Clothes in this group date from about 1830 to 1870. The small ones were worn by children four to six years old and the one at the back by a teenager.
The earliest is the grey silk taffeta pelisse lined with cotton. A pelisse, in the 1820s and 1830s, was a coat cut like a dress but open down the front. This one has hooks at throat and waist. The sleeves have been tacked in pleats inside the elbow to prevent them slipping over the hands. The pattern on the red printed cotton dress resembles tiny maple leaves. The bodice buttons down the back and the skirt has a deep tuck for lengthening as the child grew. This style is often found in children's dresses of the 1840s to 1860s.
The green silk 1850s dress was worn by a small boy. Nineteenth-century boys did not wear trousers until they were about six years old. The skirt is pleated to a sleeveless bodice with silk stitched to the fronts which hook together. The jacket hooks at the throat. It would have had a turn-down collar and under sleeves like those on women's dresses. The jacket and bodice are trimmed with ribbon. The frills of the drawers show beneath the skirt. The same boy also wore the fawn satin hat with rosettes over the ears.
The 1860s checked brown taffeta dress was worn by the small boy's sister. The bodice has box pleats back and front. The double box pleated skirt is trimmed with pinked frills. The white linen dress with bolero front is trimmed with black rick-rack braid. It was worn by a boy or girl in MontrΘal in the 1870s. Pantelettes could be worn with this dress. Sometimes composed of two separate legs, they buttoned to the child's stays.
The 1840s boy's blue satin hat has a floppy crown but the square top is stiffened and the rolled brim is padded. The girl's silk slippers have ribbon and elastic straps over the instep.
