ca. 1834 - Miss Abigail Sherwood's Silk Dress
date: label: Date made
content: ca. 1834
name: label: owner and maker
content: Sherwood, Abigail
label: maker
content: Abigail Sherwood
notes: label: Description
content: Silk dress made from silk produced by silk worms raised in Connecticut by Miss Abigail Sherwood, and sent to England for turning into cloth. The weaver's bill that accompanied this dress stated charges for spinning, weaving, and stamping: therefore it is possible that Miss Sherwood reeled the silk from the cocoons and sent the reeled skeins to England for further processing. However, the donor's note states that Abigail's brother, Capt. Edwin Sherwood, took the cocoons to England. The dress is made of a closely woven, plain weave silk. The yarns are slightly irregular, which would be typical in a home reeled- product. The fabric is described in the original cataloging as having a "pongee-like ground." It is printed with an all-over floral pattern in green, yellow, and purple. The dress is one-piece. The bodice is fitted and boned. It has a V-neckline trimmed with narrow silk braid, a drop-shoulder bertha effect edged with silk fringe, long sleeves, and a pointed front basque joined with cording to a full, gathered skirt. The dress is lined throughout, and was both made and worn by Abigail Sherwood. The dress is in quite a fragile condition. It is an important example of the efforts to establish sericulture in Connecticut and elsewhere in the US during the early 19th century.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: American Silk Industry
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content: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Miss Helen M. Bradley
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T08111.000
label: catalog number
content: T08111.000
label: accession number
content: 141038
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Dress, Printed
label: Object Name
content: dress, printed, silk
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silk (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plain weave; printed (overall production method/technique)