There should be the same simplicity in construction and material in the garments of children of larger growth. The design should be smaller, more realistic and the color brighter than for grown people.
Children's Dresses
For children's dresses, the pretty ginghams in small checks, chambray, dimity, serge, flannels, cashmere are appropriate and serviceable.
In making up these simple materials nothing better can be suggested than the plain, straight waist, fitting easily, to which a full skirt is fastened. The sleeves may be of any fashion to add variety. Such a frock is simple and dignified and has a certain archaic beauty and quaintness that the huge, ugly collars and like ornament can never give.
With the plain body the grace of the childish form is not lost. The body may be short or long, with the trimming at the bottom or edge of the skirt. The gathers fall in long lines or folds, no element of opposition destroying the rhythm and grace of the figure contour, when the trimming is placed at the bottom of the frock instead of several bands dividing the skirt.
The waist should always be wider in front than in the back. The discomfort and injury caused by ill fitting garments, graded according to age instead of according to size, thus restricting the expansion of the chest and the play of the lungs, cannot be estimated.
With the proper kind of frock a child can indulge in any game without becoming in the least disordered. Dresses for little girls may have drawers made of the same material, thus permitting them the same freedom as the boys. The life of the child is play. Unfortunate is the child whose clothing is too good to play in. Of course there should be frocks for gala occasions. Children are sensitive to color and receive much innocent enjoyment from being prettily dressed. A child may be made unhappy and timid by ugly clothes, but plainness need not mean ugliness. There are many artistic and simple patterns now being put on the market and many of the ready-made frocks found in the best shops are satisfactory.