Mid 19th Century Cotton Men's Shirt


I made this shirt for a friend who gave me some weaving lessons and a 4-heddle table loom (!!!!). He requested a generic mid-19th century shirt that he could use for a range of time periods when giving weaving demonstrations. I chose to make a square-cut shirt inspired by 18th century styles, which, in retrospect, was probably not a good choice for mid-18th century, but it's passable. I used sturdy 100% cotton, machine sewed the long seams, and hand stitched much of the finishing. 

Here's an underarm gusset with hand-sewn flat-felling on the seams.

Interfacing on the shoulders to cover the armscye seams and add reinforcement

1/2 inch hand sewn hem

Another view of the hem

Triangle gussets at the side vents near the hem--adds strength and stability

Cuffs with stroke gathered sleeves--these are very 18th century, but look so nice that I wanted to use the technique for this 19th century shirt. Still accurate, but maybe machine sewn cuffs would be more accurate.

Shoulder straps, which add strength and durability. Again, a very 18th century technique, but I like the durability. 

Another view of the shoulder straps. You can see the tiny bit of gathering at the top of the sleeve.

Hand sewn button holes on the collar and stroke gathering of the shirt body to the collar. Also visible is the machine-sewn front placket.

Machine sewn front placket and buttons

The armscyes didn't fit very well on my friend, but he was content and didn't want me to make any changes. I think it was because I tried to use a lot of 18th century techniques but adapt them to a 19th century shirt. 18th century shirts had very full sleeves as well as underarm gussets. This shirt has narrower sleeves. It would have been better to make the sleeves slightly wider, not sew any gathers at the top of the sleeves, and make the armscye opening bigger. Maybe next time I need to sew a 19th century shirt I should invest in a pattern suitable for the time period instead of trying to fudge my own using the skills I feel comfortable with... ðŸ˜‚

All in all, the shirt turned out fairly well. It's definitely wearable, if not perfect, and it is very sturdy.

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