Meltintalle's Closet

I've not been doing much sewing at all lately (in fact, a Christmas present for brother #1 has languished in the UFO* pile for months despite only needing a slight adjustment before he can wear it...). However, a sister was invited to participate in a fur trade encampment as a spur of the moment thing and brother #2 spends a significant time amount of time there too anyway so I was sort of inspired to go ahead and refurbish a chemise I'd relegated to the scrap pile for him. After all, I owe him a new shirt for some reason or another since the Robin Hood shirt is too tight in the biceps at the moment. (And he hasn't handed it over so I can fix that problem.)

The chemise had been worn until the fabric at the top was disintegrating, so I ripped off the obviously unusable stuff and had enough left for a shirt. You can see the decorative tucks I'd put at the hem still there. Taking them out now would leave obvious marks and I was all about saving time by using the existing hem.

I am tickled with how the shoulder gussets came out. They are squares folded in half to make a triangle. I sewed the first half into the shirt and folded seam allowances to the inside on the other half and topstitched it down. Probably my favorite part of the new shirt!

For sizes and shapes I consulted

• Shirtfrock Pattern
  
• 1790's men's shirt
  
• Mr. Knightly shirt

Who knows how long it will last but it looks pretty good for the weekend. My brother says he wants a rapier to accessorize.

*UnFinished Object