American Boy Dresses: Patterns


Figure 1.--This hand-colored portrait is undated, but we would guess was taken in the late-1860s. The boy is unidentified. The mother's name was apparently Mrs. Skipp. It was an unusual large size. The card is about 10 x 12 inches and the image itself is about 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches. No colorist wanted to deal with plaid because of the complexities involved. The interesting here is that the plaid seems to have been a blue-green base. We think that a red base was most common, but we do not have a lot of information in 19th century plaid patterns. Notice the added shoulder sash to add to the kilt look.

Many different fabric patterns were used in dresses. some dresses were made with plain material, but we notice a varirty of patterns as well. We do not yet have an extensive inventory of the various patterns used in dresses, but have begin to archive examples and collect information. Patterns are of course more easilly assessed in the photographic record. Probably the most popular pattern for boys was plaid because of the connection with Scottih kilts. Plaid was also populsr with girls even though girls did not wear kilts. Other patterns may have been worn by boith girls and boys, but again our archive is too limited to make any firm assessments. We note dresses made in a wide variety of print patterns. There were also dresses with mixed material in which patterns were used as only part of a the dress fabric.







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Created: 8:02 PM 6/27/2010
Last updated: 8:02 PM 6/27/2010