Design

This is a design for embroidery on muslin or gauze. It is probably for the border of a petticoat to a woman's open gown or for the border of the gown itself. Women wore gowns that were open in front to reveal the petticoat. This design is for the embroidery along the border above the bottom hem of a petticoat and also for such a border on the gown itself. The design repeated so that this pattern continued around the border. The design must have been used repeatedly judging by the amount of pinholes which caused the need to strengthen it by sewing on a support. The design seems to have been used after backing because there are pinholes in the turned-over edges and through the backing. The backing was not therefore a paper conservation measure to strengthen the design in, for example, a museum collection because it would not have been used afterwards in such a context. A similar network of lines to this design can be seen in an Indian embroidered muslin dress, for the European market, in the Museum of London MOL.65.80/1. The gird of pinholes was used to sew the design with tacking stitches to the underside of muslin or gauze that is stretched on an embroidery frame or a tambour frame. The black ink of the design would have shown through the transparent textile and the design could have been embroidered, without tracing it on to the textile with watercolour. Saint-Aubin described this process. Germain de Saint-Aubin, Charles.<u> L'Art du Brodeur</u>, 1770. The amount of use suggests that this design was in demand by clients.