A chemically dyed burgundy velvet, mill-produced as one of the fabrics appropriate to aristocracy, is used. But the fabric functions only as a background for the cunning needlework in gold wire and tiny flat gold beads.
The textile artist who designed this garment was not content simply to work the gold embroidery and beads on a flat surface of velvet. The garment has various textures. The velvet of the back, sides and sleeves remains smooth, except for the embroidery which stands in relief from the fabric.
The entire front panel of the robe is smocked by hand. Smocking is a way of making small tufts in the surface of a fabric by pinching it softly and twisting it gently, then securing the tiny tuft of fabric with a stitch. It is very artful needlework and requires great skill to avoid creating a messy appearance on the fabric, which can look merely wrinkled in the hands of an unskilled smocker. (Most modern smocking is done by machine and looks more like "gathering" than like the original smocking technique.)
Even this level of extra detail was not enough for the designer of this noble textile piece. Not satisfied with only the sinuous vertically arranged pinches of cloth, the designer bordered those sections with tufts that imitate braid.
I hope your browser shows the gold spiral wires that secure the tufts in the vertical smocking. To make this garment even more fitting for the "glitterati" of that day (the late 1800s or early 1900s), the designer added tiny flat gold beads to the spiral gold threads that secure the vertical tufting.
Now look at the embroidery, again in gold thread, which covers the remainder of the robe. The needlework is a combination of embroidery and raised applique techniques. Cotton cord is covered in an embroidery stitch known as "satin stitch." This cord is wound into fabulous floral patterns, then attached to the smooth areas of velvet (back, sides and sleeves of the robe).
The second dress for town wear is in royal blue velvet and uses the same embroidery technique, but has no smocking. The eyelet-embroidered manufactured lace may have been added in recent decades or may mark this particular dress as the product of a less skillful designer.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Ann Garner's Textile Arts topic, please visit the Discussions page.