Jon Crispin's Notebook

There are quite a few items in the Willard collection at the New York State Museum that are not part of my suitcases documentation.  These “institutional” pieces were too numerous to photograph, but this embroidered dress just had to be documented.  The work was done by a patient who is not identified, but I am in touch with some folks who worked at Willard who might know who created this.

This will be a photo heavy post with less text than in my usual posts, but the details in the dress are amazing and I wanted to share as many as I could.

It wasn’t just the amazing designs; the precision of the embroidery knocked us out.

There were a good number of cats on the dress.

This one seems to be hovering over a plant.

Not sure what is going oh above, but the orange is such a beautiful color.

This looks to me like a cat but what is it doing?  Any thoughts?

I love how this person’s hair is rendered.

The orange flower in her hair is lovely.

These little flowers are so delicate.

The watch and ring on this figure are such a nice touch.

Thanks so much to Peg Ross for helping me set the dress up in order to photograph it.  I am terrible at stuff like this, and as usual, she really made it happen.  And if I remember correctly, Connie Houde from the museum was also there to assist.

I hope to post the back of the dress (I want to keep calling it a shift; is that correct?) sometime soon.  I leave Atlanta later today but will head out to the Botanical Garden before my flight.  Thanks for following.