A Complete Course in Dressmaking/Lesson 9/A complete layette
A COMPLETE LAYETTE
4 knit bands.
2 dozen cheesecloth diapers.
2 dozen birdseye or linen diapers.
6 shirts.
4 flannel petticoats.
4 cotton petticoats.
6 nightdresses.
2 sacques.
2 kimonos.
6 dresses.
1 cloak and bonnet or cape with hood.
1 cozywrap.
Aside from the convenience of easy-to-slip-on clothing, the importance of styles which can be quickly and easily laundered are to be considered. A dainty and freshly clothed baby is not only happier and more attractive but also much healthier.
The delicate skin of a baby is so easily scratched that all rough surfaces, including pins, buttons and harsh laces should be carefully eliminated and the outer garments should have a soft or smooth and silky surface. If you use lace, put it where it won't touch the baby's skin.
About Materials: For bands, shirts and petticoats, silk and wool mixtures or cotton and wool materials are better than all wool. They do not shrink and are not so apt to be overheating.
Flannel is the best for winter nightdresses and longcloth or nainsook for the summer ones. Cotton petticoats are made of lawn, batiste, longcloth, nainsook and fine muslin.
Cashmere, flannelette or French flannel are suitable for a short sacque or kimono, although very lovely ones may be made of crepe de chine or silk with a thinner silk lining. Eiderdown bound with ribbon is also much used for kimonos in the wintry season.
Dresses are made of lawn, batiste or nainsook. The little coats are made of eiderdown, cashmere, silk and sometimes white broadcloth.
Dainty caps are of lawn, nainsook and often entirely of wide embroidery and also of silk embroidered in silk, of cashmere and crepe de chine, eiderdown and a lovely fleecy wool.
Trimmings Suitable For Infants' Clothes: Keep the little morning dresses simply trimmed—just tucks or a touch of embroidery. Little simulated yokes by means of fine beading, the same beading used at the tiny wrists and necks, offer another pretty way of ornamenting an infant's frock.
For more elaborate frocks there are lace edges with lace insertions put on with fine headings and little touches of French handwork. Most of the decoration is around the tiny shoulders, although some of the hems are put on with beading and some are embroidered.
For the little sacks the edges are embroidered in rose or blue and the edges scalloped while the kimonos of heavier material have the edges bound with wash ribbon. The cashmere kimonos are lined with silk for winter and have the edges bound with satin ribbon. For instance, a very luxurious crepe de chine kimono was interlined with flannel and then had a thin wash lining. The edges were bound with two-inch satin ribbon. A lovely pale blue silk kimono had small blue ribbon bows scattered over it resembling daintily the tuftings of a mattress. The unlined cashmere kimonos are embroidered in rose and blue with a cat stitch along the edge back of the embroidered scallop.
The little coats are trimmed with ribbon and some of the silk ones with fagoting and embroidery in silk and for the winter with a tiny edge of softest fur around the wee neck and wrists. The little caps are sometimes fur trimmed, or lace frilled with ribbon rosettes, the prettiest when the rose and blue are mingled.