In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, elite women’s dress was very decorative. One form of embellishment was the ‘dress guard’. This was an embroidered band of rich fabric, usually silk, sewn over the seams on garments such as gowns, bodices and petticoats.
This dress guard has been made from a strip of silk satin, embroidered in a floral pattern with silk and metal threads. It is just a fragment of the many yards that would have been required to completely embellish a woman’s ensemble.