Quilted Petticoat Panel, about 1750
This petticoat’s designs (trellis design, border above pictorial elements, and motifs) connect it to over twenty others made in Rhode Island and coastal Connecticut. The ship, fish, and mermaid motifs connect it to the maritime trade, backbone of Rhode Island economy; one of the petticoats’ makers was the daughter of a sea captain.
Many eighteenth-century quilted petticoats were professionally made in commercial workshops in England and France. However, they were also made individually in America, sometimes under the tutelage of needlework teachers, as appears to be the case with this group of regional designs.
Silk face, wool backing and filling. Gift of Elizabeth Ogden Weber 3622
Connecting Threads: See a panel from another of these petticoats, made into a quilt, in the Study Gallery quilt racks!