Dress fabric

This is a length of dress fabric, and we know that it was used for a lady's gown, as it still has traces of pleats indicating where it had been gathered into the waist of a petticoat, which was worn with an open robe. The fabric is brocaded. The technique of brocading allowed different colours to be introduced into the pattern of a fabric in specific, sometimes very small areas. It was a more laborious process for the weaver than using patterning wefts running from selvedge to selvedge, but the resulting effect could be much more varied and lively. In this period of the 18th century, there was a fashion for the patterns in woven silks to simulate real trimmings, like fur and lace, as if they were trailing over the surface of the fabric.