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This shirt was one of my long-term projects. This however, not not exclusively because I stalled on it (though I did, don't get me wrong) but because the hand embroidery took a while. I started in the Spring of 2003 doing the embroidery on the neck, got that 3/4 done and then didn't come back to it until that Christmas at that time I got the collar finished and then did the cuffs (lots of time sitting and chilling with the rents over christmas). Once I had the embroidery done I put the shirt together
This shirt was made as a gift for Gilbert, who has in the past done historical type events for this period. I wanted to try my hand at this kind of item, so I decided to make a shirt for him. I followed the pattern to the right which is based on a real shirt that has survived the press of time. In the end, obviously the dimensions had to be altered somewhat to fit Gilbert (the guy has big arms...) and G's shirt was not so elaborately decorated as the historical shirt. However, it is in the style of the period and it came out quite well. The patterns that I used for the blackwork are not actual historical patterns taken from period pieces, but are inspired by such works. There's a surprising wealth of info on this on the web and I was able to pick from a bunch of patterns some people had created or scanned in. Then, with photoshop as my friend, I laid out the pattern and printed it, traced it with an iron transfer pencil (washable) and embroidered away. The cuffs and collar were then handwashed to remove the pink pencil before they were attached to the shirt. This is actually similar to the way it was done historically, as patterns would often be drawn out on paper, then pin pricks would be placed in the paper at junctions, and charcoal dust would be brush across the paper, so that little black dots would remain on the fabric to mark it. I have no pictures of the shirt on Gilbert, however, that's for the best as right now he has no other period clothing to wear with or over it, so it would look rather silly.
The actual shirt was constructed using flat felled seams (which were apparently so finely stitched that it was difficult to discern the stitching from the weave of the fabric). I on the other hand used a sewing machine, high thread count egyptian cotton and standard Dual Duty thread. My seams are all finished - either enclosed in the collar or cuffs, roll-hemmed or have french seams. Let me say now that doing french seams of gussets is somewhat obnoxious. I had not yet learned the beauty and wonder of flat-felled seams at this point- I was actually a trifle scared of them. But now, were I to do the project again, I would choose flat felled seams. I have become quite the fan.
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