18cNewEnglandLife
Clothing & Accoutrements
The pocket, or pockets when worn as a pair, is an indispensable item we all come to appreciate tied around our waist. Numerous in museums and historical societies, they represent a very personal side to these women we represent, and yet why were they tied on a tape and concealed under the petticoat?
Yolanda Van De Krol took on this examination as her master's thesis at the University of Delaware. Those of us fortunate enough to attend the Tidy's Symposium in 1997 heard Ms. Van De Krol speak on this topic herself. She has written an article on her thesis which can be found in Antiques magazine, March 1996 issue, available at many libraries.
These pockets, large by our standards, tend to average 15-16 inches in length and are of numerous bell shapes with a slit in the front side for reaching in. They can be made of various fabrics and colors and were often beautifully embroidered. This embroidery was either done especially for a pocket or the pocket was made from a recycled embroidered or printed textiles.
Ms. Van de Krol takes a look at why these pockets were a separate item of clothing and why, when so beautifully made, were hidden away from sight. To begin, the size of the pocket helps us to understand why it would be necessary to have it attached as it is, on a tape around the waist. This can be understood when some idea of what was carried in them is revealed, through sources such as diaries, letters, and lost ads in newspapers. Everything from sewing implements and fabrics to all the necessities of a 'genteel' women, from her handkerchiefs and gloves to her snuff box and fan and even a drinking cup have been mentioned in various writings.
Crewel work is the most common method for those pockets that were embroidered in the later 18th century. Vines meandering through flowers and leaves was popular motif. Why so much work was put into these hidden treasures may be accounted for partially in understanding women's roles. From early on girls of all social classes were taught to stay busy. Advice books made it clear that "Absolute idleness is inexcusable in a women and renders her contemptible." Sewing was an acceptable social activity. Ms. Van De Krol also writes that women may have decorated pockets to give as gifts and that this may also account for why so many of the extant pockets show so little sign of wear, and why so many retain their glaze as if never washed.
Evidence seems to indicate that they were worn under the outermost petticoat, or over a petticoat but under the gown, and for working women, under their heavy, functional aprons as seen in the drawing Street Scene by Thomas Rowlandson. Crime may have played a part in where they were worn, as thieves known as "cut-purses" in the 17th and 18th centuries were all too prevalent in the the busy, crowded cities. In one's own home keeping possessions close at hand was for security as well, at a time when homes had little private space and many people coming and going in the way of servants, apprentices, lodgers and neighborhood help.
Keeping the pocket hidden away, we might speculate, is a way of showing its personal nature; that what is in it is mine and I'm keeping it safe. In an age when a married woman's property was her husband's, it may represent a private place, a place of her own.