Artifact: Gown of block printed cotton
Materials: Cotton, block printed
Dimensions: OL: 57" Waist approx 28" Textile 35 1/2" wide.
Date: 1765-1780
Origin: Europe
Collection: Image Courtesy of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
License: All rights reserved
Ledger Entry: Cotton Gown
Department: Clothing
Customer: Margret Piper
Ledger Page: 175
Imported From: Most of the ready to wear clothing sold in the Ramsay store would have been imported from England. Textiles were one of the largest departments of the store, indicating that most customers made their own clothing.
Product Description
The gown was the outer layer of a woman's ensemble built upon a foundation of layers of undergarments. Many gowns of the period had open skirts in the front to reveal a decorated petticoat. Gowns ranged drastically in quality of materials, level of ornamentation, and style based on the social status of the woman, the time of day or event attended, and the woman's taste. Many women either had their gowns custom made by a tailor or purchased fabrics to make their own clothing; however some ready-made clothes were available for purchase.
Citation: Linda Baumgarten. Eighteenth-Century Clothing at Williamsburg. (Williamsburg, Va: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1986), 20-25.; Linda Baumgarten. What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America (New Haven: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in association with Yale University Press, 2002).
Historical Price: 10 shillings, 6 pence; Modern USD: $118
Product Variations
Although Ramsay's customers more frequently purchased fabric to make their clothes, the databases record six purchases of completed gowns. Five of these were cotton, while the sixth was cotton and silk. The purchases were made by both men and women. Their prices ranged from ten shillings six pence to eighteen shillings.
