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This frilly white dress would have been a favorite party dress in the 1890's. It has Valenciennes style lace as insertion and also at the hems of the ruffled yoke and sleeves, with the two lines of insertion lace down the center front. The yoke is covered in net lace. A tiny drawstring on the inside gathers each cuff to create the large puffy sleeves of the 1890's. The dress appears to be totally hand sewn with tiny stitching and the bobbin lace is hand made, indicating a labor of love on someone's part well into the era when sewing machines and inexpensive machine lace were commonly available. The fabric is either cotton or perhaps fine linen. The third picture shows how this dress appears when displayed on a vintage 33" doll; doll not included with purchase. A delightful circa 1890's little girl's dress.
In excellent as found antique condition. The dress has no tears, stains, or rips in the dress fabric or lace. The color is somewhat an antique white, less bright white than the pictures show. I saw a handful of tiny pinhead size dark spots on the left side, in the back, and one in the front between the two rows of insertion lace. When displayed, these spots disappear into the folds. I also noticed a faint age spot plus some grayish smudges of fingertip size near the hem. The dress has quite a bit of dark lint on it; I picked off most of it but some probably remains. There are perhaps ten or so separations where the insertion lace has pulled away from the dress fabric; see the close-up of the right sleeve cuff for an example. There are no fasteners at the back neck opening and I see no signs that there ever were any fasteners. There are some pin holes in this area; perhaps it was pinned closed.
Shoulder-to-shoulder: 9-1/2"
Armpit-to-armpit: 13-1/2" (with quite a lot of gathering, so will fit a much larger size)
Sleeve length: 13-1/2" shoulder to hem of cuff
Length: 25-1/2"
Price: $125.00
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