Clothing for Children in the 18th Century
- Babies in the 18th century were no longer placed in restrictive clothing. Instead, both boys and girls wore gowns. How long the gown was depended on how old the baby was. If the baby had not yet started to crawl, very long gowns were used with front openings. Once crawling began, the gown would stretch to just below the feet. Then, the gown would reach the top of the feet when the baby would start to walk. Both the crawling gowns and the walking gowns were closed in the back.
- Toddlers were dressed in shifts that fastened in the back, and they had the addition of accessories. The shifts were the undergarments. They still wore gowns over the top. Those little guys also wore pudding caps. The purpose of the pudding cap was to prevent the toddler's brain from being turned to pudding from all the falls, bumps and bruises to the head that would inevitably happen. Toddlers were also given socks and shoes to wear. Girls were also given aprons to wear over their gowns.
- The fashions for girls did not change until they reached puberty. They were still dressed in the same clothes as they were when they were toddlers. Once they hit puberty, however, they began to dress in the fashions of women in the 1700s. Here is where they were able to start wearing dresses that fastened in the front, and they also lost their aprons. At first, the dresses were not very restrictive to allow a girl to run and play, but as the girl grew older, she started to wear corsets. The corsets would ensure she maintained good posture and would give her a desirable figure.
- Older boys were moved to the fashions of men at much earlier age compared with girls. Between the ages of 3 and 5, a boy was "breeched," or stopped wearing gowns and started wearing breeches. Boys' shirts were different from men's shirts in that the necks were open. The boys also wore waistcoats that opened at the neck. In the early and mid 1700s, breeches worn by boys ended at the knees. In the late 1700s, the type of breeches boys wore were ankle length, even though grown men continued to wear knee breeches.
