As the weather is turning cooler, let's take a look at quilted petticoats.
They were an item of clothing that transcended any notions of class or status and worn throughout most of the eighteenth century by all women, from nobility down to fishwives. These petticoats had a variety of uses. Usually tied at either side of the waistband, they had a gap in the side seams which allowed access to a pair of pockets worn underneath. The primary function of the garment was warmth. In colder climates (and here in Britain we’re always complaining about the weather!) the padding could provide an extra layer to insulate the wearer.
By the mid-eighteenth century, women’s gowns were worn open at the front and the petticoat underneath became a decorative item. Well-to-do ladies wore petticoats made of silk or satin, often in contrasting colours to their robe although the backing was sometimes made of a more robust material such as calico or coarse linen. They also wore quilted petticoats.
The courtesan, Nelly O’Brien is famously depicted wearing a simple diamond-patterned pink quilted petticoat in her portrait by Joshua Reynolds. Embellishment is added with an embroidered gauzy apron worn over the top. Note the contrasting blue and white striped gown.
Nelly O’Brien by Joshua Reynolds, c.1762-1763. © The Wallace Collection
Flat quilting, whereby two or three layers were stitched through using a running or backstitch was one of the most popular forms. The other was corded quilted which involved parallel channels being sewn through which cord was inserted from the reverse, giving a textured relief to the fabric. The designs used were often more decorative and elaborate than the simple pattern on the petticoat worn by Nelly O’Brien; flowers, intricate geometric patterns and even animals all featured.
A European eighteenth-century quilted silk petticoat resembling the one worn by Nelly O’Brien in her portrait. The Met
When just the front of the petticoat would be glimpsed, the decoration was concentrated on that area. As polonaise gowns became fashionable, where the skirts were gathered and looped up at the back, the full hemline of the petticoat was visible. This led to a trend for decoration all around the undergarment. John Wilkes’ daughter, Mary, in this next portrait, demonstrates the fashion. The green quilted petticoat, contrasting sharply with the pink gown, has the addition of a deep frill all around the hemline.
John Wilkes and his daughter Mary by Johann Zoffany, c.1779. National Portrait Gallery, London
Marseille (or French) quilting is a term used to describe the distinctive cotton quilting which was a feature of the Provence area of southern France. It was known for fine cording and stuffed designs. There, textiles were made for export and the London weavers suffered as a result.
In the 1740s, a solution was found. A weaving technique was developed in England using a loom that imitated hand quilting. It made the process quick and inexpensive although it was not true quilting. Usually made with linen, while the fabric appeared to be quilted there was no middle layer of woollen wadding. Petticoats made this way lacked the warmth of their ‘Marseilles’ counterparts.
A Sale of Ready Made Goods, &c. by JONAS CLIFTON, SILK-WEAVER and WAREHOUSE-MAN, from SHOREDITCH, LONDON: who now sells at the FOUNTAIN in MARGATE, His CURIOUS BRITISH LOOM QUILTING, for Ladies Petticoats, Bed-gowns, and Gentleman’s Winter Waistcoats, exceeding rich, neat and serviceable… (Kentish Gazette, 9 December 1769)
Quilted, Marseilles-type petticoat in sage green-coloured silk satin quilted by machine.
Historic Deerfield
The profession of quilted petticoat maker is described in the London Tradesman, 1747. It was not a lucrative one.
I must just peep under the Quilted-Petticoat. Every one knows the materials they are made of: they are made mostly by women, and some men, who are employed by the shops and earn but little. They quilt likewise quilts for beds for the upholder. This they make more of than of the petticoats, but not very considerable, nothing to get rich by unless they are able to purchase the materials and sell them finished to the shops, which few of them do. They rarely take apprentices, and the women they employ to help them, earn three or four shillings a week and their diet.
An extra cost to the manufacturers of quilted petticoats was the price of the wool used for the wadding, which was subject to the attention of customs.
Last week, the Prince Frederick, a Collier, lately arriv’d from Newcastle, was searched by a custom-house officer, who found about 200 weight of the combings of wool, in two bags, the property of a female passenger on board the said ship, who follows the business of making quilted petticoats; whereupon he seiz’d the same, together with the ship and all her cargo, as forfeited by law, for bringing wool from any part of England without entering it at the custom-house and clearing it from thence; and modestly demanded 600l. of the owners for clearing her, which was refus’d… (Ipswich Journal, 29 October 1743)
The Reverend Streynsham Master and his wife, Margaret of Croston, Lancashire by Artur Devis. Harris Art Museum and Gallery
Quilted petticoats provided shape to the skirts worn over them. Often the wadding used in the manufacture of these petticoats did not extend to the waistband, so they were less bulky at the waistline. But, in an era when women wore a variety of hoops, bum rolls and panniers to enhance and alter their natural forms, quilted petticoats were a useful tool. They provided a little extra padding where needed. Evidence shows that they were worn in a variety of different ways throughout the century, both with and without a extra support and definition beneath them, depending on the desired silhouette. Perhaps, when Mary Hobbins went missing, she was trying to disguise her slim frame by wearing multiple quilted petticoats: even for late September, wearing two of these garments must have been uncomfortably hot.
September 26, 1724. Whereas one Thomas Robinson… went away with one Mary Hobbins of Swineshead near Boston in Lincolnshire: She is a slender thin-vizzag’d Woman, had two quilted petticoats on, viz. one green, and the other red and blue, with a white Gown with small Stripes or a Popple and white with broad Stripes… (Stamford Mercury, 29 October 1724)
Towards the 1770s, it was common for fashionable ladies to wear a bum roll underneath their quilted petticoat, to add emphasis to their rear (think Kim Kardashian today!). A working woman would, of course, need to be able to move freely. They would wear very little under their quilted petticoats, relying on the bulkiness of the garment to provide any necessary shape, more concerned with practicalities than fashion.
Love in a Village, print by Carington Bowles. © The Trustees of the British Museum
By the end of the eighteenth century, women’s silhouettes became more slender. Quilted petticoats were no longer in vogue with women of fashion although lower-class women still clung to the practical, hardwearing and warm garment.
As we’ve seen, quilted petticoats were worn for decoration, for warmth and to add shape to gowns. What other possible reason could there be to wear one? Well, they were handy when smuggling items such as tea or lace past the strict customs officials of the day!
Another smuggler is committed to the Castle of Norwich; from whence ‘tis added, that the Officers of the Customs there had seized a considerable Quantity of Tea, India Silk Handkerchiefs brought up from Yarmouth by a Woman, who, when taken, had several Pounds of Tea quilted in her Petticoats. (Ipswich Journal, 9 January 1731)
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Thursday a Gentleman and Lady put up at an inn at Dover, where they had just landed from France; when two Custom-house Officers came in, and insisted upon searching the Lady, on whom they found a quantity of Brussels lace, to the value of near 300l. which was concealed in her quilted petticoat… Some of our Nobility, it seems are suspected and even accused of harbouring smuggled goods. The truth is, so many Nobility and Gentry deal so much in smuggling, that a Correspondent says, he will venture to affirm that one half of the foreign lace that shall appear at Court on the ensuing birth-day, is smuggled. (Stamford Mercury, 4 June 1772)
Sources:
Patchwork and Quilting in Britain, Heather Audin, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013
www.thedreamstress.com: What to wear under a quilted petticoat, 6th January 2012
FIDM Museum: Quilted petticoat, c.1840-45
Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, Collections Database: Object Accession No. HD F.495A
The London Tradesman: Being a Compendious View of All the Trades, Professions, Arts, Both Liberal and Mechanic, Now Practised in the Cities of London and Westminster. Calculated for the Information of Parents, and Instruction of Youth in Their Choice of Business, R. Campbell, Esq, 1747
This is an updated version of my earlier post (20 November 2018) on a former website.