anotheranon | bloomers: preliminaries (Reply)

Sunday morning I had a chance to make a preliminary examination of the seams and fabric of the bloomers.

First off, the linen tester is invaluable. Weaker than a microscope but stronger than a magnifying glass, it provides the perfect magnification to see stitches and thread :)
I think most of the seams are machine stitched, which dates this to... after 1880s at the earliest (? I remember the Ingalls family getting their first sewing machine around that date in the "Little House" books. I know machines were around before that, but wouldn't they have been a luxury?).
Each leg has only one seam, along the inner leg, and it uses a full width of fabric right up to the selvedge and then some. This places the fabric at about 28" wide - when was cotton being woven in 28" widths?
Is it cotton? Genuinely not sure. In the few worn places the fibers look cotton-fluffy rather than linen-stringy, but I'm emphatically no expert at telling the difference. I'm very certain it's cellulose rather than protein (wool/silk) fiber though.
Speaking of the selvedge, the inner leg is pieced with triangular extensions to the edge that appear to be butted together on the inside with the tiniest stitches imaginable! I can't see how that may have been done by machine.
The inside seams are completely finished, most with what appears to be self-bias tape.
I can see the bias used on the back waist band - the center is on grain, but the curve upwards places side seams near perfectly on the cross. This would make it hug the waist, no?
The lace/cutwork(?) trim is made of a lighter weight fabric. I suppose it could be machine made but I don't know how.