What Tools Were Needed for a Colonial Job As a Milliner?

The colonial milliner's job was quite different from what people today imagine. In colonial times, milliners attracted a range of people to their shops, both male and female. Milliners carried a range of products for customers ranging from slaves to wealthy merchants. Although milliners made women's hats, they also made clothing for everyone, men's hats and every fashionable accessory imaginable. They carried pins, hosiery, shirts, aprons, cloaks, shoes and muffs.

The root of the milliner's business was making clothes. Fabric was a vital tool. A milliner in a colonial city was kept busy trying to stay abreast of fashion trends. For those with means, the fashion world in the 1700s was a whirl, with styles changing rapidly. Hat styles changed 17 times in two years during the colonial period, and skirt styles could change twice in a year. Milliners had fabric of all kinds from around the world in their shops, including Southern cotton, Dutch linen, Chinese silk and linsey-woolsey for those with little cash.

Hand needles, steel pins, thimbles and steel scissors were the tools a colonial milliner used most often. All clothing was stitched by hand, including undergarments, shirts, aprons, hats, children's clothes, gloves and stockings. No artificial fibers such as nylon existed, so stockings were made from cotton, wool and linen. Fine women's hosiery was made from silk. Although you might have a picture of self-sufficient colonial families who made all their own clothing, this was not usually the case. Hand-stitching complete clothing outfits took a significant amount of time, and anyone who could afford to had a milliner or tailor make their clothing for them.

The iron was an important tool for a milliner. Because all the the sewing was done by hand, stitches puckered, so pressing the stitched seams helped the fit and hang of the garments made by milliners. Additionally, ironing folds, hems and seams made the stitching easier and neater as well. Irons were made of iron and had to be heated on a stove or beside the fire, then used until they were no longer hot, then reheated. Milliners had several irons so that they could use one while others were warming on the stove.

Rather than purchasing patterns, colonial milliners created patterns for each person. They measured each person then created paper or muslin patterns to fit that individual. For less expensive garments, they would create one simple pattern and alter it for individual customers. These garments were often looser-fitting items of clothing that required less exact patterns.

Milliners often cared for clothing as well as making clothing. Milliner apprentices would wash laundry for the milliner's clients, hang it out to dry, then iron it before returning it to the wealthy clients' homes. Water for laundry was heated in large iron pots and poured into washtubs. Colonial milliners used homemade soap to wash clothing and scrubbed out stains on a washboard.

Colonial Occupations - RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative
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Colonial Jobs - ThinkQuest
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The official Colonial Williamsburg history and citizenship site featuring colonial history, research, podcasts, teacher resources, kid's games, and support the ...
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Passport to Colonial Times Home
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Colonial Resources: Use the Internet resources below to complete your colonial research. Please also use books from the library!
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User: where were millinery shops located in colonial times in the middle colonies Note: In colonial times, milliners attracted a range of people to their shops ...
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The Milliner by Glen, Matthew, Phasen & Samantha. Colonists who needed new clothes sold to people such as tradespeople who could afford new garments.