Kid's Clothing

Real Clothes for Real Kids!

You’ve asked us for children’s clothing as well made and historically accurate as our other offerings, and here they are!

Research indicates that medieval children were swaddled for the first few months to a year of life. Current wisdom being that children's bones were "soft" and swaddling made their limbs grow straight.

After the swaddling phase, average (non-royal, or not extremely wealthy children) male and female children were dressed uniformly in a shirt or smock and an apron/pinafore/surcoat. Jean Fouquet’s illumination for“St. Anne and the Three Marys" in the Hours of Etienne Chevalier (Biblioteque Nationale de France, NAL 1416, 1452-60) shows this very clearly.

Although Fouquet is 15th C., there are numerous examples of this style from the 12th-16th C in manuscripts such as the Macijiowski Bible as well as later works by Bruegel and engravings by Holbein (Les Simulachres et historiees faces de la Mort, Lyon, 1538). Sometimes the apron is omitted, as in the boys cockfighting on Shrove Tuesday in the Lutrell Psalter (Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 264, fol. 50r.) Children were dressed this way until about the age of 5 or 6, when they begin wearing simplified versions of their parent's styles. Pieter Bruegel provides wonderful examples of this in his painting "Children's Games" (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1559-60)

As a result of the research, we have created a mix and match assortment of smocks, surcoats, tunics, braies and chausses to fit children from 12 months to 12 years. Where possible garments are cut on historical patterns; gowns and smocks are taken from the Skjoldehamn Kyrtle, Tunic on the Bocksten tunic, chausses on the Herjolfsnes no.88 and London hose patterns.

Our testers discovered that short tunics intended for older kids made wonderful long gowns for younger children. Older children love to wear the surcoat as a tabard, and parents liked the flexibility of putting young children in just the surcoat over a diaper in hot weather. All pieces are made in the same high quality linens as our other clothing, and we've selected a range of colours which appeal to children and parents alike. Each item has the measurements detailed for purchasing ease.

To determine correct size in each garment, measure your child as follows and compare to the charts given with each garment.

Length- Measure from the top of child's shoulder to hem. Length given in chart is the actual length of the garment. Please allow for safe ground clearance, or hemming.

Sleeve- Measure from the middle of child's back to wrist.

Chest- Measure around fullest part. Measurement given on chart allows for 4" of ease between child's measurement and actual garment size.

Waist- Measure around point of child's tummy where his or her pants sit. Measurement given allows 3" of gathering at waist.

Chausses- Measure around fullest part of child's leg, and from high crotch to floor. Thigh and calf measurements allows for body ease. Inseam measurement given allows no ease.