Alterations?

Has the dress been altered since its original creation?

From Research Process Part 1 - 1910's Franklin Simon gown

There is a tuck in the lace layer of the skirt, just below the waist level, all the way around, which is hidden by the jacquard overlay. It is not quite even all the way around. Was it original on the dress, providing some sort of shaping to the skirt? Or is it a later alteration?

One other detail suggests that it might be an alteration: on the snap closure placket at the center back of the skirt, the lace layer sits higher than the lining layer. The lining could easily have been re-hemmed right at the bottom to adjust the length, but the lace, with its border design and beading, would have to have been raised at the waist (and is conveniently covered by the overskirt).

Another detail I've considered is the nature of the beading. The beadwork continues up the length of the lace skirt, even though much of it is covered by the overskirt. I thought this also might be an argument for an alteration, but in fact I now think it just indicates that the lace was beaded as yardage before being cut into the skirt.

Was the dress made to order, or ready to wear, or something in between?

Another option exists, somewhere in the middle - that the dress was in the middle of the spectrum between ready-to-wear and made-to-order, so that parts of the dress (inner waistband, lining, skirt) and were already made, but then altered for the specific wearer, whereas other parts (sash, overlays) were applied for the specific wearer. Then it would make sense that the skirt length was altered, even for its original wearer (not unlike a modern bridesmaid's dress).

Questions

The more we work with this dress, the more we want to know about it. As we go, we keep adding to a list of questions we have about the dress and its history, and our objective with this project is to answer as many of them as we can! That way a student who tries on the reproduction can get a detailed picture of the world from which the dress came.

What follows are our questions, in no particular order, followed by a label in parentheses which indicates the category this question falls under. From each blog page, the sidebar on the left has a list of all these categories, kind of like an index. You can use that list to navigate to a particular question that interests you.

Who wore this dress, and for what occasion? (wearer)
What year was the dress made and worn? (period)
What region is the dress from? (region)
Where was it purchased / made? (source)
What underwear would have been worn with this dress? (underwear)
What accessories would have been worn with this dress? (accessories)
Who made this dress, and under what conditions? (production)
Was the dress made to order, or ready to wear, or something in between? (production)
What construction techniques were used to make this dress? (construction)
What would the flat pattern for the dress look like? (pattern)
Has the dress been altered since its original creation? (construction)
How much did this dress cost? (cost)
How much were workers paid to make it? (cost)
What are the different fabrics, trims, and hardware used in the dress? (materials)
Where were they produced, under what conditions, and at what cost? (materials)
Where can we find similar fabrics, trims, and hardware to reproduce the dress? (materials)
How can we work with this dress without causing it further damage? (conservation)
What size person originally wore this dress? (size)
To what size should we reproduce the dress? (size)
What would the dress have looked like in 3D? In motion? (images)

Each of these questions has several "sub-questions," and we will try to address each question in at least one blog post. You can navigate through our blog posts chronologically, or use the "Label" list as an index to go right to the sections that interest you most. If you would like to add any questions, or help propose some answers, please add to the comments below (or on the pages for individual questions).