Dressing Baby - 1850s Style

Dressing Baby - 1850s Style
by Kathy Hammel

The decade of the 1850s was one in which women's and children's clothing saw a tremendous surge towards excess. In women's fashions, skirts widened to the point where wire frames had to be used to support them; each massive skirt sported flounces, laces, ribbons, or any variety of other often gaudy trimmings. As the dressing of children was in a mother's domain, this taste for high ornamentation couldn't help but spill over into children's clothing.

At least one contemporary figure, Sara Josepha Hale, during her 50 year tenure as Editress of the Ladies' Magazine (1828-1836) and Godey's Lady's Book (1837-1877), often called for simplicity and comfort in selecting clothing suitable for infants. "They are not puppets," she pointed out in July of 1850, "made for the display of fine clothes; or Paris dolls to be tricked out in the extravagance of latest fashion".

Godey's July 1850

Fig. 1 Robe of fine cambric
Fig. 2 A plainer dress
Fig. 3 Infants dress
Fig. 4 Muslin sacque

Mrs. Hale was an apt champion for infants beleaguered by fashion excesses. Widowed young, she raised her five children single-handed. Her experience with her own children convinced her that simple, loose gowns of finest quality, soft fabrics such as linen lawn, dimity and cambric were best for delicate young skin. She freely shared her expertise with others, in the Lady's Book and in other books she authored, such as The Nursery Basket, a highly regarded manual for new mothers which dealt with the care of infants.

Nor was Sara Hale particularly shy in sharing her disdain for those who inappropriately dressed infants: "How much happier are the little careless creatures for being decked like so many opera dancers," she asks in March of 1851, "with velvet cloaks and voluminous ruffles, gaiters that chill their delicate feet and satin bonnets that do not even shield their faces?"

Though she let experience and considerable good sense guide her, Sara Hale was not blind to popular taste or a stranger to the habits of pride-filled mammas. The prevailing fashions of the day definitely were not on her side. The frilled, flounced and furbelowed 1850s grew more ornate with each passing day and even the littlest humans were as loaded with ribbons, bows, embroidery and lace as any Parisian belle.

Godey's Lady's Book - 1852

Fig. 1 Christening robe
Fig. 2 Slip for a small infant
Fig. 3 An expensive but tasteful dress
Fig. 4 An infants robe

So, she continued to wage a very ladylike war on the overabundance of decorations for infant's clothing. According to Mrs. Hale, "A large pattern of embroidery, is not suited for an infant's slip, neither are wide ruffles, nor a coarse pattern of lace... Rich embroidery and Valenciennes lace cannot make the little creatures a jot more comfortable or heighten beauties which are visible only to the eye of nurse and mamma..."

To aid her in the campaign, she sometimes enlisted other acknowledged experts such as Mrs. Tuthill (author of the Nursery Book for Young Mothers) who scolds, "It is bad enough, in all conscience to pervert the mind and character of girls, and render them dressed up bundles of vanity, but boys --boys who are to become men--it is shocking! Of all weaknesses in a man, what is more despicable than an inordinate love of dress, added to an exorbitant desire for admiration of self...?" Should mothers not heed the warning, Mrs. Tuthill predicts dire consequences: "If you make him a peacock now, there is much reason to apprehend that he will never become an eagle."

Unfortunately for many city bred infants, Mrs. Hale's was generally an unsupported voice. While she continued to plead with mothers that their precious infants should not be regarded "as little machines made for the express purpose of carrying laces and long clothes," other women's magazines of the day, such as Peterson's did not take up the cause.

From Peterson's Magazine 1850s

Baby's dress of white cambric
Infant's dress of white cambric

Voice of reason or no, Mrs. Hale also had a magazine to sell and though her heart was obviously not in it, she presented the fashions of the day --as her public apparently wished -- with nary a flounce, bow or bit of lace missing, though she never forgot to preface the offerings, as she did in August of 1856 with caveats (or perhaps a touch of sour grapes) such as, "We endeavor in nearly every case to select the plainest garments for our illustrations and wish it distinctly understood that, when we give an elaborate style, it is for the novelty, and not with the expectation of having it copied."

Sara Hale, more than any other woman of her time was tireless in her quest to educate the women of her day and young mothers were often the recipients of her efforts. For the first time mother, she periodically included notes on clothing infants, even to the listing of the newborn's minimum requirements: "Eight cambric shirts, four knit worsted shirts, four flannel bands, three night petticoats, four flannel skirts, four white cambric, eight dresses, six slips, six night dresses, six bib aprons, six pair of socks--two sizes, two blankets, four colored flannel sacks, one double or flannel wrapper, one cap, one cloak."

In deference to health as well as comfort, she suggests that infant's "caps are of embroidered muslin or linen cambric, lined with soft Florence or Marcelline silk, white pink, blue or straw-color. These are intended for out of door wear; and some have a double lining with half the thickness of jeweller's cotton batting laid between for the sake of warmth...The cloaks are...plain-colored merino, or cashmere, white, or a delicate stone, pearl, or fawn color, handsomely lined and quilted. Velvet, satin and mixed galloons are ...employed; and we have seen some with a deep band of plush surrounding the entire cap and cloak."

Godey's Lady's Book

1852 - Cloak of white cashmere
1856 - Cloak of white brilliante
1858 - A new style of cloak

Also for the sake of cleanliness and health she cautioned mothers to launder children's garments frequently, and to do so separately from the general wash and with great care as to prevent the flannel from becoming coarse. "All flannels can be kept soft and white, if properly washed in a thick lather of good soap and very hot water, rinsed in clear water the same temperature, and dried as quickly as possible."

Mrs. Hale, ever concerned about the health of infants, also took great pains to debunk the myth of the time that infants generated their own warmth and did not need to be well covered, even in cool weather. She also recommended baby's garments be sufficiently loose to allow for growth and air circulation.

To assist the mother in providing suitable clothing for her baby, Mrs. Hale's Lady's Book routinely included patterns for children's clothing, items such as baby's boots, cloaks, caps and aprons. In 1857 she ran an extensive series of articles on "How to Cut and Contrive Children's Clothes". The first segment contains much of the advice previously given as well as some new strictures on decoration and Embroidery: "Every mother wishes that her first baby clothes should be as pretty as possible; but she frequently lays out a great deal of money unnecessarily in trimmings on the plea that they are so cheap. It is very true, she may get them for a moderate sum; but nice crochet and knitting, which she can generally do herself, would be far more endurable than cheap embroidery, and quite as handsome. The question in her mind should be this: Is it my business to earn money! or is it only in my power to save it?"

(One can't help but wonder, however, if Mrs. Hale's real purpose in suggesting mothers make their own trimmings was a clever ploy to slow them down, hoping perhaps, that when one had to personally take every stitch and make each bit of lace, they might, through sheer exhaustion, decide a little less ornamentation would do.)

In general, throughout the decade, infant's clothing remained fairly constant, other than for the rapid escalation in ornamentation. Young infants (up to about 7 months old) wore caps (at least until their hair came in) and long, full gowns with little undershirts and slips beneath. Sleeves could be long or short, according to the season. Bibs and aprons might also be used over the gown to preserve it from dirt. Little sacques, or jackets might be used indoors for additional warmth and long capes and hoods added for outdoor wear.

As infancy drew to a close, between the ages of 5 to 7 months, the baby went into 'short clothes', or gowns whose skirts did not descend below the ankle. This allowed for mobility as the youngster began to try its legs. At this time, the cloth or knitted baby boot gave way to one with cork soles as the baby learned to walk. After that, no longer an infant, the child moved into another whole realm of fashion.