New Shirt, End of Day Three

Well, it's the end of day three, and Pierre has a new shirt. There were a lot of episodes of TimeTeam, which is why I'm beginning to sound a bit like Tony Robinson. They are fun to have in the background while I sew, relaxing, and I learn stuff.

I started off day three by stitching the shoulder strap. I usually wait until this point to cut the strap because I want to make sure that the rectangle is wide enough to cover the sleeve head gathers. The strap adds some extra support to the top of the sleeve head, and is not just there to be decorative and cover the gathering. It carries the weight of the sleeve up to the neck, so your shirt linen doesn't tear from wear and added weight. I say this, because when I was machine stitching the entire shirt, I didn't really understand what it was for, figuring that they were a later repair. This was especially true before I had a lab partner of the male persuasion to see how his clothes wore, and wore out. I was just making shirts and sending them off to customers. I know better now. Straps are important.

Here's the strap rectangle pinned in place. I pressed under the four edges with 1/4" seam allowance. and when I started to stitch, I started by covering the gathers first. Then working up each side of the rectangle, making sure it stayed on the straight. The straps on this shirt went the length of the shoulder, ending just at the neck gusset point.

This photo shows me starting to cut the neck. I begin by folding the shirt in half lengthwise, and cutting the folded edge at the shoulder line from the end of the strap to the middle of the shirt.

Then, on what will be the front, I cut that shoulder fold a bit lower so that I have a long, thin ellipse with the front curve being lower than the back. I do this because our necks don't sit square on our shoulder line, rather they sit more forward, so the front neck edge needs to be cut lower. I finish the neck cutting by finding that true front edge fold, and cutting the slash that goes down the front of the chest.

This photo shows the neck gussets with all four edges pressed under 1/4" seam allowance, and then pressed on the diagonal, ready for sewing.

Pinned in place, with the point on top of the shoulder strap, and covering the cut edge of the neck/shoulder with 1/4" seam allowance. I slip stitch one half of the folded square, following the pins, then I fold and pin the other half in place before stitching that down. I'm careful to line up the folded edges of the gusset with my stitching line from the top side, so that my little neck gusset is square in the neck opening.

Ta DAH!

I then move to the front bosom slash, and fold over the tiniest of single folds. I think this is about 1/8" fold. The smaller the first fold, the smaller your hem will be. I then start my stitching by bringing the knot of my thread up into that fold so the tail will be totally hidden in the fold.

This photo shows what the stitches should look like, the "little sevens". Pick up a few threads of cloth at the cut edge, on the body of the cloth, and then pick up the fold, keeping your needle in a straight line. Then move up less than 1/4" and do it again.

Once you have stitched for about an inch or so, gently pull your stitches up to roll the hem into place. Once you have hemmed the front slash, press your hem flat. This will help it look more like a tiny hem of the period, and less like the scarf edge of a modern shawl or hankie. Your little whip stitches should not cover the roll of the hem, but look like little, pricked whip stitches.

At this point, I gathered the neck edge in preparation for the collar. As with all other gathering on this project, I ran three rows of gathering stitches by machine. I separated the gathering into sections, across the front edges of the neck separately, and then along the back neck edge. Three sections of three rows of stitching. I then divided the collar in half, and marked with a pin where my centre back should sit, and then in quarters to determine where the centres of my neck gussets should sit. The front edges will match up with the front bosom slash. I then eased the gathers into position, concentrating them into positions so that the neck gussets would sit flat in the neckline.

Again, using a slip stitch, I stitched the folded edge of the collar seam allowance to the neck edge of the shirt so that my stitching followed the centre row of gathering stitches. I then turned to the inside and stitched the inside of the collar in place in the same manner, remembering to trim my excess seam allowances away from inside of the collar before encasing that edge. Yes, I use a lot of pins when I stitch collars and cuffs in place, even on the inside. If not, the collar may shift as you sew and you'll end up with a twisted collar.

At the end, before working the buttonholes, I made sure to pull out the third row of gathering stitches from the collar, cuffs and shoulder points. I also made sure I didn't miss any other hanging threads. Then I gave the shirt a quick press with my steam iron. After the press, I marked and worked the buttonholes. One in the collar, as that would receive a thread button to finish. Two at each cuff, since I had a set of shirt buttons for this shirt, which are like little cufflinks. I did tack one side of the shirt button cuff links into place so that Pierre doesn't lose them when wearing, as they are quite small. They are glass headed on a steel chain shank. The neck button is a thread button of many rows of buttonhole stitch over a little ring of thread, worked until the centre hole is completely shut.

Finally, I measured the length of the neck opening, doubled that and cut from my reserved ruffle cloth. On the cut edge, I made another tiny rolled hem. On the tight selvage edge, I whip gathered it to the neck opening. A finished shirt.

The shirt took me 17.5 hours over three days. I figure I saved myself about 4 hours by partially machining the shirt. I can machine a shirt with just hand stitching the collar, neck edge and cuffs in only about 8 hours, so this took me about twice as long. At 17.5 hours, I would have to charge $350cdn plus the $60 for the linen, whereas I normally charge about $200cdn for an entire shirt.

Larkin and Smith have a booklet on shirtmaking, available through William Booth, draper, entitled "A Manual for the 18thC  Century Shirtmaker 1750-1780" based on their research.

My friend Joy made this little youtube video of the 'Stitch' used in the Larkin and Smith booklet, for those of us who are visual learners.

Joy stitching the "Stitch"

Things that I have learned in this project, and through discussions afterwards:

1. I have the best friends. They have helped me to understand better what I have been looking at in grainy online photographs, and are willing to share their first hand knowledge.

2.Through discussions with Sharon Burnston in the wee hours the other night, we discussed how the ruffles on a shirt would always be of finer material than they body of the shirt. She also explained that the ruffle would be cut across the grain of the fabric, from selvage to selvage. I am still keeping my roll of ruffle material, because waste not, want not, but I'll keep it for linen that's a bit heavier.

3. Instead of a running backstitch, with spaces between the top side of the stitching, it is a simple back stitch with each stitch touching each other on the topside. Sharon Burnston also backed up a joint belief that we both had that this 'STITCH' can be made without pulling threads, and is indeed simply a backstitch.

4. Every project I learn new things. With this one, I learned that yes, I can use a machine for some of the stitching, if I am careful in how I do it. For some folks, this is a necessity, either for ease in stress on the body, or to get a project finished in time and in budget. Many museums have extremely tight budgets, and have to do things that a person at home, sewing for themselves, could do by hand because they have the time and aren't paying someone to make a shirt. Not many people can afford to pay me $400+ for one shirt. Sometimes compromises have to be made, but they can be made without losing integrity of the finished product. I still believe construction process makes the garment historical in look, not simply the type of stitching.