This finely pleated and expertly ironed sleeve belongs to a lady’s dressing jacket. Such a garment was particularly necessary when dressing the hair in order to keep the hair powder from contact with clothing. The jacket reaches to the hips and has three-quarter length sleeves, with fine cambric cuffs. A ruffle runs down each edge of the front of the jacket.

To set the fine pleating of the sleeve it had to be held taut at both ends while ironing. Once the length-wise pleats were set, the sleeve was folded cross-wise and ironed again. Eighteenth-century laundresses required great skill to execute this kind of finishing, heating their irons on a stove to the temperature just hot enough to smooth, but not scorch, the linen.