drawers & combinations

Summary

Wide round neck, very narrow shoulders. Fastening CB with drawstring at neck and thread button at high waist. Short slit in CF seam.

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Combination garments were introduced as a practical under-garment for young children, mainly boys, from the late eighteenth century, either made all-in-one or else buttoning together at the waist. Such combination suits for outerwear were made in stout cottons and known as skeleton suits. It was not until much later, around the 1870s, that this type of undergarment was adopted by women and even later by men. Combinations were approved of by writers on healthy clothing for children as being warm and practical: Ada Ballin in her book called "The Science of Dress" 1885) called combinations "a complete and most sanitary costume". These combinations worn by a boy aged about 4, were made by Ann Turner for her youngest son, Ambrose, who was born in November 1835. Ambrose lived a long life, not dying until 1910.