Description:
Quilted off-white, plain weave cotton petticoat which was pieced together first (has one vertical steam) and then quilted in matching cotton thread with a diamond or trellis pattern around the upper half; painted with floral sprays in red, blue, and brown (faded from purple) around the finely woven cotton bottom half; and a narrowly-spaced quilting design around the bottom edge. The stamp below the waistband, a "4" over a heart with other letters inside (VEIC) is the seal marking this cotton as sold by the English East India Company (or United East India Company). The symbols to the right hand side of the heart suggest they are part of a tamil seal, that would have marked the fabric as the property of the EEIC after the cloth was woven, when it was taken to the painters and/or printers in a workshop in India separate from the weaving. 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 eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the bulkiness of these kinds of petticoats fell out of favor as dress styles became streamlined. The center front and center back lengths of this garment are the same, at 34.75", suggesting a date of the 1780s. The trellis quilting is done in about 8 stitches per inch, while the diagonal quilting channels at the hem are slightly more dense at 11 stitches per inch. The woven density of the upper textile panels is 28 x 24 cpi (centimeters per inch), or about 9.5" x 11" tpi (threads per inch). Both the warp and weft are woven in a Z-twist. The lower painted hem has a woven density of 32 x 32 cpi, or about 12.5" x 12.5" tpi. Both warp and weft are woven in a Z-twist.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+F.654 |
