Mr. McQueen while a stay maker himself is also importing stays from London to be sold in New York. He frequently offers in his advertisements children's packthread stays, in this posting he also details the sizing of the stays. "first, second and third size Packthread Stays". Could one assume the terms small, medium and large would apply? Also unknown to this blogger is the term "cushcats (sp) for Ladies Morning dress".April 29, 1765 New York Gazette
I think first size is newborn
ReplyDeleteat least this is what it means in The WorkWoman's Guide of 1838, second size is then about 6 months and so on.
I will have to track down an earlier version of the workwoman's guide and see what they are using. Thank you for the lead, I will hopefully be able to expand on this information.
ReplyDeleteThere is no earlier version of the Workwoman's Guide as it was first published in 1838, my copy was not on it's shelf so I can't give you any other info, I do know that "first size" was used to describe infants clothing through the 19th century.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady's Economical Assistant 1808 also talks about "first size" and once they have outgrown that they wear "Three Quarters Clothing" the next size that LEA talks about is 2 years.
There are a few earlier books that mantion layettes which could be of use, see Cutting for All or a book on children's clothing. (Anne Buck, Claire Rose)