Pre And Post Civil War Wedding Gowns

Aurora, IL Silk Wedding Gowns at The Tanner House Museum

:Here are some more Photos that I found in my Skydrive Archive. Oh, I love these so much!:

Jennifer had me help her in locating the dresses. And then, she let me dress the forms... all by myself. (I sound like a giddy kid here, and yes, I felt that way too!)

Photos are not the best because they were taken with my old phone, and the minimal lighting in the room.

Dress to the left is Mrs. McArty's wedding gown. Mr. McArty was the founder of Aurora.
This dress was for the third wife of the founder.

Notice my favorite carpet here too.)

another pic, but a little blurrier

Mrs. McArty's gown. The dark blue on the sleeves are fringe.
Hooks and eyes from the throat to the waist, then around one side and down part of the back.
That's my personal crinoline under the dress here. The one owned by the Aurora Historical Society was used on another gown... that I dressed.

Purple print silk. You can barely see the lace at the top of the gown. Hooks and eyes start at the throat-left collar of the lace (these were very difficult to connect without catching the lace), to under the velvet purple cap (so that the hooks and eyes couldn't be seen),  down underneath the purple-over the left breast, then down the center of the breast in a diagonal to the left side of the waist, the across the front of the waist - and across the back of the waist and then finally down part of the skirt. LOTS OF HOOKS AND EYES.

I think it it is easier to define where the hooks and eyes traveled in this pic.

Notice the bustle in the purple one.
I tried to get closeups of the fabric to show just how beautiful they are. Unfortunately with the light from the window in the dim room, this was the best shot that I got.

tags: wedding dress, antebellum dress, silk dress, Victorian wedding gown, Victorian bustle dress, Civil War belle gown, hoop dress, hoop skirt, southern belle dress.