Dream Stitches: Baby's Layette - Three

Old photo from the Gandy collection displayed in the Dream Stitches exhibit.

Mother and Nurse weigh  Baby son. Taken 1908.

What a fat little baby!

We often think babies are bigger today than they were in days gone by but it's not the case.  Listen to this quote from 'Womans Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences, 1917'  "The measurements given may be considered as standard for the infant of normal size - that is, one that weights about 8 pounds at birth...."

The average baby born today is  7 lbs. 10 oz. (according to The Center for Disease Control).

Standard Infant Measurements of 1917 (from Womans Institute)

Neck............9 1/2"

Bust.............23"

Armhole......9 1/2"

Inside sleeve length..6 3/4 to 7"

Wrist.............6 1/2"

Dress length....26 to 27"

Dream Stitches: Baby's Layette - Two

A page I made for my own "Layette Diary" in my Old Fashioned Baby Column.  

See May/June Creative Needle 1997.

The Layette Diary makes a wonderful reference of the garments you made (or purchased) for your baby.  It's also a beautiful keepsake.

Inside the Layette Booklets from the LSU Collection.

The Layette booklets were made in 1926 by Louisiana high school home economics students.  These charming booklets depict items that would be included in baby's layette.   They included garment illustrations cut from magazines of the day, fabric samples and projected costs.

Covers of two of the Layette Diaries in the LSU Collection. The covers were embellished with paints.  

The original layette booklets were displayed in the exhibit  Dream Stitches:Baby's Layette.  I was guest curator for this exhibit.  They were very cleverly done and very pretty.  It was clear that the students followed direction from the teacher as several pages were similar in design.