18th Century Cotton Printed Fabrics

Chintz | 18th Century Cotton Prints

18th Century Cotton Prints

These printed cottons that are true copies of the original designs are now available thanks to the work of the people at Durán Textiles from Stockholm, Sweden. Using examples of textiles from clothing in museum collections in Sweden and the USA they have presented us the opportunity to fulfill the desire to add clothing to our wardrobe that will produce not only the correct print but also the proper drape of the fabric for the late 18th century.

Printed cottons made before the process became much more sophisticated in the early 19th century have a charm that was lost with the advent of roller printing. Some of the prints offer the sought after monochrome designs on a light background that in the period were printed using the color resist method or by block printing, others are block printed with the blues and yellows "penciled' in. Today Durán Textiles has used the block printed method to duplicate some of the original designs while others are screen prints.

You may choose to make an entire printed gown, jacket or banyan and have a garment to be proud of. Alternatively you may buy a small piece to border a petticoat, line the turn back cuffs on your short gown or to make a pair of pockets adding a touch of luxury to your wardrobe. The preshrunk cotton fabric from Durán Textiles will only produce 2-3% shrinkage with washing: all are 59" (150cm) wide.

All fabrics noted below are currently in stock others may be special ordered with a 50% deposit. Due to the exchange rate all special orders will be placed at the new price and any orders less than 25 meters will be charged an additional 10%. To see Durán Textiles complete line of fabrics please visit their website: Durán Textiles, AB.

You may special order any Durán Textiles fabric from
Wm. Booth, Draper at the sign of the Unicorn.
262-886-9133 or 815-648-9048.

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Currant 56" wide $34.00/yd. This mid 18th century print is copied from the lining of a quilted bed cover kept in the collection of Linnaeus' Hammarby, Sweden owned by Uppsala University Art Collections. It might be a Swedish print and the design is a type used for both clothing and furnishings. For example in The Pennsylvania Gazette of 1773 "This day were committed to my custody, as suspicious persons . . .  and passes for a wife to said Edwards, alias Mitchel . . .  had a dark ground calicoe gown". This quote is cited in Wenches, Wives and Servant Girls. White 35/2 linen thread will work well for hand sewing this fabric. Pinted cottons were often used to make women's gowns or jackets. The gown or jacket may have a matching petticoat of the same fabric but petticoats were usually not made of printed fabrics unless the upper garment is also of the print. Men's banyans were also made of printed fabrics. Add Currant to Cart

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Dorotea 56" wide $34.00/yd. This block printed cotton is dated c. 1800 and is copied from a pattern found on a Swedish apron in the Varmland's Museum in Karlstad. This is block printed in its original colors of grayish blue vines and leaves with flowers in rusty red. Because it is block printed today there are imperfections that give the character only true block prints have. Besides one color prints two color prints were the second most common before the copper rollers came in slightly later in the 19th century. This fabric will make an attractive woman's empire style gown or petticoat or man's waistcoat or banyan. For example in The Providence Gazette of 1800 "a Woman, who has been several Years delirious, escaped from her Father's House, in Providence, having been mostly confined to her Chamber. . . .  She had on . . .  a short Calico loose Gown". As cited in Runaways, Deserters, and Notorious Villains by Maureen Taylor. White linen thread 80/3 will work well for hand sewing. Add Dorotea to Cart

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Cicoria 56" wide $34.00/yd. In the beautiful Winterthur Museum in Delaware there is a panel of block printed linen in red and brown, with penciled details in blue, yellow and green. Because of a stamped mark "Philadelphia, printed by Walters & Bedwell", this print is well dated to 1775-1776 and is one of the earliest proved examples of American textile printing in existence. Thomas Bedwel immigrated from London around 1772 and many of the frist printing manufactories were located in Philadelphia. In The Virginia Gazette of 1773 "Run away . . .  a Country born Negro Woman . . .  She carried with her several Changes of Apparel, among which are remembered a red and white Calico Jacket and Petticoat". This quote is cited in Wenches, Wives and Servant Girls. White 35/2 linen thread will work well for hand sewing this fabric. Pinted cottons were often used to make women's gowns or jackets. The gown or jacket may have a matching petticoat of the same fabric but petticoats were usually not made of printed fabrics unless the upper garment is also of the print. Men's banyans were also made of printed fabrics. Add Cicoria to Cart

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Chintz | 18th Century Cotton Prints

Chintz

Chintz (from the Hindi word chint, meaning to sprinkle or spray) were made using a multi-step process involving painting, resist dyeing, and mordant dyeing. A final finish was applied by burnishing with shells or beaten with a mallet to give them a shiny surface.

Both in America and Europe but especially in Britain and the Netherlands chintz fabric from India soon became the craze from gentry to servants after their first introduction in the 17th century. The glazed and printed cotton was a favorite long into the 19th century until the cheaper machine made copies replaced the hand painted cloth from India. In the 17th century it was used at first for bed hangings and bedcovers of the gentry then when worn out reused for clothing the children of the lower sorts. But the bright colors of the beautiful prints were soon being used for linings and later into women's jackets, skirts, and gowns and men's banyans and enjoyed by all economic classes. Much of what is written here is summarized from the book Chintz: Indian Textiles for the West by Rosemary Crill.

Dutch chintz are from the Netherlands and the design is reproduced at the accurate scale. Wilhelmina is reproduced using part of an original 18th century design.

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