A woman's gown and petticoat, 1760s, English; Blue silk damask, Spitalifields, c1745; altered 1870-1910

A woman's gown and petticoat of blue silk damask. The gown is in the English (tight-back) style, open at the front, with elbow-length sleeves and double, scalloped sleeve ruffles. The bodice and sleeves are lined with linen. The bodice has pieced robings to the waist. The pleats at the back are stitched down; the centre back is pieced and runs from neckline to hem. The skirts are pleated into the waist seam. The gown is made from 4 widths of silk with a partial panel at each front, with a scallope and pinked front edge.

The petticoat is made of 3 widths of silk at the front; the back heavily pieced with silk and blue linen. The waist is box pleated at the centre front, with flat pleats at the side and back. The pleats are bound with blue linen tape, which once formed the side fastenings. The hem has a narrow facing of white silk taffeta.

The gown was probably first made in the late 1740s or 1750s; remaining pleats and the heavy piecing of the petticoat suggest it was possibly first a closed sack worn with a wide hoop. In the 1760s, it was taken apart and remade into an English-style gown and petticoat. In the late 19th century, the robings were unpicked for fancy dress and the blue linen tape ties fastening the bodice front replaced with undyed linen ties (two now missing).

Bequeathed by Miss M. S. Mourilyan

An alternative to the sack was the gown which had a tightly fitting back, as seen in this example. It is made of silk damask in a pattern of large curling leaves typical of the 1740s. It may have been first made as a sack and then remade in the 1760s in its current style. The silk gauze apron is decorative rather than practical. It is woven in diaper pattern with floral motifs.

T.197&A-1959