This is a design for embroidery on muslin or gauze. It is for an apron which women wore over a gown as fashionable informal dress. The seaweed pattern and small circles that fill the areas between it are similar to a design for an apron for Miss Thrale that is dated
'Nov. 21 st 1788'. Miss Thrale was the daughter of a wealthy brewer who moved in the highest reaches of society in the eighteenth century. This pattern was for also for a fashionable client from the aristocracy, gentry or a wealthy family.