The English love of flowers in their natural colors and shapes are readily to be found in the silks produced in the Spitalfields area of London in the mid-18th century. English silks are characterized by flowers widely scattered over the ground pattern. As the third quarter of the century progressed, the flowers became more generalized and less identifiable as is the case with this dress. This dress has recently been restored from a late 19th century alteration to one approximating it's original silhouette.

This dress, altered perhaps twice in the 18th century and once or twice in the 19th century, is shown in a restored version. When acquired by the Museum the dress had probably been adapted for 19th century fancy dress, with machine stitched darts, hooks and eyes, and the stomacher sewn on the front to mask the closing. The underbodice had been torn to expand the center back and the flowing back of the original robe á la française had been re-pleated as had the sides of the skirt. A pocket had been added to the right side of the skirt in the position of the original 18th century pocket slit. The sleeves had also been folded up at the hem and right and left reversed. One sleeve was lined with fine blue silk, a typical 18th century fabric, which matched that of the stomacher back and the lining at the hem of the petticoat. The other sleeve lining, the underbodice and the pocket were made of a white cotton duck. Scraps of the dress fabric were used to face the pocket and to bind the neck edge of the bodice as well as to form a kind of waistband at the skirt front. Two unattached pieces were found, lined and trapezoidal in shape, that showed evidence of having come from a pleated part of the dress, perhaps a skirt panel, as well as having been part of a stitched dart in another altered version. Evidence of earlier pleating indicated that the dress may well have been made originally in the 1760's, updated in the 1770's and, possibly, again in the 1780's with the bodice re-cut and the addition of tapes to pull the skirt up into a polonaise, as well as for fancy dress in the 19th century. Only the bodice fronts seem to have been re-cut, although two skirt panels may have been taken out and narrowed in the 1770's. Apart from re-pleating, the back, sleeves, skirt fronts with robings and the petticoat remain essentially unchanged.

New pieces of silk fabric, dyed to blend with the original, were added to the bodice fronts and across the back neckline to restore the pleated bodice fronts that had most probably existed for the silhouette of the 1760's and the l770's, the earliest version of the dress to be found. The existing bodice fronts were incorporated into the new pleats after the machine stitching was removed; the underbodice backs were couched to a supporting piece of muslin to repair the tear; the underbodice fronts were folded to the inside. A strip of the original furbelows that had been stitched to the bodice fronts and the stomacher in the 19th century alteration were found to fit almost exactly onto the reconstructed bodice fronts. The bodice fronts had been machine stitched to the back, and, with slight adjustment, following earlier hand stitching marks, the seams fitted perfectly and were re-sewn by hand.

Any time a restoration is undertaken, it is important to retain intact as much of the original as possible. Every attempt is made to retain all 18th century stitches, removing only modern machine stitching and threads. None of the original pieces are cut or discarded, although not all of the scraps can be returned to their original placement. Research is undertaken to determine the fashionable shapes and details generally to be found in similar pieces, and allowances are made for unusual or individual taste. Most of all, a careful study of the dress fabric itself, the shadows of earlier pleating or a previous placement of the decorative elements provides a direction for the restoration, and caution against imposing a modern sensibility on a specific dress made for a particular lady some 250 years ago.