17th Century Colonial Clothing.

Clothing and Footwear.

The Jamestown settlers of the middle class were usually dressed in hard wearing, rough clothes made of homespun material, with a slightly better costume for Sunday and holiday wear. In 1622 each Englishman who planned to emigrate to Jamestown was advised to supply himself with the following wearing apparel:
• “One Monmouth cap
• Three falling bands [a neckband or collar of a shirt which turned down over the shoulders].
• Three shirts.
• One waste-coate.
• One suite of Canvase [a suit made of coarse cloth, such as cotton, hemp, tow, or jute].
• One suite of Frize [a woolen fabric with a nap].
• One suite of Cloth.
• Three paire of Irish stockins.
• Foure paire of shooes.
• One paire of garters.
• One doozen of points [a point was a tie or string ending with an anglet and used to join parts of a costume as doublet and hose].”
The women wore plain frocks and petticoats, although a few of the wealthy ladies owned silk, satin, and velvet dresses. Bodices, as a rule, were long pointed, and skirts were full and long.