Child's open robe
Category
Costume
Date
1775 - 1800
Materials
Linen, cotton and brass
Order this imageCollection
Snowshill Wade Costume Collection, Gloucestershire
NT 1350451
Caption
Made up of a patchwork of over 50 fabric pieces, this small child’s robe is cut from a small rectangle of Indian chintz printed and painted with a repeating pattern of flowering branches. It may have been cut from a woman’s dress. The economy demonstrated in the construction technique, whereby tiny slivers and irregularly shaped pieces of cloth have been pieced carefully together using beautifully crafted stitched seams, suggests the value of the fabric to the maker. The resulting robe is both pretty and practical; it includes easily fastened hooks and eyes down the centre of the bodice and loops at the back to tie a sash. Indian chintz was so popular with 18th-century consumers that imports were prohibited by the Calico Acts, legislation intended to protect British textile industries. Although chintz remained in wide circulation, brought home by textile merchants and travellers, European efforts to manufacture block-printed cotton eventually resulted in British dominance of the global cotton trade, reversing established trading patterns by exporting Lancashire cottons to India. Emma Slocombe
Summary
Child's open robe - An open robe made of cotton tabby Indian printed in shades of indigo and madder with a design of trails and sprays of various flowers and leaves. Unbleached linen lining on bodice and sleeves only. Four flat brass hooks and eyes down centre front of bodice and two stitched loops at back (possibly for sash). Wade Catalogue number E.23 "Child's frock, cotton printed with floral design in reds and blues. Shows the thriftyness (sic) of the mother in skilful use of odd pieces. Held up to the light it will be found to be a kind of patchwork. 18th Century. May be Dutch early 19th". Brought from Mrs Solomon for £1.0.0.
Provenance
Charles Paget Wade Collection, Snowshill Manor
References
Bradfield, 1968: Nancy Bradfield, Costume in Detail, 1730-1930, Harrop, London, 1968, pp.71-72 Antrobus and Slocombe 2025: Helen Antrobus and Emma Slocombe, 100 Things to Wear: Fashion from the collections of the National Trust, National Trust 2025, p. 87.