Whether you’re looking for colonial costumes for kids or adults; for halloween, costume parties, plays, dress-up or whatever, there are loads of awesome choices to consider. And some great accessories, too. Great shoes, boots, wigs, and hats.
Little Colonial Miss Child Costume
The American colonial life took place from approximately 1607 to 1776 and centered around the 13 original colonies in the United States. Most of the settlers were from England, but there were pockets of settlements from other European countries as well.
The Dutch went to the New York area, and settlers from Sweden lived along the Delaware River. They all brought their own ways of living with them, but learned a lot from the native Americans, like which foods to eat, how to prepare them, how to live off the land, etc.
Click here to see more of our collection of colonial costumes for kids…
..
Colonial General Set Child Costume
The colonists wore clothing based on what they wore back in their original lives in England. Quite often, clothing was sent for from England, especially fine clothing. Believe it or not, even the Puritans in New England liked a few fine pieces of silver and gold lace, and silk dresses.
But any elegant clothing was strictly reserved for the upper class, and in several of the colonies, any finery was prohibited by law for the poorer working classes. Thus the way of dressing evolved for the mainstream colonial costume.
..
Traditional Colonial Girl Child Costume
The dress usually involved long full skirts for women during this colonial period. They also covered their heads with small white linen caps, and when they went outdoors, they covered their caps with the hoods on their capes.
The men wore what is called pantaloons, or knee-length breeches, in all classes. The upper class breeches were just more elaborate, in material and cut. Men wore head coverings, too, like the women, and both men and women wore them in the house and outside the house. The men wore felt hats or wool work caps.
Kids wore clothing exactly like their parents, when it was time for them to stop wearing baby clothes...
Most of the clothing was made out of wool or linen, or a combination of the two. Coarse linen, usually dyed blue, was the fabric used for womens house dresses and mens work shirts. You can see where the modern day inspiration came from for colonial costumes for kids.