“The Layered Look” Revisited:

Although eighteenth-century quilted petticoats consisted of simple rectangular panels sewn into tubes and pleated to narrow waistbands, the stitched patterns of these decorative skirts offered a wide variety of design options for the wearers. Using computer-assisted-design line drawings, scholars can more easily compare the stitching patterns and categorize the quilting by date and location. This article presents previously unpublished designs and new historical discoveries in quilted petticoats since the publication of “The Layered Look, Design in Eighteenth-Century Quilted Petticoats” in Dress 34 (2007). This study focuses on five sub-themes: British professionally drawn and constructed quilting, cord-quilted examples that have a round stamp on the reverse, regionalism in two areas—Philadelphia and New England, and pieced striped petticoats.