Baby shoes, ca. 1860

Baby shoes, late 1850s, early 1860s

These shoes are constructed of brown kid and held in place at the ankle with thin black elastic bands. They have decorative brown-and-white rosettes with buckle-shaped ornaments in the center of the vamp. Machine sewing is evident around the scalloped edges.

By the time Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, slippers of kid and silk were being made in large quantities. In the 1830s, vividly colored slippers were popular, but in the 1840s and 1850s more muted tones were worn, especially brown. Leather shoes were also common at that time. Cobblers were among the first to adopt sewing machines for constructing uppers; lockstitch machines were in use by the mid-1850s (Rexford 2000: 17). Thin elastic cords replaced ribbons in the later 1850s (Rexford 2000: 75). Square toed shoes and rosettes were popular during the late 1850s and 1860s. These features — brown kid, square toe, rosettes, machine sewing, and elastic ties — help pinpoint a date of late 1850s to early 1860s for these baby shoes.

References

Rexford, Nancy E. Women’s Shoes in America, 1795–1930. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2000.