The last two weeks, all I’ve been doing is sewing, sewing, sewing. I did knit a bit, host Thanksgiving, try to keep up with kids, not drown in laundry, and stay sane. But, mostly I’ve been preparing for 1860’s Christmas Caroling with the kids.

The issue was this, my kids only had summer clothing. I also had very little experience sewing kids period clothing. To make things worse all my materials were taking forever to arrive, and my patterns got lost in the mail for three weeks. So, I ended up not using the patterns at all. Go figure!

Eve needed a new pettichemise,  Thankfully, Grant fit into Evelyn’s old one. Barely, but it did fit! After, that was made I whipped up two wool petticoats to help keep the kids warm. While, in the past we used two 30×30 panels to make the kids stuff, the wool was just so full that 25×25 inch panels were more practical. With the extra weight of the wool petticoats, I also had to add buttonholes/buttons to the waist of their pettichemise and wool petticoat.

To help keep the thickness from the waistband of the wool, I used a cotton waistband and the top few inches of the skirt are also regular cotton muslin. Here is a picture of Grant in his pettichemise and wool petticoat. I hadn’t added the buttons yet, but figured out that they would be needed as he started to jump and play, and the drawstring just wasn’t enough to keep the petticoat from sliding all over the place.

After the kiddos were settled with undergarments. I started to work on their dresses. I had a brown plaid wool suiting, but I did want to decorate their dresses. So, I went to Pinterest for inspiration.

Isn’t this simplistic and adorable? I did make a few changes. Of course, since I was making a winter garment I made it with long sleeves. I also didn’t add the little trimmings on the front pleats, as there didn’t seem to be that much space between Eve’s waist and the skirt. Eve is only three, and the fact that I made the dress with a waistband instead of attaching the bodice directly to the skirt did make it a longer bodice. 

I also added a few cute details. I made some black silk buttons for the back, and a black silk bow belt.

For Grant, I wanted something that would look very masculine. I saw this image, and actually saw a few garments for boys where the trim went down the dress at a diagonal. A very simple look, and I decided to roll with it.

Unfortunately, I got my inspiration for trimmings after the dress was made. Because, I sure do like the look of the sleeves and longer shirt/dress that this young boy is wearing.

Anyway, here is how it turned out. I trimmed it with black velvet, and some silk covered black buttons. The adorable belt was found on the Button Baron’s website. It slides around a bit, so I think I’m going to sew it directly onto dress. Not sure if this was done during the period, but sewing it would make it stay in place.

Just in case anyone was wondering, Grant is not yet two years old, and he isn’t fully breached. Thus, he is wearing a dress, which was the norm for boys that were not yet potty trained.

Not the best of photos, but here they are in their dresses at Heritage Village, Ohio! It was cold out and Eve was fussing while I dressed her in the car, so I didn’t try to add her belt.

More of our Historical Children’s wear and free patterns can be seen here