Category: To Supply the Household

Sewing for the Home

Linens were made at home until well into the nineteenth century. Before factories could weave linen and cotton the width of a sheet, women had to sew widths of linen to make sheets and larger tablecloths. A bed’s linens consisted of two sheets, two pillowcases, sometimes a bolster cover, blankets. In the 18th and early nineteenth century, beds usually had bed curtains. (Quilts, unquilted bedspreads, and woven coverlets are not included in this definition of basic bed linens.) In most households, the women of the house sewed all these. Seamstresses could be hired (or enslaved seamstresses ordered) to do “plain sewing,” and upholsterers could be commissioned for bed curtains and fancier bedspreads, but for the most part, American women could expect to sew the dozens of bed and table linens that were needed in their households. 

Linen pillowcase, 1800–1830, gift of Alma Lott Fricke, 85.12.3

Checked linen napkin, early 19th century, gift of Helen Plumb Thomas, 92.247

Cotton Grain Bag, 1838, 2022.18.3

Linen sheet, 1800–1830, gift of Alma Lott Fricke, 85.12.2

Linen tablecloth, early 19th century, gift of Marguerite Rosbach Marshall, 80.40.1

Linen “show” towel, 1820, Pennsylvania, gift of Emily B. Ford, 62.213

Sewing for Children

Infants required shirts, petticoats or slips, day and night gowns, day and night caps, a large supply of diapers and diaper covers, stockings, a cloak for warmth, and of course the blankets and sheets for the cradle or crib.

Girls and toddler boys had dresses with either shirts, shifts, or slips plus drawers (what we call pantalettes) underneath; stockings; and sometimes pinafores or aprons. Older boys had trousers, shirts, and jackets. Overcoats for boys and girls were also frequently made at home. For a family of multiple children of a range of ages, all constantly growing, making new clothes, and altering, cutting down, and mending old ones to make them last for another child, could be an almost continuous task.

Child’s striped cotton socks, 1850–1880, gift of Polly Bloedorn, 96.22.6A&B

Child’s cotton drawers, about 1860, gift of Bertha Foster Glidden, 4080.7

Girl’s cotton shift, 1800–1830, DAR Museum, 2006.6

Infant’s printed cotton gown, about 1860, gift of Mary Sue Pattie in honor of Sue Wade McDonald, 87.20

Child’s petticoat, 1830s, gift of Barbara L. Chuko, 96.95

Printed cotton dress, 1890–1899, DAR Museum, 2001.34.3

Boy’s cotton sateen trousers ,1858–1860, Georgia, gift of Mary Morris Morgon, 85.75

Boy’s checked cotton shirt, 1780–1810, Connecticut, gift of Lenis Barney, 2010.51.2

Infant’s cap, 1830–1850, cotton, gift of Grace W. Bloodgood, 6728

Sewing for Women

Garments women would usually sew for themselves included (but were not limited to) the shift (later called a chemise); petticoats; drawers when they began being widely worn in the second third of the 1800s; corset covers; stockings; and in the early 1800s, corsets. How many of each garment a woman had varied hugely by economic circumstance and over time (fabric becoming cheaper with industrialization). But based on evidence in diaries, letters, dressmakers’ accounts, and advice manuals, we know that in general, women above basic poverty levels had multiple changes of underthings and dresses, and most were adding at least one or two dresses for spring/summer and the same for fall/winter each year.

Many women also did much of the sewing of their dresses, even if they hired a dressmaker for help with fitting and cutting the bodice pattern—as many experts advised. 

Cotton night cap, 1840s, DAR Museum, 2000.10.1

Corded cotton petticoat, 1820–1835, DAR Museum, 2005.49

Embroidered linen pocket, 1750–1790, gift of Abbie S. Sargent, 2423.2

Linen shift, 1795–1815, Connecticut, gift of Lucy Bishop Minor, 46.16

Cotton stockings, 1820s, gift of Grace Rheinstrom, 3231.A&B

Embroidered cotton apron, 1914, Indiana, 97.43

Cotton twill drawers, 1840s, gift of the University of Maryland, 2014.21.30

Sewing For Men

Men’s shirts and undergarments were available for purchase ready-made early in the nineteenth century—a large network of “outwork” sewers operated in the 1810s around New York City, for example—but it was still more or less expected that women would sew their husbands’ and fathers’ shirts. Home-sewing manuals warned that store-bought shirts were of inferior quality, would not wear well, and would need to be replaced more often. 

Men’s coats required tailors’ skills to fit well (see the coat in this section), but legwear and waistcoats could be partly or entirely made at home. Tailors’ account books record many commissions to “cut” or “cut and baste” (cutting included measuring the customer and making a pattern) as well as their orders to “make” garments (from start to finish). 

Cotton under-drawers, 1830s, DAR Museum, 2008.35

Linen shirt, 1800–1820, gift of Elisie A. Norton and Edna Norton Clark, 50.4

Linen socks, 1820–1850, gift of Mrs. Kent Hamilton, 3316A&B