Wedding Dress
date: label: Date made
content: 1947
name: label: used by
content: Hensinger, Ruth Louise
label: maker
content: Hensinger, Ruth Louise
notes: label: Description
content: <p>White; made from parachute; fitted bodice with left side metal zipper; shirred at center front from waist to bust; shirred at side seams at bust; net yoke inset that also forms upper portion of sleeves; opening in yoke at center back, fastened with eight buttons and loops; wide ruffle of lace and net sewn to bottom of yoke; two darts in back bodice; long sleeves; skirt portion of eight panels of parachute; parachute cord in casings placed vertically and drawn up to form poufs; cords pulled up to make skirt shorter in front and create train in back; skirt lightly gathered onto bodice; parachute cord casings, without cords, used as decorative band around bottom of skirt.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>This wedding dress was made from a nylon parachute that saved the groom's life during World War II. Maj. Claude Hensinger, a B-29 pilot, and his crew, were returning from a bombing raid over Yowata, Japan, in August 1944 when their engine caught fire. The crew was forced to bail out. It was night and Major Hensinger landed on some rocks and suffered some minor injuries. During the night he used the parachute both as a pillow and a blanket. In the morning the crew was able to reassemble and were taken in by some friendly Chinese. He kept the parachute and used it as a way to propose to Ruth in 1947. He presented it to her and suggested she make a gown out of it for their wedding.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>She wondered how she was going to make "this voluminuous item" into a dress. Seeing a dress in a store window that was based on one that appeared in the movie Gone with the Wind, she patterned her dress after that. She hired a local seamstress, Hilda Buck, to make the bodice and veil. She made the skirt herself; she pulled up the strings on the parachute so that the dress would be shorter in the front and have a train in the back. The couple were married in the Neffs Lutheran Church in Neffs, Pennslyvania, July 19, 1947. Their daughter and their son's bride also wore the dress for their weddings.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: used in
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Neffs
topic: label: worn for
content: Weddings
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Costume
label: See more items in
content: Clothing & Accessories
label: See more items in
content: Family & Social Life
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Claude E. and Ruth L. Hensinger
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1992.0236.001
label: accession number
content: 1992.0236
objectType: label: Object Name
content: dress, 1-piece, wedding
label: Object Type
content: Main Dress
label: Object Type
content: Woman
label: Object Type
content: Dress
label: Object Type
content: Entire Body
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: nylon (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: lace (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: net (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: center back: 88 3/8 in; 224.4725 cm