A boy in the pram

At Market Lavington Museum, we have a pram, the body of which dates from Victorian times, though the wheels were replaced later. It would be good to be as authentic as possible when dressing the dolls to go on display in it but, obviously, we are limited by the artefacts we have available. This year, we tried to match the clothing to the age of the pram and found a baby boy’s dress and cape dating from about 1870.

Little boys did wear dresses and his is made from cotton piqué. Over his dress, he has a matching cotton carrying cape.

We have seen this outfit before, in A Victorian Wicker Basket and this is a more appropriate place for him as Victorian babies did not go in prams until they were big enough to sit up.

However, our pram is tucked under a cabinet and we do not have a larger doll and, if we did, he wouldn’t fit.

Oh well, at least we got the vintage of the garment right for the pram, even if the little lad is a bit too young.

We will look at his sister and the pram in more detail another time.