Fashioning Illinois: 

1820-1900

Welcome to the digital version of Fashioning Illinois: 1820-1900 exhibit for educators.

You will find the entire exhibit, including text and images, and resource materials such as worksheets, websites, and more. These resources are for your use in teaching about Illinois.

There is perhaps no more intimate connection to the people of the past than the clothing they left behind—garments that were once worn on a living, breathing person going about her daily business, garments that were soiled and washed and mended and altered; garments that expressed her aspirations and reflected her condition.

Fashioning Illinois, 1820-1900 is a celebration of nineteenth century Illinois clothing that explores both the personal experience of wearing and caring for clothing as well as the way that fashion reflected the changing roles and attitudes about women over the first 80 years of Illinois statehood.

The exhibition showcases stunning examples of historic costumes, textiles, and accessories from the Illinois State Museum’s Illinois Legacy Collection, as well as historic artifacts related to making, storing, washing, mending, and repurposing clothing. 

Fashioning Illinois: 1820-1900 Virtual Exhibit

The exhibit is made up of several different sections or rooms.  Each of the Google Slides and PDFs shows one section.  Here is a map of the exhibit. 

Timeline 1820-1900 PDF and Google Slides - This section is an example of a dress from each decade. 

Underpinnings PDF and Google Slides - See what women wore under their dresses in 1860. Look at the variety of layers and what it took to get dressed. 

Mending,  Remaking, & Recycling Clothing PDF or Google Slides- Women mended garments to make them last as long as possible. Nineteenth-century clothing took time and money to make. It was much cheaper and easier to mend something than to sew something new. 

Washing Clothing PDF or Google Slides - Women were responsible for making sure their households lived up to social expectations. They were seen as guardians of a family’s health and moral character. As a result, the universally-hated task of laundry was considered “women’s work.”

Making Clothing PDF or Google Slides -  Factory-made women’s clothing did not become widely available until near the end of the 1800s. Before then, all clothing was custom-made for the woman wearing it. To keep herself and her family clothed, a woman either sewed the garments herself or hired a dressmaker or seamstress. 

Making Cloth PDF or Google Slides - For the nation, textiles drove the pre-Civil War American economy. They provided a money-making opportunity for a few and exploited the labor of countless others.

What to Wear PDF or Google Slides - Nineteenth-century women’s clothing choices were limited and dictated by style, form, and etiquette.  Despite these restrictions, there was variety in a 19th-century woman’s wardrobe.  Her choice of fabric, color, and trim could signal her age, style, hopes, and limitations. 

High School Showcase Exhibit PDF or Google Slides and Video- Explore the two outfits inspired by the Fashioning Illinois Exhibit created by two high school students.

Lockport Exhibit of Fashioning Illinois - PDF or  Google Slides. Explore the exhibit and different dresses on display at the Illinois State Museum's Lockport Facility. 

Resources

Bonus Materials 

This section contains extra materials not shown in the exhibit. 

Historic Sites with Dresses PDF or Google Slide - View several dresses from the exhibit in a backdrop of historic sites in Illinois.

Fashioning Illinois: Let's Get Dressed Up - Follow along on the catalog photo shoot for a preview of the historic dresses that will be on display. Set to music with a behind the scenes look.

Fashioning Illinois: Dressing the Forms - It's time to put the historic dresses on the forms in preparation for the opening of Fashioning Illinois, 1820-1900. Curator of History Erika Holst takes us behind the scenes. 

Fashioning Illinois: Dressing for Success - Learn how 19th Century women used foundation garments to create the bell-shaped silhouette of their dresses. Illinois State Museum Curator of History, Erika Holst, steps up through the process of getting ready. 

Fashioning Illinois: Turning Flax Into Linen - See flax processed into linen at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site near Petersburg, Illinois. 

Tales from the Vault Behind the Scene with Fashioning Illinois - Special Tales from the Vault virtual program on the exhibit and in the collection vault. 

Behind the Scene of Getting Ready for the Exhibit PDF or Google Slides - Take a look behind the scenes of getting ready for the Fashioning Illinois exhibit. 

Check out the Museum's series on Fashioning Illinois: Garments From Outbreaks Past: 

Check out more on Fashioning Illinois Series

Tours of the Exhibit with a Curator

Elementary Activities

Paper Dolls - These downloadable PDFs include both sheets to color and sheets with color. There is are a lady from 1860 (coloring sheet, pre-colored sheet), an Edwardian lady (coloring sheet, colored sheet), extra dresses for the ladies (coloring sheet, pre-colored sheet), a girl child (coloring sheet, pre-colored sheet), and a man (coloring sheet, pre-colored sheet).  They are also packaged all together (coloring sheet, pre-colored sheet).  The pre-colored sheets show diverse individuals. 

Why Cotton Is Everything - TED Ed Video about Cotton fibers.

Secondary Activities

Coming Soon

Connections to Standards of Learning