Dress #058: Early Victorian day dress in brown. 2018

This hand-stitched early Victorian paper gown is based on an American day dress from ca. 1838. The body of the dress is made from Kin Sunago Japanese paper in brown with flecks of gold and silver, overlaid with Koume watermark tissue; ivory-coloured glass beads decorate the bodice and a gold sequin stands in for a brooch. Hand-embroidered lines imitate the seams and folds of the dress. It is stitched onto cold-pressed 100% cotton paper. The original dress is held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art (accession 1936-23-2).

The dress is six inches tall, stitched by hand on 8x10 inch 100% cotton watercolour paper, which means that it will pop right into any commercial frame in that size, and be ready to hang on your wall.

Materials: Japanese papers, glass beads, and cotton floss on cotton paper