Description:
Two pieces of a quilted pink, glazed satin weave worsted wool (calamanco) petticoat quilted in white wool or linen thread with the top 3/4 with a diamond or trellis pattern, and bottom 1/4 with a scrolling feather design over a row of tulip-like flowers on a ground of narrowly spaced diagonal lines; and with wool batting. The backing is pieced together with piece of dark blue, plain weave wool, and a larger piece of striped wool or linen and wool in blue and yellow stripes agains a brown ground, and two smaller pieces of striped wool used as patches. In the 18th century, a plain weave wool with glaze was referred to as a tammy; a twill weave wool with glaze, a shalloon; a 4:1 broken twill weave (aka the shortest float satin weave), a calamanco; and a plain weave wool with no glaze was referred to as a camblet.The fabric is probably English (Norwich area), but the quilting may have been done in the American colonies. wool glazing was probably not done in this country in the 18th century given current knowledge and that most evidence of glazed wool comes from England. Winterthur Museum has tested some glazed worsted fabrics, and the presence of an additional substance such as gum has been detected in some samples suggesting that glazing may have occasionally required more than just heat and pressure of the press. As early as the 1720s, quilted petticoats were an important component of many women's wardrobes. In addition to providing added warmth, the materials and quilting patterns they displayed served as decorative embellishment to the wearer's apparel. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the bulkiness of these kinds of petticoats fell out of favor as dress styles became streamlined. See quilt (HD 2000.55.1) for a quilt which includes an unmade petticoat backed with handwoven, plaid wool. The selvage width of the pink calimanco wool face is at least 37" wide.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+F.236 |
