White cotton blouse with cut and drawn embroidery

Unidentified · early 20th century

A white cotton blouse with cut and drawn embroidery. The blouse has a round neckline and three quarter length set-in sleeves. It opens in the cetner front with six shell buttons and nine buttonholes. Four pin tucks are sewn to each side of the center front opening. Cut and drawn embroidery creating overcast bars is placed at the shoulder seams, armscyes, and both sides of the button plackets. Geometric patterning created with cut and drawn embroidery is applied to the bottom exterior of each sleeve. Twelve narrow pintucks are sewn to the center back of the blouse starting at the neckline. A vertical row of cut and drawn embroidery is placed on either side of the center back extending halfway down the back of the bodice in a geometric design. Four rows of pintucks framed by two rows of wider pintucks are sewn to the top of each shoulder. The blouse is unlined, unlabeled, and entirely handsewn.