<b>Object Type</b><br>Traces of pleating into a waistband show that this panel was originally part of a petticoat. In the 18th century such petticoats were intended to be seen as part of women's fashionable dress and were worn with gowns that were open from the waist to reveal them. They were made either of fabric matching the gown, or of a contrasting fabric.<br><br><b>Design & Designing</b><br>This woven silk fabric is close in its pattern to a design commissioned by the Spitalfields master weaver, Mr Booth, from the freelance silk designer, Anna Maria Garthwaite. It is, however, very narrow for an English silk, only 40 centimetres wide. It is possible that this silk was woven elsewhere, and its pattern used as inspiration by Garthwaite for her design of 1733. We know that she collected the work of other designers, as a group of designs belonging to here were inscribed 'patterns by different hands'. Alternatively another designer or weaver may have adapted Garthwaite's original design.