The Midwife's Gown

Reference Images

These are from Propstore.co.uk.

Costume Analysis

From propstore.co.uk: A dress worn by Claire Skinner as Midwife Beth Killian in the Tim Burton gothic classic Sleepy Hollow. This pretty custom made two piece costume was worn by the actress in the scene where The Headless Horseman comes into her house and beheads her and her husband as their son hides under the floorboards. The top piece of the costume is made from beige coloured material with green and pink coloured embroidered leaf patterns and lace around the neck. The long full skirt is made from dark brown striped material with matching embroidery and there is a black net underskirt to fill it out. No sizes marked.

Here is the orginal link is here.

Here are my photos of the costume. I own it! Please do not repost these without permission. Though please feel free to use them for your own study.

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Here are a few observations on the costume. Interestingly, only the front panel is lined. It has boning at the side seam, and two pieces in front. The back panel has a lining panel sewn in with a strip of boning down the center back seam. The lining panel only comes half way up the back. The bottom of the bodice has a peplum, so that covers the raw edge. Bias tape is sewn over the seam it creates. The center back of the bodice must have been cut on the selvage or something - the edges are just joined together with a handstitch instead of a back seam with allowances. The sleeves must have been cut on a selvage edge as well, as there is no hem where the buttons are at the wrist. The sleeve has two seams too. So it is 3 pieces of fabric. At the neckline is sewn in English net that is very delicate and looks genuinely old. Or has at least been aged. At the back of the neck it's kind of just messily stiched together to pull it in, as there's no center back seam on it. Near the center front, one one side, it is actually taped down!

The skirt has many seams and seemingly complicated pleating. On the back sides it is cartridge pleated and at the waist it's sewn to a slight yoke in the front. Then all the waist is sewn to a piece of grosgrain ribbon that has hook and eyes at the center back and snaps down the center back to about 1/3 of the way down. It has many panels, some of which seem like odd choices, as some of the panels are quite small. I need to take a few more of the skirt.

The embroidery on the skirt is interesting - it is definitely embroidered because if you look at the underside of the skirt, you can see the underside of the embroidery. Oddly, the embroidery was done over the seams. Yes, the two front pieces of embroidery have seams running through them - so it's not like it was embroidered fabric that was cut up for the skirt. The skirt was made first and then embroidered. There are also two really narrow strips of fabric sewn into the skirt -it seems like that would be totally unnecessary. Except that those little strips make the stripes space out perfectly evenly. So that may be why. The embroidery on the bodice is most definitely appliqued on. It looks like a section of the leaves on the skirt was cut out and machine sewn on. It's slightly lighter than the skirt embroidery too - it's almost like the skirt was overdyed.

The costume came with a black net underskirt that is pinned up in various places to make it poof out the skirt. On the inside of the waistline are pleats - they kind of poof the skirt out at the hips - like a bum roll would do kind of. Very interesting. I'm unsure if this petticoat was worn in the movie, but it sure seems like it might have been...

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