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House Dress Rendered by Julie C. Brush (artist), 1935/1942 watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink on paperboard overall: 54.8 x 41.1 cm (21 9/16 x 16 3/16 in.) Index of American Design 1943.8.2697 |
Object 10 of 26
Multicolored printed cotton or linen fabrics were fashionable in Europe as early as the seventeenth century, when trade with the East began to flourish. Later, English and French textile manufacturers began to produce their own versions to compete with imported materials. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, American textile manufacturers were producing inexpensive printed fabrics because of the availability of cheap cotton and the introduction of mechanical spinning machines.
This "house dress," from about 1835 or 1836, is made of a printed cotton fabric. The sleeves, between the forearm and shoulder, required a special down-filled padding to support their large balloon shape. The skirt was extended outward by layers of petticoats.
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