Warm and Fancy

These chilly mornings when my hubby brings me coffee in bed has made me think of days when “Bed Jackets” were common. I remember seeing some of these bed jackets in my mother’s and grandmother’s things. I never knew how they came about, but the bed jackets that I remember were fancy. I am sure that the wealthy may have had jackets made of silk, however the ones that intrigued me the most were hand crocheted. (Was there any other kind of crocheted items available in that era?)

Stories of early days do not help me picture women lounging in bed, wearing even a homemade flour sack bed jacket, BUT remember that in days past women got to spend maybe 10 days in bed recovering from childbirth. Ten days, and now new mothers go home the next day. Oh, I momentarily forgot that a lot of early-day new mothers never had the luxury of 10 days in a hospital, as the babies may have been born at home. While stories and memories of the past tell us of those hardy women that were milking cows, etc. way before the 10 days were over, apparently it was common to have a bed jacket regardless of how often you got to use it.

Actually, my thoughts have focused on how warm these fancy satin, or hand-crocheted jackets could have been. There are some things that I am happy just thinking about while I lounge in my cozy fleece robe.