1870s Cotton Print Dress Research

Still on the train projects, specifically my living history outfit. This one was almost weirdly hard to research: a cotton print dress for c.1873. I did find some written instructions, such as the statement that plain cotton should be made with no ruffles or trim when intended for housework

The shape which I wanted for this dress is the layered 'tunic' (bodice joined to a half-length skirt) over a matching skirt/petticoat, as seen in this silk example:

Dress, c.1870, in the Met. Conveniently with each piece photographed separately.

Similar dresses, in cotton, appear in the July 1871 issue of Demorest's Monthly Magazine:

Cambric and striped percale cottons, per the descriptions.

Cotton walking dress, c.1871. VAM.

 

 

The material I have in mind is not a sheer, but I will include this lovely example just because there are so few cotton dresses to look at: 

Sheer dress, c.1872. The Met.

The Met also has a couple of cotton wrappers or morning dresses from this period what are made of more substantial cotton prints, like this:

 

Morning dress, c.1872-4. The Met.

There is no fiber content listed for this dress, but I find the simple lines of it (if not the exact sleeve shape) useful for envisioning the plain dress described in the magazine. For the record, the skirt appears backwards in this photograph:

 

Dress, c.1868-72. VAM.

Where the previous dress may be a little early for this project—the target year being 1873—this last dress is verging on being too late, with an estimated date of 1880. However, it's the dress most like my intended project (a plain tunic and matching skirt out of an opaque printed cotton), so I think it worth including. If I'm careful to keep to 1873 norms with the shoulder seams, waist position, sleeve shape, something like this would do nicely:

Dress, c.1880. LACMA.