Dress

Dress, womens, silk / muslin / metal, maker unknown, thought to have been worn by Elizabeth Marsden, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1825 - 1835. A women's hand sewn day dress made from silk damask fabric in green and cream vertical stipes. The dress has a round neck, a waist length bodice with a waistband, long sleeves, and a long full skirt. Vertical darts can be seen at the front of the bodice and there are shaped, piped seams at the back of the bodice. The sleeves of the dress have been sewn in two sections. The top section of the sleeve is straight extending midway down the top of the arm. A decorative flap, a mancheron, sits over this portion of the sleeve. The lower section of the sleeve is puffed, gathering at the piped seam that joins it to the top portion of the sleeve and at the wristband at the bottom of the sleeve.The dress has a full skirt gathered into the waistband of the dress. The opening down the front of the dress fastens with seven brass hooks. Five of the hooks attach to embroidered eyes while the two hooks at the waistband of the dress attach to brass eyes. The upper sleeves and bodice are lined with a loosely woven muslin gauze.