History of the Christening Gown
Friday, November 28th, 2008Up until the seventeenth century, young babies were tightly wrapped in swaddling clothes and carried to the font in a “bearing cloth”. This was a large square piece of silk, edged with trimmings of gold lace and braid.
The Christening robe, as we know it today, evolved in the mid-eighteenth century when babies were freed of swaddling at an earlier age. In white silk, the earliest surviving examples have a front opening which was either fastened with ribbon ties or left open to show a petticoat beneath. The decorative curving lines of braid are similar to those applied to women’s gowns of the period.
The first Christening robes were made in the style worn every day by eighteenth-century children: both boy and girl babies wore “slip” dresses, with a very long, flowing skirt falling from a short, tucked bodice and a low neck and short sleeves. Other items of clothing such as bonnets and bootees could be made to go with the robe. A number of exquisite Christening sets survived from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including bibs, head bands, mittens and pincushion covers or handkerchiefs in embroidered linen.
Victoria era babies wore Ayrshire decorated gowns. Ayrshire is a delicate form of white-on-white embroidery that originating in the Scottish Lowlands.
Pinning a piece of shortbread to the Christening robe was an old Scottish custom and was to be worn throughout the ceremony. If an unmarried girl was to eat the shortbread afterwards, she was thought to dream of her future husband that very night. It was also vital that the baby was to sleep in its Christening robe for the night of the baptism; this was to bring luck and good health into the baby’s future.
An ageless tradition
The same fashion for Christenings has remained popular ever since. This is partly due to the tradition of handing down Christening robes from one generation to the other, thus over many years, dozens of babies may use the same Christening robe.
If your family has no tradition of an antique gown, you can begin this tradition for future generations with a gown from our range of traditionally made gowns, composed of fine natural pure silk and embellished with exquisite embroidery and tucking.