Cream damask and turquoise
This ensemble of cream silk satin damask and turquoise silk chiffon center panels with ornate, beaded metal braid trim and silk taffeta lining was in poor condition in ways that might not be immediately obvious in the “before treatment” pictures. Like many women’s clothes of this era, the bodice and skirt rely on the internal structures of the garments to give them their correct shape, including linings, boning, padding, and hidden closures. For the bodice, the lining was badly deteriorated and could not achieve the correct shape or even close correctly. Perspiration damage also destroyed the underarm area all the way through the satin shell. The collar stand was completely lost. For the skirt , loss around the lining waistband threatened to cause what remained of the lining to detach and fall away completely. There were splits in the shell fabric and the satin modesty fabric (behind the pleated silk chiffon panels) was virtually shredded.
The ensemble after treatment
The ensemble before treatment
After treatment, side view
Skirt waistband interior, after treatment
This detail shot shows the interior of the skirt where the lining has been stabilized inside a “sandwich” of nylon net which holds the fragments of what survives in position and bridges what is lost with the net. After the lining sandwich had been assembled, it was reattached to the original waistband.
Skirt waistband before treatment
This detail of the skirt waistband before treatment (and inside out, here) shows how the loss of the lining caused what remained to hang precariously from a few points. The damaged lining also created an unsightly bulge where the damaged edge had bunched up and was even visible behind the silk chiffon panel, since the satin “modesty” backing has also pulled away completely.
Obie at work on the skirt treatment
Detail of the collar during treatment
The collar stand (the fabric that stands straight up around the neck) was completely lost, leaving only a few fabric fragments stuck to the back of the beaded metal braid trim. The height and length of the collar stand was suggested by the trim, which was still tacked to the bodice at a few points. A new stand was created using dyed-to-match silk satin. Here, fitting the trim to the stand.
Bodice before treatment, flat
This flat shot of the bodice before treatment gives some sense of the lost collar, the damaged underarms, and the unstable closure.