Child's Blouse (about 1860s?)


Figure 1.-- A reader has noted a Civil War era boy's white puffed-sleeve blouse.Antique Civil War. A dealer describes this garment as a Civil War era boy’s blouse with glass buttons.

A reader has noted a Civil War era boy's white puffed-sleeve blouse.Antique Civil War. A dealer describes this garment as a Civil War era boy’s blouse with glass buttons. She writes, "This blouse dates to the Civil War era and is fashioned of a piquet cotton with a fine line to its weave and glass button enclosures up the rear and sleeve seams fully piped. It has been in estate storage. So cute with its full puff sleeves with a band cuff at the end. Measures 24 inches around the chest, falling in a bell at the bottom with 10 inches in length." We are not positive that this is Civil War era (1861-65), but it surely is 19th century. Dealer dating has to be taken with some caution because older items can command higher prices. Note that the buttons are glass which help to date it. Piquet I think is a mispelling of piqué, often written as pique in English. This means a fabric, in this case cotton (bit rayon and silk is also used, with a weave using lenth-wise cords or a specific design. I'm not sure how we can be sure thsat this was a boy's blouse. It may well be. Girls did commonly wear dresses, but girls di also wear blouses and skirts. This would have been a home sewn garment. I'm not sure why the sleeves are attached so low below the shoulders.


Figure 1.-- Here we see side views of the blouse. Note how the sleeves are sewn on in a peculiar way, well below the sholders.







HBC




Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main vintage clothing page]
[Return to the Main blouse page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronologies] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Essays] [Girls] [Theatricals]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Satellite sites] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]




Created: 5:45 PM 10/10/2005
Last updated: 5:46 PM 10/10/2005