A similar garment with a wrap front, called in English a bedgown or short gown, was the standard working woman's costume of the later 18th century.
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Canning reappeared at about 10 pm on 29 January 1753. At the sight of her daughter, whom she had not seen for almost a month, Elizabeth Canning fainted. Once recovered she sent James Lord to fetch several neighbours, and inside only a few minutes the house was full. Elizabeth was described as being in a "deplorable condition"; her face and hands were black with dirt, she wore a shift, a petticoat, and a bedgown.
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In modern American usage, "petticoat" refers only to a garment hanging from the waist. They are most often made of cotton, silk or tulle. Without petticoats, skirts of the 1950’s would not have the floof they were known for. In historical contexts (sixteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries), petticoat refers to any separate skirt worn with a gown, bedgown, bodice or jacket; these petticoats are not, strictly speaking, underwear, as they were made to be seen.
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Woman's Bed Gown and Petticoat, France or England 1750-1775. A bedgown (sometimes bed gown, bedjacket or shortgown) is an article of women's clothing for the upper body, usually thigh-length and wrapping or tying in front. Bedgowns of lightweight printed cotton fabric were fashionable at-home morning wear in the 18th century. Over time, bedgowns (also called in this context shortgowns) became the staple upper garment of British and American female working-class street wear from the 18th to early 19th centuries, worn over petticoats and often topped with an apron.
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Made of sturdy cotton, linen, wool or linsey-woolsey, these bedgowns were simply cut to a T-shaped pattern, and were worn overlapped in front or with the front skirts cutaway. The term "bed gown" to describe this item of clothing was used as late as 1876. In the Welsh spelling betgwn, the bedgown is part of traditional Welsh costume. \---- Bedgowns lingered as fashion garments into the mid-20th century, usually under the newer name bedjackets, in the form of short robes or wrappers worn over a nightgown or negligee for warmth and modesty while sitting up in bed for breakfast, reading, or similar pursuits.
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It became part of the national identity and was normally worn with the other elements of Welsh costume, especially the gown or bedgown or Welsh: "gŵn neu betgwn". It continues in use as an icon of Wales in tourist literature. By the time Sydney Curnow Vosper painted the iconic Salem in 1908, the hat was no longer fashionable, but Vosper still felt the women he painted should wear the now iconic hats. The hat was so rare by the early twentieth century that it is thought Vosper could only find one in the local area, and had to share it amongst the models, painting the same hat into the composition four times.
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The most distinctive feature of the Welsh costume, other than the hat, is the gown and bedgown. Although both have often been referred to as bedgowns (spelt in various ways in Welsh, most commonly now as betgwn) the term gown is now used for the long-tailed, tailored garment. (1) a tailored form with a tightly fitted low-cut top and long wide tail These were common in Cardiganshire (Ceredigion) and Carmarthenshire and possibly in parts of mid-Wales and were often made of red and very dark blue or black striped flannel which was sourced locally. See example on the left in the illustration above 'Welsh Fashions Taken on a Market Day in Wales'.
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