INFANTS' FIRST FLANNEL GOWNS. PLATE 3. FIG. 1. 2. This is an excellent pattern for an Infant's first gown, either day or night, from the ease with which it is put on, and also for the warmth and support it gives to the child. The body is made of flannel, lined with very fine soft calico or lawn. In cutting out the skirt, tear off two breadths of the proper length. The long clothes of babies of the higher classes are longer than those of the poor, as the latter would soon be tumbled and dirty, they should be 13 or 14 nails, and for the former, about one yard is ample. Some ladies dress their children in very long flannels and robes, but this is as unnecessary as it is ill-judged; for the weight of the long petticoats must be painful, besides the perfect inability of the poor infant to stretch and kick about its little limbs, is obvious. Divide one of these breadths in two, and pin a half breadth to each side of the whole breadth. Run firmly down the two seams, and herring-bone them back again, and then bind with the flannel binding neatly down the two sides of the front, and at the bottom of the skirt. The body is 12 nails long to be cut down the selvage, and 2 nails wide. About seven bodies can be cut in the width, flannel being generally 14 nails wide. Double the piece for the body length-wise, and stick in a pin 1 nail from the front or doubled part (see A B) to mark where the beginning of the arm-hole lies. The armhole is 1 nail across, and nail deep; after cutting it out, slope the remainder of the body from H to K in a straight line, to within a nail from the bottom at the end, so as not to finish off in a point. A large opening, or sort of button-hole is next made under the left arm-hole, to be nail long, leaving about nail above and below it. It is thus made up: place the soft lining upon the flannel, taking care that the wrong side is outwards, and run them firmly together, pretty near the edge, along the two sides, the top of the body, and round the arm-holes; after which, finish your thread firmly off, turn the body inside out, and stroke the lining and flannel smoothly together, by putting your hand inside and pressing it gently all round. Next put the skirt into the body; measure the middle of each and pin them together; afterwards, pin the front or opening of the skirt at M, exactly half way between the arm-hole and the end of the body (see O P). The skirt from M to O to be set in plain, and then the remainder plaited up in about twelve small equal plaits to the middle, taking care to turn the plaits so as to lie outwards from the centre towards the point; the other half is then to be fixed in, and with a strong thread, stitch the plaits to the flannel body, laying the two rough edges together. When done, smooth down the stitched part, and hem the calico lining to it. The body should next be run neatly and firmly with very small stitches all round, about 4 inch from the edge. In the part from P to M, the lining should be made so as to be a little seen on the outside, and be hemmed down to represent flannel binding. The lawn or calico shoulder-straps should be cut 1 nail long, and a button-hole worked at one end, while the other is sewn on that end of the arm-hole towards the middle. The slit or button-hole should be turned over neatly by the lining, to appear as if bound all round. Two narrow tapes of 4 nails long, sewn to the points, complete the whole. In dressing the infant, the one end is drawn round through the slit, which makes it fit closely and compactly to the figure, and yet be soft and elastic. Fig. 2 is the representation of one folded as if on. ANOTHER SHAPE FOR AN INFANT'S FIRST FLANNEL NIGHT-GOWN. PLATE 3. FIG. 5, 6, 7. This is a very good kind also, and the one in most general use, though not equal to the one just described. It takes a breadth and a half to make this petticoat, therefore it prevents waste if you cut Cut your two breadths 14 nails long, or a yard, according to pleasure, and measure along the width of one breadth (Fig. 5) 31⁄2 nails from the selvage (see A B), and put in a pin as a mark. Measure the same at the other end of the width of the flannel, making your measurement from the opposite selvage (see CD); then double your flannel smoothly across from B to D, and cut it evenly along the sloping line. The other breadth of flannel is torn exactly down the middle. Take one of these halves, and let one of the above-mentioned sloped pieces be pinned on each side of it, taking care to place them with the sloped part outwards (see Fig. 6, E E), and the smaller part of each sloped piece be at the top. After running and herring-boning the two seams, P P, you must cut out the top part of the skirt to form the body. First, therefore, double the skirt very evenly in half, and beginning at the end which is open, leave 3 nails for the back, L L, and place a pin as a mark; and also in order that the flannel, when once laid correctly, may not slip out of its place. Measure 1 nail for the arm-hole, which you must also pin; then cut it out to the depth of nail, LO N, measure 1 nail beyond for the bosom, NX, aud then cut down 1 nail deep, in a straight line, X Y; after which, cut off the flannel in a straight line, Y W, to the end. The gown, when opened, has the appearance of Fig. 6, with a large piece cut out of the bosom in the middle. The two sides of this gap in the bosom should be very firmly run together about one inch from the edges; these edges then should be laid open, so as to turn back, one on the one side, and the other on the other, and very neatly herring-boned down; it will thus have the appearance of two hems (see Z Z, Fig. 7). The skirt, which of course is very full, must be set into two equal double plaits, and herring-boned upon the body in the inside. The skirt at the sides must next be set in two or three plaits (see F G, Fig. 7), so that, when plaited up, the space from the armhole to the back be but 13 nail. Bind or herring-bone the top of the bosom, and make a string-case of soft tape at the top of the back. Put in the tapes, sew on shoulder straps of soft calico or tape, with button-holes, and put on the buttons at the end of the arm-hole, towards the back. ANOTHER INFANT'S FLANNEL GOWN. PLATE 3. FIG. 4. This shape is the one generally used by the lower classes, not only for flannels, but for print gowns and petticoats; and is preferred to others on account of the ease with which it is cut out, and also because there is much less needle-work in the making up: there is, however, some waste, which is an objection. The gown is 13 nails long, but as there should be no seam on the shoulder, the two breadths must be cut in one length of 26 nails, which is 1 yard 10 nails. Double it in two, so as to be 13 nails long, and then fold it in half very evenly down the middle, so as to make the four selvages lie exactly one upon the other, and pin them firmly down to keep the folds in place; then, after measuring 3 nails from the selvages at the top (see A S), to determine the length of the sleeves, cut out the part SC D, to form the neck of the gown. Observe that the part from S to C is a nail deep, which should be nicely rounded off, and from C to D, the bosom is cut straight along. The gown is next shaped at the side; and to do so properly, put in a pin at S, and fold it in a regular slope down to the bottom of the gown. Measure down the slope from the top, S, the distance of 2 nails, and put in a pin as a guide; cut off from the bottom upwards to T, and rounding it off at the corner, slope along T K for the sleeve, allowing 1 nail width for the wrist. In making it up, the seams should be joined with a mantua-maker's hem, and a band should be sewn on the inside of the front, to be 6 nails in length, and about 14 nail below the neck. Cut a button-hole in the gown at each end of the band, draw with a bodkin a piece of tape through one hole, and fasten it down at the other extremity of the band; do the same with the other button-hole, so that on pulling the tapes, the gown will be drawn up, and neatly fulled in front. INFANT'S SECOND SIZE NIGHT-FLANNEL. PLATE 3. FIG. 3. This shape is used when infants are six or eight months old, and is merely a double flannel body sewn upon the skirt, which is two breadths of 12 nails in length. The body is 11 nails long, to be cut down the selvage, and 23 nails deep when doubled; therefore cut it 5 nails wide, and double it down all the length very carefully. You must pin or tack it together evenly, to enable you to cut out the arm-holes correctly. Then fold the body in two, measure from the end two nails for the back, A, and cut out the arm-hole 1 nail deep, and 11⁄2 nail across. Open the body again, unpick the tacking threads, and run round the arm-holes with small firm stitches on the wrong side of the flannel, also up the sides; after which, turn the body inside out, and then make a large plait in front as a support to the child; this plait ought to be so large, that when made, only 23 nails will remain between the arm-holes, instead of 4 nails. After herring-boning this plait neatly down, run in small stitches all round the body (see the dotted line) at about a of an inch from the edge, to make the flannel lie flat, and give it a finished appearance. Some people back-stitch it, and others prefer making a line of very small herring-bone, or else chain-stitch it all round. These last two modes are certainly more ornamental, but the simple running is quite as neat, and saves much time; three tapes must be sewn on one end of the body, at equal distances from each other, and at scarcely a nail from the edge; the three tapes at the other end to be sewn on close to the edge, and to correspond with the others, so as to tie neatly with each other, and to allow of the body lapping over nearly a nail. The shoulder straps of tape are sewn on, and are 2 nails long, after allowing an extra half nail for turning in. The The skirt is sewn up, and not open as the others; the bottom is neatly bound, the pocket-hole is torn down the middle of one of the breadths, and is two nails long; it must also be bound all round. skirt is set into the body in small plaits. The body is made of fine jean or twill, lined with lawn; or, if for the lower classes, of soft coarse calico, with plenty of nap upon it. The body is 8 nails long, to be cut down the selvage, and 14 deep, so that twelve bodies could be exactly cut in the width, if your stuff were 15 nails wide. |