom front and collar. The high waisted look of the period is achieved by the addition of a ribbon or belt cinched or tied right below the bosom. Both the petticoat and the jacket are trimmed with a broad border of cross-hatched “French work,” which also appears at the wrist of each sleeve. I’d like to try to sew a version of that little jacket some day…
Vol XIV, no lxxxiii, plate 27
The description of plate 28, the Promenade Dress, says it is made of “the moreno blue striped satin,” something the painter of this plate doesn’t seem to have heeded; the dress appears white, or perhaps a pale pink, and I don’t see anything in the way of stripes. At least the illustrator got the blue of the satin ribbon on the hat right!
Vol. XIV, no. lxxxiii, Plate 28
Have you ever heard the word “gypsy” as a verb? The copy here says the bonnet is “composed of orange-coloured satin, gipsied with a handkerchief of the same.” Any guesses as to what that might mean?
Although it is termed “Patterns for Needle-Work” in the issue’s Table of Contents, the actual pattern page appears to be titled “Muslin Patterns.” Unlike patterns in earlier issues, which typically featured long, narrow patterns for the edge of a gown, this page features three sets of tiny repeating motifs, along with two short leaf and vine patterns. To embroider on a handkerchief, perhaps, instead of a gown?
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