Description
Four identical long women’s undershirts, three cream-colored (a-c), one bleached white (d). Scoop neckline and button placket front, edges bound with cotton tape.
Knitted cuff-style cap sleeves. Long, olive-shaped gussets inserted for each breast, sewn with matching chain stitch and with small embroidered tassel at top and bottom. Shaped over hips, hem turned under and overlocked.
All four stamped “630” inside hem; all but the white one stamped Otis Gauze PR front near hem and “26” PL front near hem.
Dimensions
Comments
The white one, which is more worn than the others, may originally have been ecru and was bleached.
The Otis Company was founded by James W. Otis in 1839 in Ware, MA. It was a major manufacturer of cotton textiles and underwear and for a century was the largest employer in Ware. The company’s fortunes declined after WWI and it was sold in the mid-1930s to the citizens of Ware and renamed Ware Industries.
Similar winter (long-sleeved) undershirts appear in the Sears catalogues for 1900, 1902, and 1903. See the link to the 1902 catalogue, pp. 864-865 for example.