Caroline Ingalls’ Pioneer Dresses from “Little House on the Prairie”

Haven’t you always loved the simple styles Caroline Ingalls wore for the “Little House on the Prairie”  TV show?  Despite the fact that she would often clean the chicken coop, weed the garden, and do the laundry out on the wide, open prairie, she always looked neat and clean.  Not only did she stay tidy, she also wore long, gathered skirts with pretty cotton blouses which she kept in perfect condition.  Whereas we would wear jeans and an old t-shirt for working in the yard, the pioneer women of the 1800s were determined to look well-dressed, even when doing hard physical labor.  

So for this installment in our “Little House on the Prairie” original costume review, I’d like to highlight a few of Caroline Ingalls’ staples which Karen Grassle wore often in the first couple of seasons of “Little House“.  If you look closely, you will notice that there are two mainstays in her wardrobe which debut in the pilot episode that were remade for the following season.  At first glance one might think that they are the same, but apparently the costume designer felt the need to change it before the show continued.  Shown below are two photographs of a calico blouse sporting small blue flowers on a white background.  The one on the left shows a pointed collar, higher yoke, and closely spaced buttons.  But for the remainder of the “Little House” series, Caroline wore this more flattering blouse shown on the right.  It has a shawl collar, lower yoke, and more gathers with shell buttons down the front.   In addition, they are actually two totally different materials!  The first blouse shown was pure white, while the second had a pink checkerboard print in the background.