1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



895 



straight, or with what are called infants waists — 

 though the sleeves ought to be long In winter — 

 until they are six years old. Directions have al- 

 ready been given for making these waists. Three 

 breadths of common width material are sufficient 

 for the skirt. It should reach one-third-way be- 

 tween the knee and the ankle. Hem it, face it, 

 and plait it at the belt, if of thick material : gather 

 it, if of thin. Fasten the dress behind. These are 

 much easier to fit, and quite as pretty, besides 

 being more durable and less easily soiled than the 

 casaqac style now much in vogue— it is almost 

 impossiljle to get a neat and at the same time an 

 easy feeling drees of that style for any child. 

 Dresses for girls from six to twelve should be a 

 little longer in the skirt, and this may be gored. 

 The waist, which is still fastened behind, should 

 be biased m front to fit the form. The best way 

 to manage the dresses of children during the awk- 

 ward time between the ages of twelve and seven- 

 teen is to allow for much enlargement and length- 

 ening, and to do the best you can to promote a 

 graceful appearance by gradually introducing 

 them to the styles suited to persons of mature life. 

 For this purpose spencers, jackets, and such unde- 

 cided garments, to be worn with detached skirts, 

 or over waists, are very suitable. Measure for and 

 cut these dresses as in making those for women. 

 The waist linings of girls', and women's dresses 

 also, are kept much more neatly if a waist-pro- 

 tector made of white cotton cloth is basted within 

 them. They should reach from the throat to 

 below the armsize. Form them like the upper 

 portion of the waist, and hem them. They should 

 be taken out and washed very often. 



While hoops continue in fashion, it is well to use 

 them, but do not adopt any conspicuous style; 

 and never put them on young children, and never 

 wear them, nor consent to their being worn, with- 

 out shoulder-braces or supporters. Oveyskirts 

 should neither be of gaudy colors nor of showy 

 designs — such things are sure signs of incorrect 

 taste ; — there are now to be purchased at very 

 moderate prices many neat and modest styles of 

 skirting, suitable either for summer or winter 

 wear. Do not allow your daughters nor yourself 

 to wear white skirts in wet weather or in sloppy 

 walking,— the old-fashioned drab or stone-colored 

 moreen is best for such times. Mothers who care 

 more for the health and long life of their daughters 

 than for their pride in the acquisition of an unnat- 

 ural, yet fashionable form will ■ forbid the use of 

 corsets, or stays,— providing for them in their 

 stead waists of double cloth or jean, cut like a 

 dress lining— only a little lower in the neck. Bind 

 the armsizes and the neck of these garments ; face 

 the edges of the fronts, and also the lower edge, 

 to the depth of an inch ; fasten them with buttons 

 in front, and set half a dozen buttons at equal dis- 

 tances along the lower edge,— by these the belts 

 of skirts may be united to the waists. 



The suggestions in regard to trimming and orna- 



menting women's dresses are applicable to the fin- 

 ishing of children's garments ; not only for the 

 reasons laid down in a previous chapter, but be- 

 cause of the frequent washing to w hieh boys' and 

 girls' clothing is necessarily subjected. Braids, 

 ribbons, gimps, fancy buttons, and embroidery, 

 cannot be removed at every washing, and the con- 

 sequence is that many articles of attire are greatly 

 injured, if not ruined, by the colors of these thinga 

 soaking or running into the tissue of the dress, or 

 by their shrinkage drawing the garments into un- 

 comfortable and unsightly shapes ; while the trim- 

 mings themselves are, as Mrs. Maguiie would say, 

 a sight to behold. If anything of the kind is used 

 don't go beyond a little white cotton braid for nan- 

 keens or ginghams or calicos, or worsted braids, 

 of whose colors you are sure, for delaines, valen- 

 cias and similar goods, and these must be shrunk- 

 en, as directed in Chap. VIII, before they are used, 

 As a general thing, children's garments when new 

 are not put on immediately and worn every day ; 

 as a best or Sunday suit they are kept Sor special 

 occasions, and so these fineries look well enough a 

 good while. But when the clothes are taken for 

 common use, being rais£d above the surface of the 

 material they are quickly soiled, and are very 

 troublesome to the wearer by catching and rubbing 

 against everything, — which, of course, soon spoils 

 them. 



Children's clothing should be watched even 

 more carefully than that of grown persons, lest it 

 get beyond repair; one day's wear, or merely one 

 romping frolic, after a hole has started, will some- 

 times completCiy destroy a garment; and you 

 will need to use as much care in its mending as for 

 your own, for they are observant of such matters, 

 and are often more mortified by a patch being made 

 too apparent than by wearing the dress in rags — 

 not every boy is like one that I know who wanted 

 his mother to put "squares" on his trousers' knees 

 because his playfellows had them. Many would 

 prefer that she should turn them around before 

 such things became necessary, so that the knees 

 should have means of keeping decent as long as 

 the rest of the trousers. And this turning the 

 back to the enemy is no cowardly manoeuvre, nor 

 yet a difficult one. This is the way to perform it : 

 Cut each leg of the trousers in an exactly cross- 

 wise direction from the lower comer of each pock- 

 et to the top of each inside seam, and then reverse 

 them, — bringing the backs • front, — stitch tlicm in 

 that position, rant the seams, and then press them 

 nicely. These new knees should be lined carefully 

 as directed in Chap. VII. 



Yam and worsted comforters, caps, hoods, scarfs, 

 or shawls, when very much out of fashion, may be 

 ravelled, the yam reeled, or folded, into skeins, 

 and then washed with soft soap in warm water, 

 dried, the badly worn taken out, and the good knit 

 again into new shapes — and thus make a great sav- 

 ing in a large family. 



There are many ways in which both boys and 



