I probably would have been at this point several days ago, but I went with the Theory "batiste" from my swatches, and it proved to be more like a tightly-woven percale, and I was having the hardest time getting pins and needles into it. Let this be a lesson: always test a swatch by pleating … Continue reading Thesis Update – Nearly There!
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The Place of Fabrics: Cotton
For the most part, descriptions of cotton clothing before the 1720s are in the context of travels to Asia and Africa. I was a little surprised to find that cotton was relatively common as a fine fabric from the 1720s, and something that poorer women could purchase second-hand. It became an affordable kerchief fabric by … Continue reading The Place of Fabrics: Cotton
The Place of Fabrics: Callimanco
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
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
Mimic of Modes 