Kenna's civil war infant clothing

We had a civil war event this past weekend at This is the Place Heritage Park.  That meant that sweet baby Kenna needed something period correct to wear.  I worked on her clothing for a few days, as well as my own clothing.  I took apart the dress I made when I was pregnant and remade it smaller so I can use it now.  It worked out pretty good, but not completely perfect.  Anyway, Kenna's clothing was so fun to make!  I  love how hers turned out.

Isn't she just the sweetest little thing you have ever seen?  There is something so beautiful, pure, and sweet about her new white 1860s clothing.  Above is her chemise and drawers.  I used the chemise pattern Amy has as a free printable on her blog, A Day in 1862.  I did make it a little longer, and used a tie instead of a button for the front closure, but I love using Amy's patterns.  I kind of just made up the drawers.  They are supposed to be just two tubes of fabric that go around the legs and connect at the top, but I needed something more to hide that darn modern diaper.  I just grabbed a pair of Kenna's modern pants and made a horrible little pattern from them that worked out okay. 

These two pictures here show the back and front of the strapped petticoat I made her.  I just copied the one I had made for Emmitt and made it smaller to fit her.  I think it turned out so cute as well.  She really should have more than one petticoat, but I am calling this good - we only have one more event this year.  I did quilt the top and straps of it and I love the look it gives the petticoat.

I completely forgot that her toenails were painted!  Oh dear!  Since it is August, I left her barefoot.  I thought stockings and shoes were a little over the top for this time of year.  Since Kenna only wears half of of all of this normally with summertime, I figured shoes were just silly. Plus, I was running out of time!

I made her a little dress in an afternoon.  I initially was going to make her dress out of a cute reproduction pink fabric.  My friend Amanda came over and I showed her the chemise and petticoat.  She told me how much she loved them and how she was looking forward to the little white dress I was going to make her, as she didn't know I had the pink one cut out already.  Then my neighbor Debbie came over and ooohed and aaahed over the petticoat and asked if the normal daily dresses for newborns in the mid 1800s were white.  I knew that some were, but I so wanted to use that cute cute pink fabric!  So then I did some research.  I read a few things I had printed off the internet awhile ago.  All of the sources said that the most common color for newborn and infants clothing was white.  My mind has a hard time wrapping around that little tidbit of information.  I have a hard time keeping the 2 good white shirts of my girls clean with modern amenities, how in the world did the ladies of 1860 keep an all white baby wardrobe clean?  They say they were easy to wash and keep white, I guess I will believe them, but I do know that Kelsey got a wonderful stain this weekend on her white pinafore that is going to be a bugger to get out!
Anyway, I put the pink fabric away, although it is already cut out, and make Kenna a white dress.  I still think I am going to make that pink one up anyway!

I printed off a cute little bonnet pattern from Sarah at Romantic History to make for Kenna.  I thought I printed out the correct ratio, but I found out Thursday afternoon that I didn't.  Now Kendal's little baby doll has a darling white bonnet!  Sweet Kenna was bonnetless this weekend, bad bad bad mom!

I had no trouble finding someone to hold Kenna while I was chasing around my other kids.  Actually, my other kids just pretty much fended for themselves.  Kelsey of course was a wonderful big sister and helped so much.  Kendal loved the schoolhouse, so she spent alot of time there.  At the end of the day, the school mistress came over to meet me and told me how much she loved spending time with Kendal.  I felt a bit badly about that, but she seemed pretty sincere and nice about it, and Kendal had a great day.
This is Caleb and Kenna, and then Austin, Emmitt, and Kelsey in the background.  I love this picture for some reason.  Love it.  Even though this post is about Kenna's clothing, notice that Emmitt got to upgrade to britches this year!  No more dresses for my big potty trained boy!  As we were getting ready that morning he said "Mom, I need my petticoats and here is my bonnet."  I told him he was a big boy now and got to wear pants like the soldiers.  He decided that was going to be alright!
Caleb is smitten with Kenna and has been since she was born, so he was more than willing to love on her a bit, and Bill with artillery enjoyed loving on her too.  The sweet park employee that is stationed at the house we were camped at had a few hours with her as well.  She sat on the front porch and just rocked her as she took a nice long nap.  

Kenna is growing so quickly, I am not sure if her clothing will fit her for the next event, the Heber Valley Civil War and Living History Weekend in September.  I sure hope so!  I will be pretty busy and not too excited if I have to make her another set of period clothing!

I had to get one picture of Kenna and I - excuse the cheesy smile and the super duper center part of my hair.  That is the way they wore it, but it is sort of extreme for our modern eyes!  I did ditch my hat by this time of the day as well!