dress

Dress in white muslin worked with large spots in diaper. This was called the hailstone design, popular in1806. The bodice has a high stomacher front buttoning at the shoulders. A loose flap along the front of the bodice may fold in to protect the body from stays. It has a low scoop back neck and above elbow length sleeves set in deep at the back decorated with diagonal tucks and trimmed with tambour muslin caught up in the centre with an embroidered button. There are drawstrings through the fronts at the waist that tie behind and tape drawstrings in the neck of the underbodice. The sleeves and bodice are lined with white calico. The skirt, set on a medium low waistline, is tightly gathered at the centre back and has a rounded train, decorated with diagonal tucks and tamboured muslin, that suggests a date near to 1805.