Silk organza unfinished dress with blue embroidery

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A silk organza unfinished dress with blue embroidery. The unfinished dress consists of three parts, a bodice, sleeves with a pattern piece, and a skirt panel. All of these elements are made of silk organza embroidered with florals in blue two-ply cotton embroidery thread. The sleeveless bodice (a) has a square neckline in the front and transitions into a deep-V at the back. White glass beads arranged in floral motifs embellish the neckline at the front and back. The neckline is a separate panel from the bodice, and the seams where it is machine-stitched to the bodice are scalloped and bound with the same blue thread used for the fabric’s embroidery. The bodice’s back is constructed of two bias-cut panels that originally joined at the center back. Each back panel includes the shoulders of the bodice that extend over to the front.

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