item details
Overview
House to let
This fancy dress costume is hand-painted to represent a house available for rent. The maker has painted the dress to resemble a large, red-brick house - number 55 of an unknown street. The two chimneys form the shoulder straps. The bottom half of the dress resembles a lawn complete with flower garden and gate. The maker has placed a hand-written, paper sign in the garden which reads: 'To Let / Apply...'
Two stylishly dressed women and a young boy stand outside the gate. The maker has cut the figures out magazines and glued them onto to the dress in such a way that they all make uneasy eye contact. Perhaps, the women are competing for the house?
A Weldon's Fancy Dress Pattern
The dress is based on a Weldon's fancy dress pattern - number 63639. Established by Walter Weldon in London in 1885, Weldon's Ltd specialised in the production of paper patterns for home dressmaking and needlework. The company published monthly newsletters, such as Weldon's Ladies Journal and Weldon's Dressmaker, and supplements focusing on particuarly aspects of dressmaking, such as fancy dress costumes. The pattern also included a small hat which declared: "This Desirable Residence To Be Let". The maker has kept fairly close to the original pattern, although they have added an extra woman, and left out the cat on the roof.
To see the original pattern look up GH021415.