Category
Costume
Date
1830 - 1840
Materials
Cotton, Linen
Order this imageCollection
Snowshill Wade Costume Collection, Gloucestershire
NT 1350102
Summary
A woman's pocket made from 4 roller printed fabrics roughly patched together with a resist printed cotton lining and a cream linen backing.
Full description
In the late 17th and 18th centuries, and well into the 19th century, girls and women of all classes wore detachable pockets under layers of skirts and petticoats rather than wearing clothes with integrated pockets that were a feature of men’s tailoring at the time. Teardrop-shaped or more rectangular like this example, with a front opening and ties for the waist, these pockets were worn singly or in pairs and were reached through side openings in gowns and petticoats. Although designed to be hidden under layers of clothing, tie-on pockets were often decorated. Pockets were useful for carrying personal and practical items such as coins, keys, sewing kits and gloves. The memory of this once essential item of clothing is captured in the well-known children’s nursery rhyme: Lucy Locket lost her pocket, / Kitty Fisher found it; / Not a penny was there in it, / Only ribbon round it.
Provenance
Given to National Trust with Snowshill Manor in 1951 by Charles Paget Wade