Maternity and Nursing

[edelweisgal]

Hello from Missouri!

I've been searching for general information and images concerning appropriate maternity attire and nursing attire for the Civil War.... Do you have any of such information? or perhaps do you know of someone who may have some information that I could contact? Thank you in advance!

Sincerely
Ann DeTavernier

[Joanna Jones]

Re: Maternity and Nursing

If you are in need of patterns:
Sandra Altman
maternity/nursing stays - http://www.pastpatterns.com/705.html
The "gestation stay" has an option for the bust gussets to unbutton for nursing

Saque/petticoat for maternity wear - http://www.pastpatterns.com/808.html
The saque takes a fair amount of adjusting. I've made 2 and they came out nice, but do a muslin first!

Are congratulations in order here?

Joanna Jones

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Maternity and Nursing

Some quick notes this morning, then more tomorrow evening.

I've only gone through three pregnancies during my time in historic clothing, and we had a great discussion on the topic just last summer (before the Great Crash of Ought-Six), which had information from a bunch of other folks, too. My observations:

I was able to wear a regular dress for the majority of the pregnancy (meaning, into my 8th month with some adjustments to the dress!), and I don't tend to carry "small". :) These adjustments included: making dresses with generous ease over the bust, wide side seams for letting out, and hiking the dress waist up above the belly as things went on.

I was able to wear a hoop for quite awhile, too; after that stopped working (where do we put the rungs--over Bulge, or under Bulge? LOL), petticoats alone worked fine. I had to make split drawers with a very deep front depth to accomodate the Bulge, and cut them just as full in the front as the back, to cover the Bulge.

I was able to wear a normal corset through the vast majority of the pregnancies by lacing only to the bottom ribs; switching to a corded corset or the pregnancy stay would be great for many women. I have a friend who tried on a maternity stay during pregnancy, and didn't want to ever take it off, as it gave all the support she longed for.

A Sacque and Petticoat can be an excellent option the last two months or so; before that, I'm getting a stronger and stronger impression that most women may not have changed their daily wardrobe styles very much (though the sizes obviously changed!)--simply making standard styles in larger iterations to accomodate the changing figure.

Nursing: I've nursed three so far without a nursing corset or specialized dress, so I know that's possible. :) The Workwoman's Guide of 1838 shows additional nursing placket arrangements that are sensible and could be adapted to just about any corset with bust gussets. They're rather more complicated than a spandex cup with a latch, but they do work in a remarkably streamlined way--I suppose women for ages have recognized the need for one-hand operation when wrestling a Hungry Baby.

Gathered-to-fit dresses with generous ease over the bosom are nice for nursing, as the generous ease over the bosom accomodates the oft-drastic cup changes through the day. Choose a fabric with a print to distract from the milk stains, and have a lot of chemises made up for changes. Flannel used as milk pads will stay in place in a corset pretty well. Personally, the "cup from below" support of a corset is far more comfortable than the "hang from the shoulders" support of a modern nursing bra.

While leisure-class women don't seem to have sat in the front parlour nursing, it doesn't seem at this point that ALL women hid themselves away to feed the baby. Certainly, the farther down the economic scale one goes, the more apt one might be to see a mother nursing--there were even a few original images shared on this site in the Pre-'06 Crash days that showed women breastfeeding during the photo session, and they were not "low class" women. Discretion is wise, but there's no reason to go and hide from everyone to feed the baby.

That's all for now--back to Isaiah and my Sunday School lesson, or I'll be shot after church for dereliction of duty. :)

[edelweisgal]

Re: Maternity and Nursing

wow - fabulous information!!

last summer i was pregnant with our first little recruit - haha... by August at 6 months pregnant i was "showing"... In order to accomadate my expanding waistline I had taken one of my old dresses (which was made to wear with a hoop) and took apart the bodice & skirt... I then folded the bodice under about 4 inches (raising the waistline) and reattached the cartriage pleated skirt which allowed for my expanding belly... this created a dress that looked wonderful with a corded petticoat. I also borrowed one of my mother-in-laws old dresses which was a few sizes larger and I was completely comfortable... I was hoping this would be considered appropriate... The only real problem I encountered was the multiple trips to the nessesary in the middle of the night... thank goodness for chamber pots!

This fall I had a Living History presentation with a group of home-schooled girls (ages 10-13) and I was able to wear my period clothing (yay prepregnancy clothes!) but i had trouble with nursing my son... (a myriad of buttons, stays preventing relaxed posture, etc) i am very curious about the idea of a corded corset - do you have any other information about such a thing?? it sounds just Lovely!!!

thank you!
Ann Detavernier

[Deb Kessler]

Re: Maternity and Nursing

Thought I would jump into this discussion - at the Genteel Arts Conference, 2005, K. Krewer spoke on wrappers and mentioned that they would have been used during pregnancy and while nursing. The construction of a wrapper would lend itself nicely to both situations-

Deb Pomerantz

wow - fabulous information!!

last summer i was pregnant with our first little recruit - haha... by August at 6 months pregnant i was "showing"... In order to accomadate my expanding waistline I had taken one of my old dresses (which was made to wear with a hoop) and took apart the bodice & skirt... I then folded the bodice under about 4 inches (raising the waistline) and reattached the cartriage pleated skirt which allowed for my expanding belly... this created a dress that looked wonderful with a corded petticoat. I also borrowed one of my mother-in-laws old dresses which was a few sizes larger and I was completely comfortable... I was hoping this would be considered appropriate... The only real problem I encountered was the multiple trips to the nessesary in the middle of the night... thank goodness for chamber pots!

This fall I had a Living History presentation with a group of home-schooled girls (ages 10-13) and I was able to wear my period clothing (yay prepregnancy clothes!) but i had trouble with nursing my son... (a myriad of buttons, stays preventing relaxed posture, etc) i am very curious about the idea of a corded corset - do you have any other information about such a thing?? it sounds just Lovely!!!

thank you!
Ann Detavernier

[biology blue]

cdv of pregnant woman

Greetings,

I just found a CDV on ebay that might be of interest, a man and his wife who looks showingly pregnant is wearing a normally styled day dress with nice white braiding and pagoda sleeves. I would post the picture if I was a little more experienced, but as a beginner, I will simply ask that you go to the website yourself at http://cgi.ebay.com/cdv-photo-LADY-M...QQcmdZViewItem
or search ebay for # 250079629671.

I hope this helps,
Aubrey Frank