Fabrics Used in late 17th Century

[AllByMeOnesies]

This is for Colonial America, around 1690, Carolina...what types of fabrics would have been used for a woman's average day dress...I don't mean a rich woman going to a ball, but I don't mean the lower class either. I know linen was worn next to the skin, but what about the dress itself?

Thankee.

[Guest Barbette]

From the little digging I did, it appears that cotton was a relatively inexpensive fabric at that time in the colonies, so it would seem that cotton would have been a common material for ladies dresses. One article referenced that cotton was actually cheaper than linen by the end of the 17th century. My other guess would be wool.

[Mission]

May I suggest Nicole Kipar's site if you haven't already tried it? It's full of gobs of info on late 17th century clothing and it even has a section devoted to piracy.

[Gentleman of Fortune]

Cotton...

Uhmmm... well most "re-enactors" like to use cotton because they can get it at their local fabric shop in all kinds of colors and prints for $2 a yard.

The truth is that the kind of cotton we have today would have been very expensive in the late 17th early 18th.

Cotton was being produced in the collonies, but the manufacturing of cotton did not get underway until the mid to late 18th century.

So if you could find a nice homespun style of cotton, that would be great to make your slave clothes out of.

Cotton was used in conjuction with other fibers though at this time in wool/cotton and other blends.

I reccomend wool, linen (you can make the outter garmets from linen too), fustian, osnaberg....

Nicole Kipar's site is one of the best web refrences available... definately worth the time

also, check out my site (link below) for sources of fabrics too!

Good luck!