Self- striped printed muslin dress

Self-striped printed muslin dress, around 1830.

The fabric used to make this dress is known as self- striped muslin, because of the graduated stripes in the cotton, created by varying the density of the warp fibres. It has a printed floral motif based on trailing flowers and leaves, and was likely printed using a combination of roller and block printing. Although produced in Britain, the floral patterns are imitations of Indian designs, which consumers became familiar with from Indian cloth brought by traders for sale in Britain.

This dress is made from cloth woven and printed in Britain, but the floral patterns are imitations of Indian designs. The dress is frayed and stained from being worn again and again. Manufacturers in Manchester learned how to make cloth like the Indian cottons people craved. New machines made it possible to produce them in huge quantities.