The silk check fabric is almost certainly from Bengal and was exported in huge quantities by the Dutch East Indian Company to The Netherlands, where the skirt would have been made. The yellow silk is possibly wild mulberry and the brown, cotton. The silk ribbon tape inside the pocket opening is beautiful not Indian, but Dutch.
The skirt narrowly pleated into a very narrow twill weave waistband with two deep side slits, all in fine horizontal yellow silk and light brown cotton checks, the inside of the slits lined with green silk ribbon, hooks and eyes fastening,
Hem width 10ft 2 in; 11.20 m; Length 39 in; 1 m
Each width of fabric 25in; 63 cm
Two panels side by side have a little damage which has been supported and loosely tacked to the back. In total four small splits, two 3 x 5 cm, one 2 x 1.5 cm and one 4 x 3 cm but not a block.
My thanks to Avalon Fotheringham, curator of Indian Textiles at the V & A Museum for advising on the skirt.
All images and text © meg-andrews.com 2021
