1815 Small boy's dress

1815 Small boy's dress
Date	1812-1820
Category	Children
Item	Dress
Fabric	Cotton
Decoration	Buttons, Cord
Wearer	-
Maker	-
Acc. no.	HC.D-5.85-4

1812-1820 A dress in cotton for a small boy.

The back of the dress
Detail showing the decoration on the front of the bodice
View of the top of a sleeve from above

Description

Boys wore dresses for their first two or three years.

The cotton is quite heavy and in a natural colour.

The front neck edge of the dress has a channel inside with a tape drawstring, ³⁄₁₆" wide, tying at the left-hand end; the back neck also has tape drawstrings, ⁵⁄₁₆" wide, each side, tying at the centre back opening. A self frill, ¾" wide, is sewn all round the neck.

The centre section of the bodice front is gathered into 4½" at its lower edge and sewn to the high waist seam. This gathered section has decoration of white cords twisted round three rows of three thread covered domed buttons, and is 5½" wide at the top and 3¼" deep.

The tops of the sleeves are gathered into the armholes and the ends are gathered into self bands, ¼" wide. Inside the top of each shoulder is sewn the end of a 1¾" wide tape attached to a 2¼" long loop of the white cord, to be pulled down inside the sleeve and taken back over the top of it to attach to a thread covered button on the shoulder.

The open centre back of the bodice is fastened by one thread covered button and a worked buttonhole; this has a clumsily stitched repair where the edge of the bodice had torn. There are ⁵⁄₁₆" wide tapes in a channel inside the back waist to tie at the centre opening.

The front of the skirt is open with a ⅝" wide self frill down each edge, over the centre front panel which is visble for ¾" at the top widening to 12½" at the hem. The back skirt panels extend round becoming the side fronts and the centre panel extends under these and are stitched on to them where a side seam would be.

The hem is ⅝" deep, and 1¾" above it are signs that a tuck ⅝" deep has been unpicked. This was probably sewn up when the dress was made, to enable it to be let down when the child grew, and the gathers of about 9" of the lowest part of the frills on the side panels seem to have been loosened as well.