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.