Images(3)

Bodice; Skirt; Belt; Sleeves

Date1833-1840

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Cumberland County (worn in)

MediumSilk, linen, cotton (identified by eye)

DimensionsA: OL 18 in.; Bust 30 ½ in.; Waist 25 1/8 in.
B: OL 38 in.; Waist 26 ½ in.
C: OL 25 1/8 in.
D: OL 16 ½ in.
E: OL 16 5/8 in.

Credit LineGift of the Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA

Object number2023-203,A&B

DescriptionDress made in two pieces (bodice and skirt) with a belt and set of detachable sleeves. All made of gold silk damask with a leaf and stripe pattern.

A: Bodice with wide neckline and quarter length sleeves. Sleeves have scalloped edged ruffles just off the shoulder and at the cuff, with fullness between. Horizontal pleating across the center front of the bodice, with a piped band sewn vertically down the center front of the bodice. Bodice has a raised waistline and a glazed linen (identified by eye) waistband. Bodice is lined with glazed linen, and the sleeves are lined with a sheer fabric. Bodice fastens down the center back with hooks and eyes.

B: Silk skirt pleated in front and gathered in back to a glazed linen (identified by eye) waistband. Pleated buckram sewn in at the slit in the waistband. Cotton facing sewn to the hem.

C: Belt lined with cotton and a stiff material, likely buckram. Fastens with three sets of hooks and eyes.

D-E: Two detached long sleeves made of gold silk damask and lined with sheer fabric. Sheer fabric exposed at the wider end of the sleeve, where it would have pinned into the gown. Piping at cuff and side seams.Label TextAccording to donor history, this gold silk dress, now surviving in pieces, belonged to Judith Elizabeth Womack Spencer (1815-1841) of Cumberland County, VA. Her granddaughter, Bettie Daniel, described it as a "second day dress", worn the day after her wedding. While the "second day dress" seems to have been a trend that emerged in the 1850s, this dress may still be associated with Spencer's November 22nd, 1833 wedding to George W. Daniel of Prince Edward County, VA.Provenanceca. 1833-1839 Judith Elizabeth Womack Spencer (Cumberland County, VA); prior to 1925, passed down by descent to Elizabeth ‘Bettie’ Daniel (Farmville, VA); 1925 given to the Valentine Museum (Richmond, VA); 2023-present given to Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)