The signature of this new style is a back bodice cut in four pieces dipping to a deep center point. The “quartered bodice” was a departure from the uncut, pleated back bodices which had dominated women’s dressmaking through most of the eighteenth century. This type of cut and fitted back became widespread in the 1780s. This dress (catalog number 2005.1.1) was featured in the DAR Museum’s exhibit “An Agreeable Tyrant”: Fashion After the Revolution.
FIT: This gown is designed to be worn over period stays. Without stays, the fit will be severely compromised. Original gown and petticoat may have been worn over a small hoops. The updated version would be fashionable worn with an 18th Century bum roll or the new style rump.
Check the measurement charts for sizing. Patterns are printed on 20lb weight paper, with multiple sizes each uniquely color-coded on the pattern. Includes documentation, photographs, drawings, and sewing instructions focusing on period construction methods, but can be sewn using modern sewing machine methods. The person who buys any one of these patterns can be confident that the pattern shapes are period correct which allows the individual the option to be as period correct in sewing techniques and construction as he or she wishes to be.
