Boy's Brown Holland Pinafore

I have used my daughter's hand-me-down white cotton pinafores for my boys.... but now I know better. I can't say if mothers in 1860 did or didn't put white pinafores on their sons but according to the book and magazine instructions of the time, boys pinafores were to be of brown Holland.

Research on this fabric told me that I was looking for a utilitarian brown linen. Another period use was mainly furniture covers. I went with a beautiful mid-weight 100% linen that I scavenged from the thrift store for a dollar.

Here's my first attempt at a boy's brown Holland pinafore:

He really likes that he can play and get dirty and not ruin his clothes. I like that too. I've posted images of boys in pinafores here and boys with drums here. I couldn't help but add my new image to those posts as well.