Bootees

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Atypical of most surviving baby shoes, the pair here is made from a patterned cotton print. The small geometric coral design is very distinctive of the 1840s, and printed cottons of this type were used extensively for women's day dresses. These handmade shoes could well have been fashioned from leftover scraps. The construction of the shoes is meticulous, with every edge bound in silk tape before assembly.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art