Doll's clothes, doll's nightgown

Doll's coat, off-white (cream) cotton embroidered with flowers. A nightgown made of plain weave linen embroidered in coloured crewel wools in chain stitch with small sprays of flowers. On either side of the front, from waist height, a linear trail of flowers has been embroidered, bounded on the inside by a line of red chain stitch. The gown is lined with linen or fustian madder printed in a floral pattern of North European manufacture (either English, Flemish or Dutch, but probably English). The gown is open at the front, full length and has long sleeves with deep cuffs made from the lining material; the lining has been stitched back so that a narrow band is visible around the neck and down the fronts to the waist. The body of the gown is cut in five panels. The back panel has been shaped to the body with seven crudely stitched pleats. The sleeves are set into the body of the gown. The lining is made of seven pieces of fabric seamed together with large uneven stitches. Clare Browne of the Victoria and Albert Museum dated the printed fabric to the late 17th century and the embroidery to the early 18th century. The other surviving examples of this type of chain stitch embroidery in crewel wool on linen are mostly furnishings such as bed curtains which are found embroidered with sprigs scattered across the ground. The embroidery shows the influence of imported Indian textiles.