F, 1770s, British; White silk, striped and figured, Spitalfields, 1770-75, padded trimming with blonde lace

A woman's sack and petticoat of white silk figured in a design of vertical floral trails with a band of narrow stripes and narrow vertical floral bands. The sack is open at the front with robings to the waist and elbow-length sleeves with double, scalloped sleeve ruffles. The back has two box pleats, stitched at the neckline. A waist seam runs from the front edges to the bodice side seam. The bodice and sleeves are lined with bleached linen. The sack is made of 4 widths of silk with a partial width and triangular gore of silk on each side of the front. The skirts are pleated at the bodice side seam and the pocket openings, to fit a fan-shaped hoop. A narrow band of pleated silk, trimmed with silk bobbin lace, runs around the back neck and down the robings and edge of the skirt fronts. The latter are also decorated with a band of silk, edged with silk bobbin lace and increasing in width down the front, gathered into parallel puffs arraneged in zig zags, and trimmed with lace-edged silk bows. The bobbin lace also edges the sleeve ruffles.

The petticoat is made of 5 widths of silk with a triangular gore on each side. There is a wide box pleat at the front and flat pleats at the side and back. The waist is bound with linen tape which forms the ties for fastening at the centre back. The silk is pleated at the pocket openings for a wide fan-shaped hoop. the petticoat is decorated with zig zag of puffed silk, edged with silk bobbin lace above the hem. Above it is a deep flounce of silk, edged with the lace, pleated, and arranged in a serpentine line.

Given by Eric Bullivant, Esq.

By the 1770s, the curvilinear patterns of the Rococo style began to straighten out in both dress trimmings and textile designs, as the influence of Neo-classicism increased. A rectilinear arrangement can be seen in the figured pattern of vertical stripes and lines of floral and leafy motifs of the dress silk. Instead of curving ruffles of fabric, the gown is decorated with a thick, padded trim arranged in a zig-zag pattern. The white silk bobbin lace was known as ‘blonde’ and featured as a popular embellishment in 1770s fashion.

T.163&A-1964