evening dress

Hand stitched empire silhouette gown of white striped silk fabric; 1" wide gauze weave stripes alternate with stripes containing a central floral sprig repeat on a satin ground between narrow barber-pole striped borders. The gown is embellished on both sleeves with appliqués of guilt bullion formed into leafy sprigs outlined with cream chenille yarn and in cockades of cream satin; sleeves are edged with a double row of scalloped bullion and are finished with light green silk corded piping; sleeve caps and neck edge are trimmed with embroidered net pleated and stitched in place; silk braid drawstring through turned casing at neck edge; bias cut satin fabric drawstring through casing below bust-this fabric drawstring is likely a later addition, as are the netting poufs present in both sleeve caps. The hem of the dress is embellished with an applied band of gilt bullion, chenille and faux pearl trim that repeats the leafy sprig and scalloped edge motifs from the sleeves; below this ban are large pink wired chenille flowers with green silk chenille yarn centers-15 flowers are stitched at equally spaced intervals around the skirt; this is followed by a narrower band of the gilt bullion, chenille and faux pearl leafy sprig trim, which is finally followed by a hem edging and binding of 2 ½" wide ruched cream satin ribbon.