Exhibition Spotlight: A rare extant blue and white striped homespun linen dress, c. 1800, with a New Hampshire provenance

By Kimberly Alexander

Understated and refined describes the time-worn beauty of this hand-sewn, unlined homespun c. 1800 linen dress. The indigo blue and white stripes, loosely pleated back, and empire waist subtly elevate the style of this every day, at-home or work dress.

 

The numerous patches and repairs reveal its inherent value to the wearer/wearers and the reluctance to discard such a frequently overlooked garment. It is not known if the maker and the wearer are the same or related in some way – perhaps future research will uncover additional information. Employing blue and white stripes was indeed common in early America. There was an extensive network of flax growers, spinners and linen weavers working throughout New Hampshire and the Seacoast region in the 18^th and into the 19^thcenturies. 

The weft-woven stripes indicate that the fabric was turned and cut horizontally to obtain the vertical striping implying a definite style choice and economical use of the linen. As noted by Adjunct Curator for the Irma Bowen Collection, Astrida Schaeffer: "In all, the gown is assembled out of thirty-two pieces (aside from its patches) and its use of fabric is extremely frugal, in places suggesting that the fabric is recycled from a previous object." Donated by Mary Pepperrell Ffrost Sawyer, of Durham NH, the dress has a strong local New Hampshire connection.

 You can view the dress at the Woodman Museum in Dover in the exhibition “Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire” through 24 November 2024.

Courtesy of The Milne Special Collections and Archives at Dimond Library. University of New Hampshire, part of the Irma G. Bowen Textile Collection

 

For a detailed description and images, see: https://scholars.unh.edu/bowen_collection/597/

UNH Dimond Library, Archives and Special Collections 

 

Exhibition Spotlight: 18th Century Shoes on view at the Woodman Museum

By Kimberly Alexander

For Stratham, New Hampshire shoemakers such as Samuel Lane and Josiah Brown, tailors like Samuel Watson of Dover, and printers of newspapers, broadsides and books, linen played an important role. Often, in its ubiquity, it goes unmentioned and unnoticed in historical records. 

 

For example, the linen was used as the ground for embroidered shoe uppers and linings and embroidered samplers; it was employed also for interior lining material on waistcoats, jackets, and stays. Separately from clothing items, linen thread and cloth had scores of utilitarian purposes, used for grain sacks, thread for stitching, tape for binding; even linen rags for making paper were a sought-after commodity by newspaper publishers, printers and booksellers.

 

Join me for a look at three pairs of shoes featured in Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire.

 

Wool Shoes

 

These late 18th-century brown-black woolen shoes were likely made in New England, possibly in New Hampshire. The wearer and the maker are currently unknown. The wool upper retains a bit of a sheen, associated with popular calamanco uppers, and they are lined with locally produced linen. A "transition" style of shoe, the pointed toes and lower heels give a nod to fashion circa the 1780s-1790s. On the other hand, the straps or lachets, requiring buckles to affix them to the foot, carry on an earlier tradition. They are amply sized, well-finished, and may have been the "best shoes" of a "middling” sort, or perhaps they belonged to a woman who wanted a more traditional shoe. 

 

Loan courtesy of the Irma Bowen Textile Collection, University of New Hampshire, Archives and Special Collections, Museum #438. For more: https://scholars.unh.edu/bowen_collection/975/

  

Photo, Astrida Schaeffer; Courtesy UNH Irma Bowen Clothing Collection

Embroidered Cream Silk Shoes

 

Made in Boston, Massachusetts, this pair of elegant silk shoes with embroidered toes are lined with linen and feature diminutive string ties rather than the straps for buckles as seen in the adjacent woolen shoes. They are also a transitional shoe from the late 18th century. In both pairs of women’s shoes, as well as in the red silk shoes (adjacent), linen is used for lining and backing, and linen thread is used for sewing and for ties.

 

Loan courtesy of the author.

 

Red Silk Shoes

 

Although the maker and wearer are unknown, these vibrant and stylish red silk satin, linen-lined buckle shoes, c1780s, were possibly made in England and likely worn by a woman of means in New Hampshire. The architectonic, balanced color scheme and smooth satin surface is indicative of the transition away from the heavy embroidery and richly decorated silk brocades from earlier in the 18th century associated with the Rococo style, shifting to the burgeoning, Neoclassical influence of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

 

Loan courtesy of the Moffatt-Ladd House and Garden, Portsmouth, NH. 

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For more on Georgian Shoes in America:

 

The shoes on view here, in addition to dozens of others, are discussed in Treasures Afoot: Shoe Stories from the Georgian Era [Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018. Honor Book Award 2019, Historic New England.]

https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11565/treasures-afoot

 

For more in the UNH Flax-to-Linen Project

http://www.theflaxprojectunh.com