Thanks so much--this is really helpful. I am making a reproduction 1861 dress, but I used green piping instead of self piping, because it picked up the tiny amount of green in t he small print on a dark blue background, and was one of the few decorative elements. I look forward to meeting you at the Genteel Arts Conference, and perhaps discuss some of this!
Yours in costuming, Lisa A On Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:25:06 -0500 "Lists" <[email protected]> writes: > Hi, Lisa - > > Piping is not an absolute, but it does appear in almost all adult > dresses > c.1860-1865: in the armscyes for stabilization and strength and at > the > waistline and neckline as a finishing technique. The curved back > seams are > usually not piped; what appears to be piping in photographs is > topstitching. > On a significant number of dresses, this curved back seam is not > even a seam > - it's a tuck folded into the fabric. > > Self-fabric piping is also not an absolute - but the number of > extant > garments with contrasting piping represent a miniscule amount of > surviving > garments - possibly just a fraction of a percent of those worn > during the > period. Examples where I have found contrasting piping: a wrapper > c.1861-1863 that used scrap fabric as part of the construction. e.g. > collar, > belt, cuffs and piping; two evening gowns c.1865-1866 where > significantly > larger piping was used as a decorative accent; and two children's > dresses > where contrasting fabric was used as a trimming. In four decades > of > research and hundreds of original garments - those have been the > only > examples I've encountered from this era. Contrasting piping does > become more > common in the post-war era. I've discussed this with other > researchers and > collectors who focus on this era and their surveys are comparable > with mine. > > > The only absolute in American Civil War era dresses is a dropped > armscye; > there are exceptions to almost every other characteristic. However, > contrast > piping in adult garments appears to be an aberration rather except > in the > circumstances I mentioned. > > As always, YMMV, and I'd enjoy hearing about other examples that I > can add > to my database. :-) > > Regards, > Carolann Schmitt > [email protected] > www.genteelarts.com > Ladies & Gentlemen of the 1860s Conference, March 3-6, 2011 > > > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
