Baby's long gown of white muslin embroidered in white with sprays of flowers; made in England, ca. 1850

For a baby: long gown of white muslin, the skirt embroidered in white with sprays of stylized flowers resembling daisies and china asters worked in chain stitch. The bodice has a rounded neck and short sleeves, and a centre front panel composed of horizontal bands of embroidered insertion; there are robings of scalloped cutwork on the bodice, but they do not continue down the skirt. The skirt is gathered to the waist, and finished with a scalloped hem which is embroidered in an overlapping fishscale pattern with a circular motif in each 'scale'. The garment fastens at the back of the bodice with drawstrings at neck and waist, and a single pearl button.

Given by Miss Joan Hassall

The original catalogue record of 1963 states that it was given to the museum by Miss Joan Hassall, the illustrator (1906-88), and had been given to her mother (née Constance Brooke-Webb) by the Baden-Powell family - Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement, and Miss Hassall's father, the illustrator John Hassall, were both menbers of the London Sketch Club.

The embroidery on the skirt of this long gown is unusally flamboyant for such a garment, and may well be Indian in origin. The fabric may have been intended for light furnishing use, such as cradle drapes or a dressing table cover. The flowers are stylized, but the larger blooms suggest some types of china aster, which were extremely popular in the nineteenth century, many new varities being developed and grown.

T.227-1963