Herringbone/Twill works great for linings and outer garments. You can also see a coarser, sturdier linen used for the sleeve cuffs. The rust-colored linen lining of a Robe a la Francaise, c. Plain woven works for undergarments, linings, millinery, and outer clothing. Check out Burnley & Trowbridge and Renaissance Fabrics. However, all hope is not lost – our favorite historical fabric small businesses have good selections of good quality linen. Expensive, hard to find in good quality, and often too heavy, slubby, and loosely-woven. Unfortunately today linen is the complete opposite. It was cheap, readily available, and came in all sorts of weights. Linen was used for just about everything – underwear, linings, caps, aprons, and other millinery, men’s and women’s clothing, you name it. Linen – The most common fabric of the 18th century A linen shift, 3rd quarter of the 18th century, The Met, C.I.41.161.7 Ready for the gigantic textile post? Let’s go! These are all natural fibers and all there was for clothing before the 20th century (excluding leather and fur).

So in the eternal words of Captain Barbossa, let’s establish some “guidelines”… One of the top questions I get from budding 18th century costumers is “what fabric should I use?” Luckily, there is ample choice for the Georgian era, though not as much a today with all sorts of modern mixes and fibers, so the confusion is understandable. Robe a la Francaise, 1770, LACMA M.2007.211 – beautiful and expensive printed cotton

Blue brocade texture