1700 - Early 1800 shirt
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.. contents::
Some time ago, I watched a `video by Bernadette Banner about making a “pirate shirt” <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql9r8UKIvZs>`_, i.e. a 1700 man shirt,
Instructions
------------
Pattern
~~~~~~~
You will need the following measurements:
* width of the back, from shoulder to shoulder;
* height from shoulder to mid thight;
* length of shoulder, from the base of the neck;
* length of arm, from shoulder tip to wrist, bended;
* circumference at the base of the neck;
* wrist circumference;
* height from shoulder tip to bottom of armscye.
The pattern is completely made of rectangles; the example cutting layout
in the image is on 140 cm wide fabric.
.. figure:: 1700-early_1800_shirt/cutting_layout.svg
:figwidth: 340 px
:align: right
:width: 320 px
:height: 213 px
:target: 1700-early_1800_shirt/cutting_layout.svg
Cutting layout on 140 cm fabric, 1:10 scale
The main body should be wide about twice the width of the back; if the
fabric is about 100-110 cm wide it's a good idea to use its full width;
the length should be twice the height from shoulder to mid tight (or how
long you want the shirt to be).
The opening for the neck is an horizontal cut that leaves an uncut
lenght of the shoulder width plus 5-8 cm on each side, and the slit in
front is between 12 and 25 cm long (with the latter being usually more
historically accurate)
The main body can also be cut in two pieces, with a seam on the
shoulders.
The sleeves are about 50 cm wide (or half the fabric width, if that's
100-110 cm) and as long as the length of the arm.
The collar width is the neck circumference plus 4 cm, plus the width of
the placket, if you want to add one; a good height is 18 cm (or two
pieces, each of them 9 cm high).
The cuff width is the circumference of the wrist plus 4 cm, a good
height is 20 cm.
The gussets are squares with a side of 12 - 15 cm.
You will also need various reinforcement patches, small squares about
2.5 cm wide.
These measurements don't include the sewing allowance: most of them are
aproximate enough that you can ignore it and adapt them to the available
fabric, but it is important to be precise with the width of the collar
and of the cuffs, as that's were the shirt is fitted.
Instructions
~~~~~~~~~~~~
For most seams you'll use two stitches: first sew the two parts with
either a backstitch or a running backstitch (one backstitch followed by
2-4 running stitches), then trim and fell the allowances to one side and
whipstitch them down; for ease of reading the first seam will be simply
called backstitch in the text. Even if you use running backstitches
almost everywhere, I'd recommend using just backstitches when sewing
parts that have been gathered.
Try to use as small a seam allowance as the fabric (and your ability)
allows: getting it down to 6 mm (so that the felled allowances are just
3 mm wide) would be great, 12 mm (6 mm felled) is also fine, and heavier
flannel may require even 20 mm (10 mm felled).
Collar and cuffs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Start by preparing the collar and cuffs.
With right sides facing, backstitch three edges of the two collar
pieces, leaving one long edge free.
Fold the cuff pieces in half and backstitch the short edges.
Turn the collar and cuff right sides out and press flat.
Sleeves
^^^^^^^
Right sides facing, pin one side of the gusset to the sleeve, then the
next side to the other side of the sleeve and then the rest of the
sleeve seam.
Backstitch one gusset, pass cleanly to the sleeve seam and backstitch
until 5 - 8 cm from the end of the sleeve, leaving room for the slit;
backstitch the other side of the gusset.
Prepare the seam allowance for felling by trimming one of the allowances
on the sleeve (up to where the gusset starts) and one on the gusset,
such that they are folded to the same direction.
Fold down the remaining allowance of the gusset over the sleeve, press
very flat and fell / whipstitch down; fold the other allowance of the
sleeve, such that it also cover the edge of the allowance of the gusset,
press and fell until the beginning of the slit.
Ideally, fell the allowance to one direction in one sleeve and the other
direction for the other sleeve, so that they can be attached to the
shirt such that the allowances are folded towards the back.
Hem the slit edges of the sleeve by turning it twice and whipstitching
it down.
Fold the edges of four reinforcement squares, fell them to the sleeve at
the ends of the slits, both on the inside and the outside.
Run a gathering thread all around the bottom edge of the sleeve and
across the upper sleeve edge, but not on the gusset.
Right sides together, match the ends and the center of the cuff to the
finished edges and the center of the sleeve, gather the sleeve and
backstitch it.
Turn the cuff out, fold down the free end and whipstitch it down to
cover all raw edges.
Main Body
---------
Cut a bit of the neck opening and the slit, hem the slit and attach two
reinforcement squares as above, or finish the opening with a partial
placket, depending on the date of your shirt.
Right sides together, pin together the sides of the body and sew them
starting about 20 cm from the bottom and stopping when the sleeve gusset
starts, half the armscye height measurement from the top.
Before finishing this seam insert the sleeve right side out (so that its
right side touches the right side of the shirt), pin the gusset part,
gather the sleeve head and backstitch.
Finish the raw edges by trimming the sleeve side, folding down the body
part starting from the back and felling down. Continue felling the side
seam of the body.
Hem the slit edges and the bottom of the body by turning it twice and
whipstitching it down.
Fold the edges of four reinforcement squares, fell them to the shirt at
the ends of the slits, both on the inside and the outside.
Collar
------
Cut the rest of the neck opening and the slit; run a gathering thread
around the collar edges at the front and back, but not on the shoulders.
.. tip:: it may be somewhat hard to arrange the shirt so that the point
at the end of the shoulders lie nicely against the collar: to help
give a more rounded shape to the shirt you may cut two more cm on
each side of the opening and whipstitch two small triangles (cut from
a 5 cm x 5 cm square) at the tip of the neck opening, as explained in
`this video by Morgan Donner
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SNdQYg4Xag>`_
Note that, while compatible with the general idea of clothing made
out of rectangles, I have no idea to what periods this tecnique would
be accurate.
Since I'm using modern fabric that frays, I've added two triangles to
each side, to enclose all raw edges.
Mark the center back of the collar and the places where the shoulder
seam should be by trying it on, pin it right sides facing to the shirt
and gather the shirt.
Backstitch the collar to the shirt, turn it out and whipstitch it closed
like the cuffs.
Finishing
---------
Add buttons to the cuffs and possibly front placket, as needed for your
style.
..
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