The Story of "Lacie"

Summer of 2010, Seacoast designer Sarah Beth Johnson toured the textile and costume collection at Strawbery Banke Museum, in search of her inspiration for Passion for Fashion. She discovered "Lacie." While touring the collection with curatorial staff, Sarah came upon a luxurious late 19th century skirt, replete with layers of lace and an eye catching large gathered "bow" of green and brown silk. The skirt had been separated from its bodice, but in the course of her tour, Sarah spotted it hanging in a garment wardrobe. "Lacie" was reunited in all her extravagant glory. Unfortunately, the dress has no known provenance, but due to its design, material and color palette, and as a high style example of its type, "Lacie" will be on view in the upcoming exhibition.

The images shown here follow "Lacie" from our workroom/storage area, to Sarah's inspired design for a fun formal dress with a ballerina twist and finally, her transformation in the eyes of New York photographer, Ellen McDermott (ellenmcdermott.com) of "Lacie" into a stunning, graceful figure in the bow room of the Goodwin Mansion at Strawbery Banke Museum, October 2010.

Congratulations to Sew Sweet competition winner, Deanna

Deanna is a 16 year old homeschooled student from Farmington, NH and a student at The Sewing Tree. This year Deanna is very interested in costume design, so she decided to make an Elizabethan gown. Her gown is made of over six yards of dark red home décor fabric, with red and gold paisley contrasts, and is accented with gold shank buttons and gold piping. The dress has boning in the bodice, which is also interfaced with canvas, and lined with muslin. Worn underneath is a muslin underskirt with
the contrasting front panel, a muslin shift, and a brocade and canvas corset.

She recently won the "Sew Sweet" competition at the Original Sewing & Quilt Exposition in Worcester, MA. http://www.sewingexpo.com/WorcesterMA/StagePresentations.aspx#sewsweet

As noted by her The Sewing Tree instructor, Janith Bergeron: "Deanna won 1st place and you can see why. She created this multi pieced garment (including cotton shift, bustier, skirt and coat) using 2 Simplicity Patterns (and there is nothing simple about them: Simplicity 2621 http://www.simplicity.com/p-1576-costumes.aspx and Simplicity 3782 http://www.simplicity.com/p-2009-costumes.aspx)."

In addition to being a student of The Sewing Tree, she is an avid 4H Fashion Review Participant and one of young designers for Strawbery Banke's upcoming exhibition, Passion for Fashion. Deanna also enjoys writing, reading, singing, playing
piano and harp, showing her dairy cows, riding her horse, role-playing at Strawbery Banke and acting in her theater troupe, Perform It.

Congratulations - we look forward to seeing your forthcoming designs, Deanna!

The Bodice

Designer Sarah Beth Johnson's updated take on the bodice detailing of Sarah Goodwin's floral cotton print dress, c. 1846-50

Designer Sarah Beth Johnson on Sarah Parker Rice Goodwin

Seacoast designer, Sarah Beth Johnson, found inspiration in Sarah Goodwin's dress. She comments:

"What I took from the original dress as my inspiration were patterns. I loved the combination of a tiny floral print with bold stripes. Pair that with a flirty, multi-layered ruffle skirt, and I had an idea for an 80's-style party dress, with a nod to the 19th century.
Lace details and a bold belt brought this design together for me. I love developing young, modern twists on fabulous trends from fashion's history and this Portsmouth piece intrigued me."

Sarah's work will appear in the upcoming 2012 exhibition and publication.

Sarah Parker Rice Goodwin's Floral Print Dress, c. 1846-50

Sarah Parker Rice Goodwin (1805-1896)

Sarah’s floral print cotton dress (c. 1846-1850) was produced at the Portsmouth Steam Factory. The dates are consistent with the operation of the Steam Factory which was owned by her husband, New Hampshire’s Civil War Governor, Ichabod Goodwin. The dress was photographed on site at the Goodwin Mansion in Sarah’s own chamber; she would have worn this dress while in her early to mid 40s. Sarah had seven children; four died at a young age. In terms of contemporary sizing, the dress would have been an approximate size two or four. However, the wrists and forearms are so incredibly small in diameter, that only a teenager or very slim woman with slight bone structure would be able to wear the dress today. The dress stands at 51 1/2 inches.

While the use of a single patterned cotton (small rosy pink buds alternate with floral garlands creating a pink bands or “stripes”) may appear straightforward at first glance, the dress is a very complex and sophisticated affair, with layered frothy, near-diaphanous tiers, counterbalanced by a sharply drawn and pleated bodice. The petite crocheted buttons, 10 lining each sleeve and cuff, and the 13 hook and eye back closures reveal that it would have been impossible for her to dress unassisted. The stylishly cut neckline and complex sleeves all required perfect fabric matching to create the diagonals of the skirt, which contrast with the orderly, symmetrical bodice.


Photography, Ellen McDermott
Design layout, Brian Smestad, Blue Tree
Mannequin and styling, Astrida Schaeffer
Sketches, Sarah Beth Johnson, March 2011
Goodwin dress, Gift of Alice Decatur Armsden, #1997.166
Shoot assistants, Brielly McGlaughlin & Sam Hall

Designer Sarah J preliminary sketch inspired by Sarah Goodwin's print floral dress

Designer Sarah J preliminary sketch inspired by Sarah Goodwin... on Twitpic

Sketch, courtesy of Sarah Beth Johnson
Mannequin, designed by Astrida Schaeffer
Dress, Gift of Mrs. Armsden Decatur
Strawbery Banke Museum Textile and Costume Collection

Strawbery Banke Welcomes New Partner, The Sewing Tree

The Passion for Fashion Team is pleased to announce partnership with The Sewing Tree in Dover, NH. The Sewing Tree promotes sewing as a life skill and works with students age 5 through 88 with numerous classes and community projects, including work with 4H. Currently, students are developing sketches for an inspired and creative redesign of Sarah Parker Rice Goodwin's 1847-1850 Portsmouth Steam Company cotton floral print dress. (Please see earlier pages on this blog.) We look forward to sharing the talents of these young designers with you.

Among the many upcoming programs is Project Linus, Saturday March 12th, sponsored by the American Sewing Guild. See synopsis below and check out The Sewing Tree site @www.thesewingtree.com or contact Janith at 603.664.6944, sewingtree@gmail.com

"We will work on quilts for Project Linus, a national program providing love, a sense of security, warmth, and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets, afghans, lovingly created by volunteer "blanketeers"."

I cannot even sew on a button, but will try to find something useful I can do--see you there!