In the 18th and 19th century women wore petticoats under their skirts. Most women didn’t only wear one but they usually wore three. They are usually only worn to keep the bottom half of your body warm. Petticoats were usually made of wool because in New England women spend most of the year trying to keep warm and the only time it’s not practical is when it’s very hot. Also wool is good because you can use heavy or light weights and you can drape as many levels as you need for it. During the warmer days when wool is impractical linen was used because it’s much lighter than wool. Linen is also less fire resistant than wool was. Even when wool is wet it’s still warmer than wet linen which makes it even more practical for wearing. That’s why it is worn more than linen. The colors were very plain or dull because they only had natural dyes, but wool held the dye color more than linen does. The most common colors that were used were blues and browns. There also weren’t very many patterns that were used. Most were just plain but it is said that some may have been vertically striped, that’s quite unlikely though.
"The Petticoat." Battle Road Clothing & Accoutrements. Web. 07 Dec. 2009. .
