Capelet worn by Mary Todd Lincoln

Nearly all of the clothing Mary Lincoln wore after becoming first lady was sewn by Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, the daughter of an enslaved woman and her white owner. An accomplished seamstress, at age thirty-seven Keckley was able to use her sewing skills to buy her freedom and that of her son from her own half-sister, who was then her owner. After moving to Washington, D.C., in 1860, Keckley became the preferred modiste, or dressmaker, to many important women in the capital, including Varina Davis, wife of then-Senator Jefferson Davis, and Mary Lincoln.

National First Ladies’ Library