Pretty Picnic · Red Gingham Baby Bubble Romper, 1990s
Red gingham cotton · flutter sleeves · snap bubble leg · collegiate "G" crest · Garb Team · 1990s · AU size 000-00, approx 0-6 months
Red gingham in the brightest red, as cheerful as a tablecloth and about as far from pretentious as a garment can be. Flutter sleeves, a bubble leg that gathers in at the bottom and snaps underneath for changing, a back button closure, and right at the chest: an embroidered collegiate G crest in navy, which gives this little romper its allegiance to a team nobody can quite identify.
Garb Team, 1990s. Gingham is one of the oldest woven checks in textile history, before it became the defining cloth of a certain kind of cheerful domesticity. In red and white at this scale, it reads purely joyful. The elastic leg closures stretch generously, the gingham is bright and even throughout, and the collegiate crest sits at the chest with full commitment to its own absurdity.
A romper that knows exactly what it is.
Care
Warm gentle wash with like colours. No hot iron over the embroidered crest. Line dry.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: length 38cm, chest 23cm, waist 24cm. The elastic leg closures stretch generously. Fits approximately AU size 000-00, around 0 to 6 months.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
Very good. The gingham is bright and even, the snaps all working. No staining or damage.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
The crest swears allegiance to a team no one has ever located, in a sport whose rules the wearer will invent as she goes and win regardless. Red gingham is tablecloth cloth at heart, so a baby dressed in it is technically a picnic and ought to be treated as one: laid out on grass, admired, defended from ants. The bubble leg keeps a single gust of summer trapped inside for emergencies. Cheer this loud does not fade, it simply relocates to whoever is holding her.