I'm sorry to come so late to the discussion - this may now be irrelevant. I believe Nancy Rexford was right, these are sacques, used as she (or others on the list?) stated. Mid-19th century magazine are full of patterns for them and as a plain-sewing collector I have a few. Back when I first came across them I was just as confused, thinking them so much like men's shirts due to the fabric, square cut, binders, etc. Here are some excerpts from period sources, in no particular order, that I had found.
--------- The two went back to the large room. The air was scorching. Miriam undressed, slipped her thin, girlish arms into a muslin sacque, and lay down. Christianna drew the blinds together, took a palm-leaf fan and sat beside her. "I'll fan you, jest as easy," she said, in her sweet, drawling voice. "An' I can't truly sing, but I can croon. Don't you want me to croon you 'Shining River'?" Miriam lay with closed eyes. A fly buzzed in the darkened room. The fan went monotonously to and fro. Christianna crooned " Shining River" and then "Shady Grove." Outside,on the brick pavement, the sound of feet went by in a slender stream. The Long Roll, 1911 and Mr. Herriott confronted " Juno." " You are Mr. Herriott, as I supposed. Walk in, and excuse the confusion of the rooms. I was up all night, and have not put things in order." She wore a dark skirt and white muslin sacque, ... A Speckled Bird, 1902 "Not a word till you 're in bed again! Ruth will come up; won't you, Ruth ?" And Miss Susie found herself deposited up stairs before she had a chance to make even a feint of resistance. Ruth sat down in the sewing chair, while Margaret made the little invalid's toilet, the child being all excitement at this partial escape. "Shoes and stockings, and a dress. Oh, please Margaret, a real dress I not a clean nightgown, and that hateful sacque! Though it's a very nice sacque, and I don't know what I should have done without it; only I'm so tired of it now. That's real good I"—and Susie stood on tiptoe to see herself in the glass over Margaret's dressing-table, but turned away with a rueful look. "Oh, dear! I'm just like a boy! Oh, I didn't think I looked so queer! What made you cut my hair so close ? What am I going to do?" Godey's, 1858 Q. Then the next paragraph is quoting from your report: “‘ No nightgowns are provided, the women wear instead short cotton sacques, and the same chemises they have worn all day.” Then he comments on this: “Those who wear the chemises do so from preference. The nightgowns are such as are provided at the Boston Lying-in hospital. and are perfectly well adapted for our class of patients?” A. Well. I don’t doubt that some of the women wear the chemises in preference. I have no doubt that lots of those people prefer to be dirty, but I don’t think the superintendent should prefer to have them so; and as for the nightgowns being proper, I don’t say that that is not the case, but I know it is not proper for them to wear the chemises that they wear in the daytime. I know one thing, that it is a very common institution practice for people to sleep in clothes that they wear during the day, and often if you will go through at night you will find nine out of ten or ninety-nine out of a hundred doing that in all institutions. I know that we found that to be the case in the institutions under our supervision, and we said that it wasn’t clean, and that it shouldn't be done. The result is that we have had that carried out. They should not sleep in the clothes they wear in the daytime, and it is no excuse and no answer for the superintendent to say that they like to be dirty. Of course they do, lots of them. Q. (By the CHAIRMAN.) I would like to ask what the character of these nightgowns is? A. Little sacques that come down about to there, or there—a little sort of unbleached-cotton jacket, coming a little below the waist. I don’t question that they are worn in other hospitals, and I don’t question that they are the proper gown to wear, but it seems to me it is better not to have the inmates wear at night anything they have been wearing during the day. I think the wards would smell sweeter if that was not done. We mentioned the fact that it was a short jacket or sacque to explain why they wore chemises at night, because otherwise it might seem strange that they should wear them in the night-time. The reason is because if they didn’t wear anything else they would be very much uncovered. Documents/Boston, 1895 Before entering upon the treatment proper it may be well to review briefly the necessary adjuncts, as proper preparation will aid materially the course to be adopted. Preparations Necessary with Regard to the Patient.—Many of the preparations necessary in the lying-in chamber are desirable in cases of abortion as well. Attention should be paid to the bowels, as a costive condition will interfere to some extent with the manipulations as well as a rapid and favorable course of expulsion and involution; at best, it is liable to make the patient uncomfortable. The bladder should be evacuated, especially before active measures are resorted to, and the patient should be so clad in night-gown and sacque, with long hose and drawers, that she may be moved and manipulated without exposure. A System of Practical Medicine, 1886 Another thing about that afternoon was recalled to me after Mammy's death. She waa very fond of dress, but always wore her dresses high up around her neck, and, however the fashion changed, her sleeves full and buttoned close into a band at the wrist. Even her nightgown sleeves were made this way, and once when I asked her why she told me sharply that "childern should be seen and not heard." To-day she had on over her petticoat what was called a bedgown, a long sacque with half loose sleeves. While I was bathing her head the bottle fell, spilling the cologne over her face and neck, and as ihe jumped up her sleeves slipped back, disclosing a wide, shriveled scar reaching from just above her wrist to the elbow. Making of America Project - 1903 Patients' Bed-Gown, made of cotton (white preferred), is a short open sacque buttoned in front, the pattern for which can be had at the Hospital. The annual report of the Boston Lying-in Hospital 1898 Ada proposed that they should go up stairs and have a good rest. In truth, she was tired. Her dress fitted her beautifully, — almost as tight as the skin, but it made her ache around the waist. Her exquisite French kid boots pinched a little, and her head drooped with its pads and braids and cushions and rolls. Aunt Euth really pitied her. So she found a dressing sacque and some slippers, and told Ada she would be so much fresher for the evening if she would rest in them for the next hour, or, indeed, lie down. In the Ranks, 1872 "What shall you wear to work in?" inquired Ellen, looking down at the neat chintz dress which she wore. "Oh, we shall take off our dresses, of course; no one will see us there, and I will put on my white sacque, and be careful not to splash it." Arthur's Home Mag 1858 Dressing sacques are made somewhat longer than formerly, and are about half fitting. The materials used are cambric, nansook, and lawn; tucks with insertions between, and frills of lace or embroider}-, have a pretty effect; the neck is either cut surplice or high. Donahoe's, A Chat with our Lady Readers on -what they Wear. At the poor locksmith's, the other day, I found his wife in bed; but instead of a night jacket, she had an old cloth wrapped about her. Night-clothing the poor woman did not possess. Instead of mattresses, she had only a heap of straw, and her three children slept in one and the same bed. I immediately provided mattresses and all kinds of bedding, and gave the wife some neat night-clothing; but such expenditures have quite emptied my purse, and I do not know what to do." Clementine Helm, 1877 You alone are responsible for the change in madame's mood. Madame goes to bed; she proposes to be revenged on you for failing to understand her. She does not understand you. She curls herself up in her corner in the most disagreeable and most hostile fashion; she is enveloped in her chemise, her night-jacket, and her nightcap, like a bale of clock machinery setting out for the Indies. Honoré de Balzac She turned the key and threw back the door. There she stood in her long chemise and nightjacket. It had been necessary to shave off her plentiful fair hair, and she looked grotesque and horrible in the extreme, with her frilled nightcap askew on her bare skull. She shivered so her teeth rattled in her head. But she looked at the girl in mingled triumph and gratified malice. A tent of grace, 1899 Much talk there was over it all, the homely Scotch-Irish phrases cropping out ever and anon as the matter was discussed by the women of the settlement, who, like those of to-day, were all agog when a wedding was in prospect. To be sure the did not demand very much time or attention. Linsey-woolsey, that combination of linen and wool, furnished the material for one or two petticoats. "Six hundred" linen, made from home-grown flax, was sufficiently good for a few bedgowns or sacques to be worn with the petticoats, and the same linen cut into squares and hemmed made the neckerchiefs. A Gentle Pioneer, 1903 ------------- Melissa Roberts _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
