BodyText1
Thank you CONSERV for funding part of my 2021 WUDPAC Summer Work Project. Your support made my project possible and allowed me to drive deep into the research of this exciting object.
During the summer of 2021, I worked with Laura Mina, Kate Sahmel, and Laura Johnson in the Textile Lab at Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library to reconstruct a 1770s closed front sacque gown. The gown, made from luxurious hand woven 1740s silk brocade, was bought by H.F. Dupont in the 1920s or 30s and sent to his upholsterer Ernest LoNano to be made into the upholstery on a period settee.
The sacque back of the gown, comprised of six lengths of 21.5” wide fabric pleated to fit the bodice, was detached and cut to create the new settee fabric. The bodice and off cuts were set aside, and the settee was put on display in the Massachusetts Room.
Although the bodice was often displayed with the settee, the curatorial and exhibition team at Winterthur wanted a fullscale reproduction as a didactic for an upcoming exhibition about upcycled items in the collection. This would entail figuring out the dimensions of the sacque back, mapping each off cut and settee piece onto the original pattern, and using period techniques to create the reconstruction.
I started by surveying the off-cuts and the pieces of the settee. I was able to identify the hem, waist edge, sacque pleats, and center front edges from the fold creases and thread scarring still present on the pieces. I was also able to match up the hemline with the seat pieces of the settee which established the pattern.
Using this match as a starting point, I uploaded each piece into Photoshop and matched up the remaining pieces in the pattern repeat set by the hem. I then used Illustrator to map the pieces onto the original pattern in a one to one scale. It took a lot of trial and error, but I was able to come out with a convincing map.