Suit, green wool with braid and velvet, c. 1906, detail of skirt darts and waist buttons

c. 1906. Green wool two-piece suit with green and black braid and velvet, with a front-closing bodice styled like a bolero over a wide-waisted peplum and having a white wool dickey, embroidered collar, and long full sleeves, and a floor-length skirt flaring at the hem, made by Amy Linker & Co., Paris. The suit’s tailored jacket or bolero-styled shirtwaist floats above a fitted peplum, hanging low enough to obscure most of the peplum’s broad waistband, and with the bolero’s front and side hems proud of the body. The bolero is made of six pieces: two narrow center-front panels with curved Princess seams from the shoulder to the hem, two additional panels to complete the front width, and two back panels with a center-back seam. The bust is shaped with layers of buckram and padding stitches, visible where the lining is damaged, and has the mono-bosom line of the first decade of the 20th century. Both center-front panels have a 5.7 cm / 2.25 in. wide vertical external facing, of the same green wool as the suit, top-stitched in place; these follow the line of the front opening and up along the V at the top of the bust to the base of the 6 cm / 2.375 in. wide collar, which is itself an appliqué and not a functional element. These facings end in a rounded spade shape extending past the bolero’s front hem and have a double-breasted effect, with each having three green velvet-covered domed buttons, and the right facing also having buttonholes. When closed, all six buttons show. At the top of the bust, three more buttons sewn to the left facing close with soutache loops sewn to the right side. The bolero back has a similar, 6.4 cm / 2.5 in. wide, vertical spade-ended band topstitched to cover the center-back seam and edged with green braid. This also extends past the bolero hem and is sewn to the 9.5 cm / 3.75 in. wide green velvet waistband of the peplum, and has four decorative velvet covered domed buttons. The peplum itself is 19.1 cm / 7.5 in. wide and its sides and center back have a narrow velvet insert with two velvet-covered domed buttons. At the base of the neck in front, two narrow panels of cream wool fill the open V of the bolero, and are buttoned at center front with four white glass buttons in gold settings. Above this the appliquéd green velvet collar is heavily decorated with satin stitch shapes and flowers, and trimmed with soutache braid in two shades of green. The same treatment is given to the 5.1 cm / 2 in. cuffs of the sleeves, which have a one-seam construction with a very full sleeve head and are tightly gathered to both the scye and cuff. The bolero sides and sleeves are trimmed with four bands of 1.9 cm / 0.75 in. wide green braid, and the peplum waistband has two rows of the same. The bolero is fully bag lined in ivory silk satin. The skirt is separate and floor length, is longer in back, and is designed to flare wide at the hem. It has two gored panels and shapes the waist with a series of triple vertical pin-tucks, ranging in length from 17.1 cm / 6.75 in. in front and 11.4 cm / 4.5 in. in back. Its fullness at the hem is created by a series of curved panels, with the first two layers longer in front than in back, and the last layer longer in back than in front. The top of the skirt is 68.6 cm / 27 in. long in front and 55.9 cm / 22 in. long in back and has a 269.2 cm / 106 in. circumference. A curved strip 21.6 cm / 8.5 in. wide is sewn to this. Then the bottom panel is added, measuring 36.8 cm / 14.5 in. wide in front and 81.3 cm / 32 in. wide in back, with a circumference of 553.7 cm / 218 in. The skirt closes at center back with hooks and eyes. Professionally made, with a label reading “Amy Linker & Co 7 Rue Auber & 1 Rue Boudreau Paris.” Machine-sewn and hand-sewn.https://scholars.unh.edu/bowen_collection/1946/thumbnail.jp