Figure 1.--This Ambrotype is undated, but was probably taken in the 1850s. Note the long slleve shirt with bloucey sleeves. Also notice the small white collars. Noice the light-colored buttons down the front. |
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All the shirts and blouses we have found had long sleeves. We do not yet note any sign of short or shortened sleeves for boys. We think it is safe to say that shirts and blouses for boys were commonly done with long sleeves. This seems to have been fairly standard in the 19th century. Curiously we do notice different short sleeve lengths with dresses. We do not yet have information on the blouses girls wore with skirts. We have no idea why there was such a gender difference. Of course gender differences in clothing were pronounced, but sleeve lenth seems a strsnge phenomenon. As we see here, there were commonly tight sleeve cuffs (figure 1). Most sleeves blouced at the wrist cuff, but we think less elaborately than in the 40s. This still needs to be confirmed. The degree of blousing varied quite a bit in the images we have archived.
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