Shirt part two?

Not sure where I am in posting, but wanted to update you with this afternoon's work; Setting sleeves, side seams, and hems.

I started by running the three rows of gathering stitch, same as yesterday on the cuff, this time over the sleeve head. Just like at the cuff, I drew the stitches up, gave them a tug, and stroked them in place. This time, I went for breakfast as I let them set into place. And got that earlier blog post written.

Because I want my machine stitching on the inside of the garment, and not visible on the outside, I am putting the sleeve tube inside the shirt body, effectively 'right sides together'. If creating the garment entirely by machine, flat felled seams are done to the outside of the garment, and so wrong sides are placed together. I'm effectively working the fell to the inside, so right sides together. I pinned around the sleeve opening, matching up the edges and making a little cross with my pins where I would start and stop the stitching around the armhole, just at the bottom of the gusset.

You can see the little bias fold of the side seam. You want to avoid catching that when you sew. Sew, starting and finishing at this little X, 1/2" seam allowance, around the armscye. All my threads were then pulled to this side of the seam, the sleeve side, and tied in knots before clipping short. *Note on clipping threads. This should be done as you sew. If knotting the threads, leave tails about 1/4" long from the knot. Please don't leave clipping threads to the end of garment construction, it really does leave a mess, and looks unprofessional. When I stitched this seam, I purposely did not stitch over my gathering at the top of the armscye.

Once the first seam was completed in the armscye, before felling the seam, I turned the work to the outside and stitched the gathers to the shirt body.

Here you can see that I am just picking up just the tops of the humps of the gathers with each stitch. Yes, the needle is small.

Then, I  matched up the side seams and stitched them. I left vents open on each side of my shirt about the length of my forearm. Shirts in the period were also long enough to act as underwear. By leaving long side vents, it makes it easier for the wearer to tuck everything in his rather tight breeches nicely, kind of like a onesie.

At this point, I trimmed one side of my seam allowance. I trimmed the sleeve side of the armscye seam allowances, leaving the gathered bit alone, and then one side of the side seam. I want my seams to fold towards the back of the body, be careful at this step so that you are removing the correct side seam allowance. Starting back at the bottom of the gusset, I folded and stitched down my felled seam with tiny slip stitches. You should be able to start at the bottom of the gusset and work around the armscye, up to the gathering stitches (pass over them, not stitching) then continue around the armscye before stitching down the side seam in all one motion. I also hemmed the side seam vents at the same time.

Once my side seams were felled, I hemmed the front and back edges with slightly wider hems than my felling was wide.

This is the final photo of the day, the hems. Another four hours work, so I am up to ten hours on this shirt. Almost everything from here on out will be done by hand. I figure that I've only saved myself 2-4 hours labour in machine stitching parts of the seams, but if that is a difference between a garment and a pile of cloth in terms of labour, I think it's fine. You literally cannot see my machine stitching when the garment is being worn, only if it is turned inside out.

Tomorrow, collar, shoulder straps (which will encase the gathering at the sleeve head), and neck ruffle. It will be a long day. Wearable shirt by Friday is completely doable, barring any unforeseen circumstances.