This fabulous Summer cocktail dress dates to the 1940s and features bright floral embroidery on a midnight blue tulle.

The florals are worked in a chain stitch and were made on a Cornely machine. Cornely machines produce what we now call freeform machine embroidery - meaning that the embroiderer uses a lot of skill to manouevre the fabric under the needle to form patterns. It takes a lot of practice and skill to create even length stitches. wedding dresses for short curvy brides

Check the Comments section to see a close up of the embroidery.

This dress was designed by the Hattie Carnegie design house.

This dress is in the collection of the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/83906

These machines are highly sought after - even today - to create complex embroideries. You can read more about the history of Cornely machines at https://www.trc-leiden.nl/…/tools/embroidery/cornely-machine