Petticoat

This petticoat is an extraordinary feat of knitting skill unparalleled in any other known collection. We do not know exactly how it was made. It seems too large to have been produced by hand or on a knitting frame. The only other similar garment was a petticoat knitted in a variety of abstract patterns within a diamond-shaped grid. Sold at Christies auction house in 1981, it too dated from the early 18th century and had both Dutch and English connections.

The cream-coloured petticoat is knitted in two-ply wool, with surface decoration of animals, birds and trees. Among the more exotic creatures are an elephant, a lion, an ostrich and a rhinoceros. The motifs are knitted in purl and plain on a background of stocking stitch.

The petticoat is knitted in the round with no seams and has a circumference of over 3 metres at the widest point. Despite the large surface area, the pattern does not repeat.