Undergarments

• Women and girls wore very similar types of underclothing. Bras had not yet been invented, so both wore an undershirt or to cover their chests. Some used a chemise, or shirt and skirt attached as a slip instead of just an undershirt. Light weight woven cotton worked well in the summer and in the colder seasons women chose undershirts made of a knitted cotton or wool. Their underpants or drawers, or loose fitting mid thigh length shorts, frequently split at a center seam to allow ease of toileting. Some women made or found garments where the shirt or chemise and drawers were all one garment, called an all-in-one.
  
  

Corset, Stockings and Garters.

• Women and girls added a corset to shape their bodies. Women aspired to have a wasp-shaped body and corsets were strongly tightened at the waistline to achieve the desired look. A woman or girl needed assistance lacing their corsets up the back. Most corsets also were hooked together in the front. Corsets were reinforced by steel 'bones' sewn into the garment perpendicular to the floor.
  
  Girls stockings were made from cotton, silk or wool depending on the occasion and the family finances. They went over the knee and were held up with garters. Women's stockings came in the same three fibers as girls, but they might be held up with elastic garters, rather than just lace and ribbon. A woman would cover her corset with one or two petticoats or long slips to add fullness to her skirt.
  
  

Dresses, Skirts and Shirtwaists

• Dresses covered the corset and slip. For girls, the hemline was below the knee but not down to the ankle. For women the hem reached the ankle. Women also wore a long sleeve, high-necked blouse call a shirtsleeve and an ankle length skirt with soft pleats or a gathered waist. Shirtwaists were almost always white and could be trimmed with buttons and lace, or worn with a tie. Mutton sleeves were very popular. Women's dresses were usually of a single main color and could be wool, cotton or silk. Some women had a white, gauzy dress for mornings or tea and would slip into something more elegant and formal in satin or silk for evening and dinner.
  
  

Accessories.

• Hats were essential to protect girls and women from unwanted sun exposure. Having tanned skin, in white women, indicated they were of lower social and economic status. Parasols also protected women from the sun's rays. Women and girls gloved their hands in public, both for warmth in the cold season and to comply with fashion in the summer. Women also carried a small fabric purse that had enough room for a small bit of money and her handkerchief. Girls also carry handkerchiefs, as Kleenex was not yet invented. A whole set of flirting games was developed around handkerchiefs.