Next out of the Basket...

Baby Shift 1132.2020.24

 I just love this simple piece. The cut of construction is as basic as it gets, but the expert minute stitching shows it is thoroughly contrived with love and intent for a precious little stranger, indeed. It is small, just 19" shoulder to hem. Its a really exciting piece once you start really looking at it....

What do you notice about this first? The long center front opening? Long sleeves? The ties attached to the sleeves? Maybe those gussets over the shoulders???

  From studying eighteenth century shift construction, we know they were usually made from rectangle pieces of cloth~ square gussets were added under the arm for ease, and occasionally long rectangular gussets were added  from the hem up the sides, to add fullness. This little garment breaks all those rules. The front and back are each one big rectangle....but instead of adding a gusset under the arm, the gusset has been added over the shoulder...and there are no gussets on the sides to add fullness. Then again, it makes total sense. Why would a baby need fullness at the hem? They cant walk. Even with the front opening...I wish I could have been there to see Mum trying to squeeze her little one into this thing.....a sausage stuffing machine comes to my mind forefront!

 Delicate frills edge the neck and sleeve cuffs. There is a drawstring tie around the neck.....

The bottom of the front opening has been whipped to keep it from ripping out further down the front of the garment with use. 

 And here is a good view of those over shoulder gussets....no amount of that baby's skin would have been seen with this on.  Was it a cold weather garment??? 

  The frills expertly rolled onto the cuffs.

  Here are those ties again.... firmly stitched to the bottom of each sleeve..... interesting.  Now if this piece was later, say in the 19teens...one may say they resemble the tabbed imbecile sleeves of that era~ (extra extra long sleeves that were pushed up on the arm, and held in place with a button tab or band attached just above the cuff of the sleeve).  But nope. This is earlier. I have my speculations, being a mother of four precious beings myself. 

 The ties are stitched in place~ not just cording passed thru and knotted.....

 And looking closer, we see they are not cording at all, but tightly spiraled flat tape ties.  So what do I think these are for?  Well...for me, it is obvious~ this garments is just the predecessor to the Gerber onesie with the fold over mitts in the sleeves to keep baby from scratching the heck out of their little faces when they are so brand new. Mum could just tie the ends of the sleeves closed, and baby's hands would be secured within the sleeves. They could still wiggle their arms...but wouldn't be able to claw their face...or anyone else's.

 There is not a raw edge anyplace on the garment~ if the seam is not flat felled, it has been expertly finished. This is the view inside the neckline, looking at the gusset at the top of the picture, and then the armscye below. Perhaps a better term for this garment would be a baby 'saque'. I wish there were more of these around to study~