Category: Alteration Mending

Silk Taffeta Day Dress, 1863-1870

This dress had four incarnations, lasting nearly a decade, adapting to fashion changes. Here’s the likely timeline:

1. 1863: Bodice made with a pointed waistline, separate skirt of straight panels evenly gathered into the waistband

2. 1864: Dress made one-piece, allowing skirt to cover pointed waistline now out of style

3. 1865: Skirt reconfigured with side gores to lie flatter in front and fuller in back

4. 1869-70: Three pairs of twill tape ties are sewn into the skirt lining at the back. When tied, they raise the skirt into the new bustle shape. This style could work for another year or two.

Silk, cotton lining, replacement lower sleeves and buttons. Gift of Elizabeth Ann Coleman  2010.34.4

From Tailcoat to Frock Coat, 1820-25/1840-59

This coat demonstrates a major alteration to extend its use into at least a third decade. The original cutaway skirt of a tailcoat, the dominant style of the early 1800s, has been filled in here to turn it into a frock coat. Its current cut suggests this was probably done in the 1840s, which could have extended its use into the 1850s. The alterations appear to be done by a tailor, although imperfectly. There is a new lining to the body of the coat, and the stitching is fine. But the piecing is awkward. Both sides have one front piece but the side pieces are made of three or four pieces, each set at a different angle, none of them either straight nor on a perfect bias. The left side’s front skirt appears to be the same fabric as the coat, but its different orientation causes its nap to catch the light in a way that calls attention to the alterations. The right side uses four pieces of a not-quite-matching wool. Nevertheless, although someone in more fashion-conscious levels of society would have bought a new coat, this must have been an acceptable solution for this coat’s less socially elite wearer. Perhaps this practice was more common than surviving garments could testify to. 

Wool broadcloth, cotton. DAR Museum 2023.19

Robe ā l’Anglaise (English style gown), updated from 1738 to c. 1770

Eighteenth century dressmaking used pleats wherever possible instead of piecing, to allow the dress to be unstitched and updated repeatedly. The blue silk damask used here was made in China for the Western market in the 1730s. The dress is believed to have been worn by Elizabeth Park of Concord, Massachusetts, at her 1738 wedding with Nicholas Baylies. At that time, not only skirts but bodices were open in the front, with pleated strips of fabric called “robings” framing a triangular “stomacher,” which would fill in the bodice. After 1770, bodices met in the middle, and robings were eliminated.

Possibly this dress’s robings supplied the strips of fabric that now fill in the bodice front, whose woven patterns have been carefully matched. The entire dress was undoubtedly taken apart. There are “ghosts” of earlier pleats on the back of the bodice, and the skirt’s fullness would have needed to be redistributed to keep up with later fashions. The linen lining of the bodice dates to the 1770s updating, as it extends all the way around without piecing. It seems likely that the dress would have been remade and updated at least one more time between its 1738 and 1770s incarnations.

Silk damask woven in China, dress sewn and made in Massachusetts. Gift honoring Jeanette Lawrence Osborn Baylies, President General  78.30

2: John Wollaston (American, born England), Portrait of a Woman (Rebecca Beekman Spry), 1749-1752. Art Institute of Chicago. 

Darning Sampler, 1817

Darning and mending techniques were taught along with other sewing skills both at home and in schools. Decorative darning samplers like this were made at Westtown School, a Quaker school in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Few mended textiles show such fancy stitching.

Rachel Pennock, age 18, West Town School, Chester County, Pennsylvania

Cotton on linen ground. Gift of Elva Roseley Hardie in honor of the Honorary State Regents of Colorado 85.36.1

Darned Stocking and Darning Equipment, early 1800s

“darning stockings—my horror.”

—Diary of Frances Hume, Virginia, 1862

Though often a dreaded task, darning holes in stockings was a frequent part of many women’s lives well into the twentieth century. The heel or toe would be stretched over a darning egg of wood, glass, or even a dried gourd, and a large blunt darning needle was used to weave a new toe or heel.

Darned linen stocking knit by Phoebe Morton, 1810-1829, Virginia, gift of Bertha Devin Allen 709

Wooden darning egg, 1800s, DAR Museum 81.27

Copper darning needle, early 1800s, Gift of Jane Zellner Gladney Butler  2906

Sewing Exercise Book Pages: Darns and Patches, late 1800s

In the late 1800s, public schools began teaching hand sewing. Students sewed or glued their practice pieces into notebooks for later reference, just as makers of earlier samplers had done.

Cotton and wool, on paper. Private lender

Child’s Linen Shift, 1780-1800

The frugal maker of this shift not only made it with many small pieces but prolonged its use with numerous darns and patches.

DAR Museum 98.54.3