Heirloom Baby Clothes Guide - How To Shop and Care For!

When you have children, you don’t just want to ensure that you provide them with everything they need to live a happy, healthy life. You also want to give them things that they can use and pass down through the generations once you’re gone. This is where heirloom dresses and baby clothes can offer the perfect way to make your baby girl or boy look special now, and at the same time have something memorable and personal to pass on to their children and grandchildren.

What Separates Heirloom Clothes From Regular Clothes?

It’s not always easy to explain exactly what makes heirloom clothes different from regular clothes. In many cases, it comes down to your personal preference. If you have a special connection to a piece of clothing, you will probably want to give it to your children. Moreover, you’ll want to impart your love for the clothing to them so they will be more likely to pass the clothing down to their own children, keeping the family tradition going for generations.

However, not all clothes are made to last. In fact, most mass-manufactured clothing is specifically made to only stay in good condition for a few years. This way, you will have to spend more money to replace it when the materials wear down. Alternatively, heirloom clothing is typically handmade using high-quality materials. So, as long as you take care of these pieces, they could last for generations without degrading.

There is also a tendency for heirloom clothing items to use older styles and fashions from generations past. This is due to the fact that these styles are far more likely to be timeless, ensuring that they will not be beholden to the changing tides of current and future fashion trends. Instead, heirloom clothing styles, designs, embellishments, and even production methods have often been around for hundreds of years. For example, heirloom clothes frequently make use of hand stitching, tucking, fagoting, smocking, and pintucking (just to name a few).

The Significance of Heirloom Baby Clothing

Heirloom children’s clothing is so much more than the sum of its parts. Even though your young child will likely not understand the significance of their heirloom baby gifts now, they will come to appreciate them much more when they grow up and have children of their own. This is the true significance of heirloom baby clothing. You are not just buying something for your child to wear now; you’re making an investment in something beautiful that your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren can enjoy for years to come.

In addition to creating a family tradition around beautiful clothing, heirloom baby clothes allow you to create wonderful memories with your family. From an heirloom Christmas dress to everyday heirloom baby boy clothes, you can use these items to emphasize special moments with your children. Vintage children’s clothes are especially good for photoshoots, ensuring that your great memory will be captured in time forever.

How To Clean Heirloom Baby Clothes

Most traditional baby clothes are made using fine cotton. You may also get classic baby clothes with unique embroidery made of silk or linen. One good rule of thumb when washing heirloom clothes is to avoid machine drying, as this can damage heirloom clothing of almost any material. That said, the process of cleaning heirloom baby clothes will largely depend on the type of materials used in the clothing items.

For example, if you have heirloom smocked dresses made with fine cotton (100% cotton fabric) or linen, you should hand wash your items or use a very light machine wash cycle. Either way, make sure that the clothing is not exposed to excessive heat because this can cause the dresses to shrink. Use cold water and a detergent made for delicate items to gently wash the fabric. Finally, you should air-dry the dresses on a clothing line that is not positioned in strong sunlight, as this could contribute to faded colors or shrinkage over time.

At Feltman Brothers, many of our clothes are made of a cotton blend to help them last even longer. We recommend a slightly different cleaning process based on the materials and how the item was made. For example, woven garments should be machine-washed on a gentle cycle with cold water. Then, they should be hung to dry or dried with a warm (not hot) iron if necessary. For knit garments, you can follow the same washing procedures, but for drying, you should lie them on a flat surface. Again, a warm iron can be used as needed. For Pima cotton garments, you can use the same washing procedures, but since the material is more heat resistant, you can machine dry these garments on a low-tumble setting.

Alternatively, if you have heirloom baby clothes that are partially or entirely made of silk, the washing process is a little different. You can usually still wash silk by hand or by machine. If you do machine-wash silk clothing, just make sure to put it into a pillowcase or mesh laundry bag to protect the material from getting pulled or torn. This is good advice for most kinds of heirloom clothing. However, if you’re unsure how to best wash silk clothing, refer to the label or manufacturer for the best methods. Some silk clothing requires dry cleaning, while other silk items can only be hand-washed.

If you’re dealing with yellow stains or a general yellowing of heirloom clothing, you will often need to follow a completely different process to mitigate the discoloration as quickly and safely as possible. One of the most effective ways to deal with yellowing is to pour equal measurements of ammonia and room-temperature water onto the stained area(s). The combination of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide is also a good alternative if you do not have ammonia.

In either case, give the ingredients time to absorb into the material. From here, you can either let the clothing dry or just wait until the cleaning solution has completely saturated the fibers. Then, hand wash the item or put it in a light machine cycle to wash out the remaining discoloration and get rid of any odors.

How To Store Heirloom Baby Clothes

It is extremely important to remember that heirloom baby clothes need to stand the test of time to truly be family heirlooms. This means that you will need to properly care for your delicate clothing items. Proper storage is a huge part of good clothing care.

For instance, if you have an heirloom Christmas dress or similar item that will only be worn on specific occasions, you will need to make sure that it is properly stored over the short and long term. Hanging dresses or other heirloom items is generally discouraged, as the hanger can easily stretch delicate fabrics. Instead, use a plastic storage bin that is lined with acid-free tissue paper.

For protection from moths, use natural repellants like lavender or bay leaves. You can simply tuck these into the storage bin with the clothing. To prevent creases, make sure to carefully fold the heirloom baby clothes and wrap them in the same acid-free tissue paper. Finally, close your storage bin and keep it somewhere that is both temperature-controlled and well-ventilated.

Since you will probably keep your heirloom clothes stored in your home, it is also important to practice good housekeeping in general. When your house is clean, you are far less likely to encounter moths, pests, or vermin that could cause damage to heirloom clothing. So, always make sure that the surrounding environment is clean and free of pesky intruders.

Finally, it is important to note that certain common practices actually cause more harm than good. For example, many people try to store heirloom items in air-tight bags, but this can actually lock in moisture. If heirloom clothing is trapped with moisture for an extended period of time, it can accumulate mold or mildew. For this reason, a closed storage bin that still has some very minor airflow is typically the best storage option.

Do you want to find high-quality heirloom clothing for small children? If so, be sure to check out the beautiful items available at Feltman Brothers today!