File:Two centuries of costume in America, MDCXX-MDCCCXX (1903) (14576617080).jpg

Identifier: twocentsofcostu01earl (find matches)
Title: Two centuries of costume in America, MDCXX-MDCCCXX
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Earle, Alice Morse, 1851-1911
Subjects: Clothing and dress
Publisher: New York, The Macmillan company London, Macmillan & co., ltd.
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

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ve beenpreserved till this day. These are of course thebetter garments worn by babies, not their everydaydress; their simpler attire has not survived, buttheir christening robes, their finer shirts and petti-coats and caps remain. Linen formed the chilling substructure of theirdress, thin linen, low-necked, short-sleeved shirts ;and linen remained the underwear of infants untiltnirty years ago. I do not wonder that these littlelinen shirts were worn for centuries. They are infi-nitely daintier than the finest silk or woollen under-wear that have succeeded them ; they are edged withnarrowest thread lace, and hemstitched with tiny rowsof stitches or corded with tiny cords, and sometimesembroidered by hand in minute designs. They wereworn by all babies from the time of James I, nevervarying one stitch in shape ; but I fear this prettygarment of which our infants were bereft a few yearsago will never crowd out the warm, present-day silkwear. This wholly infantile article of childish dress
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Mrs. Elizabeth Lux Russell and Daughter. The Dress of Old-time Children 305 had tiny little revers or collarettes or laps made toturn over outside the robe or slip like a minute bib,and these laps were beautifully oversewn where thecorners joined the shirt, to prevent tearing down atthis seam. These tiny shirts were the dearest littlegarments ever made or dreamed of. When a babyhad on a fresh, corded slip, low of neck, withshort, puffed sleeve, and the tiny hemstitched lapswere turned down outside the neck of the slip, andthe little sleeves were caught up by fine strings ofgold-clasped pink coral, the babys dimpled shouldersand round head rose up out of the little shirt-lapslike some darling flower. I have seen an infants shirt and a cap embroideredon the laps with the coat-of-arms of the Lux andJohnson families and the motto, God Bless theBabe ; these delicate garments, the work of fairies,were worn in infancy by the Revolutionary soldier,Governor Johnson of Virginia. In the Essex In

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