The Dress of Mystery!

This sorry-looking poor old thing was found in Wolverhampton's collection, which was transferred to the care of Walsall Museum in 2000. Dating from the mid 1880s it was at first considered for disposal due to its poor condition, and was included in the museum's small handling collection.
In 2009 I took a pattern from it, which at the time didn't seem to me to look.....quite right. I'm no Janet Arnold though, and pressed on, assuming it was down to my shonky draftsmanship. Later, when I put the dress on a dummy to be photographed and sketched, it hung awkwardly. The waistband of the skirt had been altered several times at the front, and seemed rather large for a dress of its age. The side-seams of the bodice swung forward, and the front sagged against the figure.

Then I shoved a cushion up the front of it, and things started to fall into place....

Could this possibly be a purpose-made maternity dress? We'll probably never be 100% certain it is, after all we've all seen photos of rather well-padded matrons corseted into a curvy frock with prominent abdomens, and skinny girls were sometimes driven to 'improve' the front of their dresses with pads which (tut, tut...) might've made them at first glance, appear to be in a delicate condition.

This dress however has slim sleeves, so its owner wasn't a plump lady. The measure across the back and around the neck don't suggest she was underweight either. Being of limited use this dress, if it is indeed a maternity dress, must have been made for a particular occasion. Green silk and 'Cadbury's' purple velvet. It's not a dress to clean the house in. It is rather worn on the inside, so we may assume its owner, or owners, got their money's worth out of it. A dressmakers stamp on the waist-stay shows it was made in Clothier Street, Willenhall, which by strange coincidence is where I grew up!

It was decided at a curatorial meeting to give the dress a safe home in the museum's permanent collection. We thought there was a good chance it was a maternity dress, and they tend to be few and far between. It's not in great condition, and makes a tatty-looking display, but it has something rather interesting to say about the life of a certain Black Country lady, and of other mothers and their babies, over 120 years ago.

More slightly dodgy photos and the pattern for this dress will appear in due course on our resources page.