More thoughts on fabric

[justawench]

I've been transforming in the info on exports from Liverpool's port in 1770 from "An essay towards the history of Leverpool, drawn up from papers left by the late G. Perry, and from other materials" into spreadsheets to see if anything can be gleaned about printed fabrics. Taken as a percentage of textiles in general, printed fabrics are completely

Comments

[virginiadear]

I suspect what you have right now is an insufficient data base. What you have is based on an "...essay towards the history of Liverpool, drawn up from papers left by the late G. Perry, and from other materials." Is it known what the other materials are, and how representative they are of the fabric exported to America?
We know (I know only because I read your journal!) that linen was dyed/printed in the 1700s, so that's one, or one more, factor to consider.
And are you working only with English exports/imports to the American colonies, "American" at this point in time including Canada, since she was being colonized, too, by both the English and the French (and maybe other nations, as well?) That might be a skew factor.

Is the study you're doing only pre-Revolutionary War?

[justawench]

I'm sure you're right that this is nowhere near enough info. I just want to crunch numbers from several different sources to get a feel for what may have been available here in North America, but I don't know if I'll ever get a handle on it. I'm sure greater minds than mine have done more research, yet there doesn't seem to be any definitive answer.

I'm working with English exports because the English colonies were obligated to trade only with the mother country, though I'm sure there was some smuggling. The French and later the Spanish controlled New Orleans and shipped goods up the Mississippi, but the scope was probably much smaller than the goods coming in from the east, from Britain.

There's so much to learn about trade: where fabric was produced and where it was finished, and how it was distributed after that.

(And yes, pre-Rev War because British imports fell sharply during the war).

[heidilea]

I think the fact that the plain linens are utilitarian and not necessarily for outer clothing can be taken into account. Plus, there was a small amount of fabric production going on within the Colonies, mostly to the south.

I remember reading somewhere Philadelphia had a fabric printing house by the early 1770s.

[justawench]

When it comes right down to it, many of the fabrics listed don't seem like competitors for printed cotton/linens. I haven't seen or heard of a check gown or even bedgown. I think of checks as being for light household use, aprons, handkerchiefs or possibly linings. I don't know if lower class people wore Kendal cottons/Welsh plains/"negro" cloth. If those are excluded, only Camblets, Fustians, Shalloons, silk and silk-mixes, worsteds and plain woollens remain, with a smidge of velvet and Cotton Hollands (whatever that is). Of course, silk lute strings aren't much of a direct competitor for printed cottons either