tmta1

c

Infants

The dress of this age group, from a few months to about three years, would have comprised a simple outfit of shirt or smock under an ankle-length cote, with bare feet and legs in summer and short gartered hose or felt bootees for cold weather. Boys and girls often wore a coif. For added warmth tbey might wear a surcote, or later a buttoned gown, and a bat or hood (Fig 6).

There was little change in style over the period, the clothes being madę to the simplest of shapes.

6. Clothes for larger babies and infants

a.    Summer outfit of shirt or smock and cote, with coif.

b.    Winter outfit of sleeveless surcote and cote (over body linen, unseen), buttoned hood and bootees.

c.    Coif, a smaller version of Hats, Fig 5.

d.    Bib, as found at all periods.

e.    Simple cote, see Cotes, Fig 3.

f.    Cote, madę to a shaped pattern.

g.    Short gartered hose for boys or girls, shown with a crude shoe.

h.    Pattern for g. It is drawn up with a thong through the eyelet holes.

/. Bootee of thick cloth or felt, cut like Hose, Fig 4. A leather sole could be added.

Boys

Most boys continued to wear full-length clothes to the age of 6 or morę. Those attending school or college might remain in a long cote or gown to adulthood (Figs 1, 7). Boys starting a trade might be provided with adult clothing: a short cote in the earlier centuries, later a doublet under a cotehardie, frock or gown. Joined hose would only be for smart wear by wealthier young men.

Girls

Girls continued to wear full-length garments, moving into women's dress as tbey grew up. Girls in work would be in adult dress from about the age of 12 (Fig 10 left). From adolescence to ntarriage, girls of highcr status were morę likcly to wear distinctive fashions such as the gown in Figs 2 & 10 right.

Girls generally wore their hair loose or dressed in plaits, but wealthier girls can be seen wearing part of a fashionable head-dress over flowing hair (Fig 2).

Accessories - toys and games

Scant information on toys has come down to us, but they were probably few and precious. Rattles, carved wooden animals and figures, and wooden or cloth dolls, may well have been madę to keep children amused.

Active games such as leap-frog, hoodman-blind, and piggy-back wrestling have been illustrated. Other games such as kails (ninepins or skittles), marbles, and five-stones were probably played as well.

181