1920s baby clothes

Weldon's Simple Baby Clothes and Materity Wear - a broadsheet-sized home-dressmaking magazine from the late 1920s, and a fascinating glimpse into the glamorous world of what the well-dressed tot and ma were sporting.

"Surely there is no more delightful task than preparing an outfit for the Little Stranger. The wee garments are so dainty and easy to make, and as we stitch into them all the best wishes in the world, we wonder perhaps if we are working for some small boy or girl who will one day become a national hero or heroine."

Long, simple gowns were de rigeur for the newly arrived Little Stranger: "Dainty and protective with bonnet for Miss, or Hat for Master."


Styles for older children echo the adult fashions of the 1920s - I love this little cloche hat. "Dainty frock in Ayesha or washing silk and Coat and Bonnet of velour, etc." Ages 6 months to 2 years.


Children aged 6 months to 5 years could wear this elegant hat: "Fashion votes for a silk or satin Bonnet, with gauged crown and cuff brim, to match her coat, and she will be so smart. A tiny daisy spray from transfer No 14102 will be pleasing on the brim".


Mummies, of course, were not to be outdone in the maternity fashion pages. Long, flowing dresses and coats to accentuate the 1920s ideal androgynous figure, and not a baby bump in sight.


"I'm eight months pregnant, you know."
"It shows, my dear, you are looking simply elephantine."

Alarmist knitting advert

A scare-mongering knitting ad from the 1950s, warning mothers that spring is not all sunshine and daffodils. Don't put those winter woolies away just yet, mother! In fact, you'd better knit a pram set or two - "knit one now just as a precaution against these early Spring cold spells, put it away during the Summer, and when you bring it out in September it will still fit baby the whole Winter through!"

Either babies didn't grow as quickly in the 1950s as they do now, or that is one stretchy baby outfit. A rather desperate attempt by Bairns-Wear to encourage a frantic burst of knitting activity before the traditional summer lull.

Patsy's Reflections

Patsy's Reflections is a spiral bound paperback from the early 1950s, collecting together a series of strips that ran in the Daily Mirror newspaper. The strip's heroine is Patsy, a young housewife struggling to learn to cook and manage a house under wartime rationing conditions. Most of the strips focus on her culinary adventures ("Dad's GI friend told me about these Franconia Parsnips - sit you down dear, and watch!") but later in the series, Patsy becomes pregnant with her first child and the recipes make way for baby care advice.

Above, Patsy and her mother discuss the most economical way of clothing the new arrival - "don't buy too many things - why not make them? Nicer, and cheaper too!" Patsy and her mother didn't have a global sweatshop industry manufacturing clothes for them at very little cost.


Love the big knitting-related hug in the last panel. That baby is going to be very well clothed.