This print is a pattern for needlework, more specifically whitework which is embroidery with white thread on white fabric. The motifs are often floral and typical stitches would have been satin and stem stitch. The muslin that would have been used was softer and finer than much of the muslin we are familiar with today. It was a very soft plain-weave cotton which draped beautifully and used for the classically-inspired dresses. Ackermann’s closely follows the trends in muslin gowns.
 
The image comes from a magazine called The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics  (or Ackermann’s Repository as it became known). It  was a monthly magazine published from 1809 to 1829 for ladies of leisure, with each issue containing short fiction, poems, music and theatre reviews, informative articles, society gossip, and a description of the latest fashions in London and Paris. Each issue was accompanied by two fashion plates and, in most issues, another plate of patterns for needlework. Rudolph Ackermann was a publisher and bookseller whose business, The Repository of Arts, was a shop, a gallery, a circulating library and social centre in The Strand, London.