Before I had realised that the museum had a collection of robes I had arranged with Althea to look at cartridge pleating in detail on historic garments. The examples of cartridge pleats I had seen before have often been made with thicker, heavier fabrics and I have been interested in how the thinner fabric we will be using for our gown will effect the look of the cartridge pleats. I am also interested to see how in history they have sewn the pleats to the body of the garment when the fabric is thinner so that it is hard-wearing and strong.
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| Printed velvet dress circa 1835 |
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| Detail of pleats of 1835 dress |
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| 1860 dress (photo of inside detailing at top of page) |
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Petticoat with box pleats at the front and cartridge pleats on the back waistline.
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From looking at these dresses I learnt that cartridge pleating seems to be most common on dresses from about 1830s-90s. Also I was surprised to see that the cartridge pleats were sometimes hidden in quite indiscreet areas of the dress, such as the petticoat above where the pleats would be hidden at the back.
To finish this post I thought I would put some photos of my favourite parts of the collection as they are so beautiful!
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