Blouse front
Blouse back
Sleeve detail
1998.3403.1
Clothes, coffin (blouse)
Black fabric; long sleeves; sheer black fabric “V” inset at neck; “V” trimmed with black ruffle embroidered in light colored thread.
It’s long been the practice to bury the dead finely attired in their “Sunday best.” Considering the few clothes most people had in the past and the expense of that clothing, dressy, low cost, up-to-date burial-only clothes had a ready market. Burial clothing manufacturers applied design shortcuts to keep costs low and incorporated trimmings for women such as bows, pleats, ruches, embroidery, and other finishings that followed the prevailing styles for the living. Sizing wasn’t of much concern; excess fabric from the loosely-cut burial wear if too ample was tucked out of sight under the corpse.
1998.3400.1
Clothes, coffin (skirt)
Black fabric; tape at waist; no back seam.
Replacing long-sleeved robes with an open back, nineteenth-century burial clothing evolved into stylish formal wear, covering the body that could be seen but unfinished on the back or even backless. Not only did burial wear require less fabric and sewing, an outfit’s open back area eased fitting onto the deceased who might be so stiff that his or her arms and legs had to be broken for dressing and positioning. Wrote an 1879 reporter:
"And yanking what had seemed to be a black coat, vest, shirt, collar and tie complement from its case, he waved a fluttering rag over the reporter’s head. The arrangement was simply a front, no longer than a waiter’s jacket, and with tapes behind to tie it to the body. “Nobody ever sees the back of ‘em,” said the rosy man, “and half of the lid covers ‘em up to the waist. So what’s the use of buying a forty-dollar rig or so when you can get one of these for ten dollars, I want to know?"