CHITCHAT UPON PHILADELPHIA FASHIONS for THE JUVENILES.
Taking always as our motto that comfort and simplicity are the first principles of dress for children, we have, like a careful mother, to consider the spring outfit of the little ones, a task which many mothers dread, because they have not the tact to manage it rightly. In the first place, comfort cannot be insured without cleanliness, another of our previous axioms, and here, as in an infant's wardrobe, it is best to choose plenty, rather than fineness or elaboration, if both are not to be had, particularly in the matter of underclothing, which would form a separate chapter by itself.
For a little girl just emerging from babyhood, the change is almost insensible; but very few mothers know what to do with a boy under similar circumstances. The present styles are more available than the little close cloth suit of jacket and trousers, so long in fashion, transforming the little urchin into the semblance of a monkey in his hand-organ costume. All mothers have reason to bless the invention, or rather the revival of sacques—for the prettiest, and at the same time most comfortable and convenient summer dress we can recommend for boys from two years old to five, is a loose sacque, girt, by a belt, over white linen jean drawers or "pataloons," as the young gentlemen will be apt to call them.
We prefer the sack buttoning on the shoulder, with short sleeves, and rather full in the skirt, reaching a little above the knee. It may be made of any material—for spring, cashmere or mousseline de laine, plain colors or small plaids—brown Holland, with an edging of linen bobbin sewed on flat in two or three rows, as the weather grows milder, and finally, for summer heats, cambric in solid colors, as blue, buff, pink, or green, also very prettily finished by rows of bobbin or coronation braid. Needlework scalloping is also a suitable finish. Nothing could be more simple or inexpensive. Plaid ginghams might also be made up to look well, with pearl, linen, or porcelain buttons on the shoulders. There are porcelain buttons, as most of our readers know, with edges of different shades, pink, purple, etc., that will match nicely. The thin sacques might be low in the neck, with short sleeves; for a thicker material, as cashmere de bege, or mousseline, they should be high in the throat, with a narrow cambric ruffle or edge basted in the neck.
The drawers are short, coming a little below the knee, and not very wide. For ourselves, we prefer them finished with a plain hem, about an inch in width, but it is much the fashion to have a ruffle of twice that depth, of embroidered cambric flouncing, double the trouble to make and keep in order, of course. They are slightly full on the hip, opening on each side, trousers fashion, and gathered into a waistband, in turn buttoned on a plain low-necked waist, like the lining of a frock body. Of course, if circumstances will not admit of the care and washing necessary for white clothes, the judgment of the economical mother can substitute any suitable material for the white linen. Belts are worn of morocco, or broad silk, and linen belting—a kind of galloon—with brass buckles of different styles. They should be loose and low on the hip, to give the figure grace and freedom of movement. This dress has, at least, the merit of convenience and simplicity. Pinafores are, of course, indispensable, whether of bird's eye, or brown linen. They are made very much in sacque fashion at present, the sleeves being long or short, as the health of the child or the season demands. Many belt the pinafores over the drawers and waist we have described, without anything else beneath, in warm weather.
Straw hats are, of course, the most suitable covering for the head, and there are an infinite variety to be found at Genin's and Oakford's the present spring, from the costly Leghorn, with its snowy plumes, to the simple braids of China pearl, or even coarser varieties, the brims varying in width. The bands are of Mantua ribbon, white or green straw and galloons. Straw caps are still worn, but are not so comfortable, as they afford very little shade to the eyes or neck. They are more intended for boys from five to ten.
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 is a sacque of a more ornamental character than that we have described, and is intended for a little girl's out of door dress. It is of white cambric, trimmed with embroidered flouncing, and may be worn with or without a sacque. Of course, it is calculated for weather several degrees warmer than March; but a spring wardrobe includes summer garments as well. Little coats may be made of nankeen, dimity, or cambric, with a rather full body and round cape coming to the waist, and are very much in favor the coming season. If of nankeen, the trimming is a hem headed with rows of bobbin, plain linen, or coronation braid; if dimity or cambric, the flouncing as given in the cut is much used, or wide cambric edging.