According to the OED, callimanco (also spelled callimanca, calamanco, &c.) is "a woollen stuff of Flanders, glossy on the surface, and woven with a satin twill and chequered in the warp, so that the checks are seen on one side only; much used in the 18th c." It was finer than stuff, but still respectably … Continue reading The Place of Fabrics: Callimanco
Category: research
High Life Below Stairs, and Elizabeth Canning
High Life Below Stairs, John Collet, 1763; Colonial Williamsburg Collection G1991-175 I was looking through What Clothes Reveal when I came across this picture again, and my attention was drawn to the three prints on the wall in the upper left-hand corner. The lower two are of the Empress of Russia and Moll Flanders, very … Continue reading High Life Below Stairs, and Elizabeth Canning
The Place of Fabrics: Stuff
I was intending to make a post on wool, but the term "wool gown" does not turn up any results on Google Books. "Stuff gown," however, is a very common phrase. Meg Andrews defines "stuff" as "a general term for worsted cloths. Twill or plain weave and made of common wool." A New General English … Continue reading The Place of Fabrics: Stuff
The Place of Fabrics: Linen
This is perhaps not the most necessary post/series, but I began looking at historical mentions of various types of gowns for my thesis and found so many sources. I thought people might be interested in seeing the many quotes I turned up that relate to various gown fabrics. Linen gowns were close to the bottom … Continue reading The Place of Fabrics: Linen
Museum Visit – Historic Cherry Hill
Today was my second thesis research visit, this time to the Historic Cherry Hill Collection in Albany. I found some exciting things! - A pink taffeta anglaise with petticoat, late 1770s. It was fairly plain, with some applied scalloped self-fabric trim down the fronts of the skirt and smaller trim at the ends of the … Continue reading Museum Visit – Historic Cherry Hill
Mimic of Modes 