Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 182, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1915 — For the Comfort of the Baby [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

For the Comfort of the Baby

What with doctors insisting that babies are usually dressed too heavily and grandmas Insisting that they must not be allowed any chance of getting cold, their anxious relatives are put to all sorts of maneuvering to keep them just right. It is certain that many of them are overburdened with too-warm clothing and lack of freedom in the midsummer months. They appear to enjoy kicking their small heels about untrammeled by petticoats, and those wise people, the nurses especially trained to care for them, Insist on' letting them enjoy this pleasure. They tell us the baby needs, by way of underclothing, his light, soft flannel shirt and a flannel band about the bowels, and that he will do very well, without even a slip of thin cotton, if these are provided, to prevent his getting chilled. But, as a concession to custom and mothers, they grant the thin, short slip of nainsook or other sheer fabric, with a little soft lace about the neck. And they enter no objection to the use of narrow lace insertions or hemstitching or dainty hand-embroidery by which the loving mother makes the slip seemly for her extraordinary and wonderful child to wear with regard to his health and comfort. Now if there is a nip of coolness in the air in the morning or evening, the baby may don a little extra and comfortable finery In the shape of a sack or “nightingale.” He is apt to find himself in possession of a good supply of these, for they are among the number of pretty things which appreciative relatives and admiring friends shower upon the newcomer

to this world of fickle winds and climates.

Three of them are shown here. Among them is a new example of the baby’s long-time friend, the crocheted sack. This is made of light zephyr in white, and consists of a yoke and body, the yoke crocheted of yarn and light blue embroidery silk in alternate rows. It is finished with a border of scallops and a beading at the neck, all crocheted. As a finish, the neck and scallops are edged with the silk. A chain-stitch of the silk outlines the scallops and a small “shell” edge finishes the neck, sleeves, bottom and opening edges. Satin ribbon a half-inch wide is run in the beading at the neck and tied in a bow at the front. A bow of it is perched at the top of each sleeve. At the right a simpler little garment is made of a circle of cashmere. It is folded over and a small circle oatout at the center for the neck opening. It is split to make the front opening and slashed up a little way to form the sleeves. All edges are worked with light pink embroidery silk in scallops and small flower sprays are added to the front and sleeves. Narrow pink satin ribbons join the edges with little bows.

If one cannot embroider, a pretty sacque is made of cashmere, having the edges finished with narrow satin ribbon. This is shirred on each edge and sewed down to take the place of embroidery. The sleeves are slashed and the edges tied together with bows of ribbon which serve also to fasten the sacque at the front, as shown in tae picture.