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American dickies commonly had a different emroidered designs. We notice great variety. Some dickies were just plain, but many had designs. There were a variety of popular designs, most with nautical themes like like anchors and ship wheels as well as military/patriotic imagery like eagles, stars, and laurel wreaths. Some of the American images seem bolder than ones we see in Europe. We have archived many such examples on HBC. We also note plain dickies. Other had stripes. But striped dickies seem more popular in some European countries than the United States, although after World War I we see mostly stripes. he dickies were often destinctive in the various countries where sailor suits were worn. Thus they can be helpful in determining the country of origin for unidentified countries.
We note a range of nautical themes used as decorative devices on sailor blouse dickies. They were of course very approprisate for sailor suits. They were a stylistic touch for boys. They were not on actual naval uniforms. Even so they were especially popular for boys' sailor suits. The most popular nautical devices were anchors and ship wheels. We have been collecting images so as to show the various designs. A good example is a Chicago boy, Ralph Patterson Olmstead in 1912. His dickey had a classic anchor design. We also notice Theodore Roosevelt Johnson, a Denver boy in 1912. He also has an anchor design on his dickey.
Other popular designs for dickies were military/patriotic imagery like eagles, stars, and laurel wreaths that had nothing to do with the navy or maritime activities. There may have been other devices, but these were the most common. Some of the American images seem bolder than the ones we see in Europe. A good example is an American boy in the early 20th century with a bold star on his dickey. Stars seem very common. Stars were especially popular in America because of their use in the American flag. As the many dickies were white, the stars came in different sizes. They were always five pointed starts like the ones used on the flag. There also were different colors. We are not sure about the colors, but think they were usually blue or red. Normally they would match the stripe detailing on the V-collar and cuffs. Stars are used in other flags and the national imagery of other countries. The Soviets used a red star, but as far as we know it was only the Americans that used the star commonly as sailor suit dickey decoration. We are not yet sure about the relative importance of these various designs. We think that the eagle may have been the most important, but that is just an initial assessment. The stars were also very common. The eagle was done if different ways, occassionally with a star. The wreaths were somewhat less common, but we see quite a few.
We also note many plain dickies. There may have been more plain dickies thn those with the emblems. Quite a number of the American sailor dickies were plain without any design at all. This was more like the dickies on U.S. Navy sailor uniforms. The plain dickies were the same as those on which the emblems were embroidered. Some may have came with the emblems. Other mothers selected the embroidered emblems which were added to the dickies.
Some sailor blouses had dickies with stripes. Striped dickies seem more popular in some European countries than the United States. American boys rarely wore the fully striped dickies like some European boys. The striped dickies most American boys wore had the collar/cuff stripe detailing repeated at the top of a basically plain dickey. This was only done at the top. We have never seen the striopes done in the middle. Almost always the color and style of stripes matched that on the collar. Three stripes were the most common, but thgere were other detiling styles. This also varied chronologically. We believe this became more popular in the 1910s. And we see this approach a lot after World War I. We note stri[pes were especially common in France and Russia. We rarely see them in America. To a certain extent this reflected the uniforms of the national navies. Often these striped garments were not really dickies, but striped 't'-shirts worn under the sailor blouse. It is a little difficult to tell, but we believe bold stripes were usually 't'-shirt rather than an actual dickey.
The dickies were often destinctive in the various countries where sailor suits were worn. Thus they can be helpful in determining the country of origin for unidentified countries.
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