I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone....

Hollie Point Baby Bib/Apron 1130.2020.22

  Wow, I really am in the Twilight Zone. I thought I made this blogpost yesterday....and this morning, I go to check my email, and here it is.....sitting here on the screen waiting for me.  Josh is working from home, Pip is schooling from home....not only do I not know what the heck day of the week it is...I cant even tell what hour of the day it is.  Last week seems like 2 seconds ago....and yet again, like a year ago.

So next out of the basket was a bit of a ball of fluff that when opened ended up being two wonderful baby bibs~ the first, this one with a Hollie Point lace insertion down the front

The construction is simple, two shaped bands of linen whipped to each side of a band of Hollie Point lace, over which 3 rows of of lace have been stitched on, with the entire thing edged in same lace.

The Hollie Point band has the typical eyelet loop edges, and is the same potted flower pattern as the rest of the pieces in the basket.

Here you can see a little of the back, how the lace is loosely stitched on, and also the attachment of the linen tape ties at the neck.  Note the placement of the ties, allowing for the width of the bib to fall over the baby's shoulders when worn. 
So...is it a bib.....or an apron?  I know I will get this question, so will try and explain my termage here~
Early baby things are hard to identify, period.  So many were handed down, reused...made for new mothers by family members that remembered things their own parents used, or that they used when having children...so one cannot use a flat 'fashionable cut ' sort for dating.  I look at provenance if available,  the materials it is made from...was the piece together with a group of like items?
This piece was together with a grouping of early 18th c items, has the same lace as many in the basket, and since the basket is centered around Christening items, I am more inclined to identify it as a 'bib'.  But, truth be told, if I would have found this alone by itself, I most certainly would call it an 'apron', as it is nearly identical in cut to the decorative aprons that are pin'd on top of swaddling bands in this era. Could it actually be an apron and just the only survivor of yet more matching pieces that were indeed a swaddling set....sure it could. But I'm in no situation to speculate on that...heck I don't even know what day it is.