A 17th century men’s shirt

Pattern: based on the 1659 shirt worn by Claes Bielkenstierna in Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 4

Fabric: fine white linen

Haberdasheries: 50 cm narrow white tape, two hooks

My husband is ‘chief commander’ of the commemorative battle for the siege of Grol (het beleg van Grol, in Dutch) at Groenlo, meaning he coordinates the battle, and as such, I decided he could no longer do without a proper 17^th century shirt. Even though no one sees what he wears underneath his suit.

As I want to be able to attach different styles of collars and cuffs to the shirt, I wanted a very basic shirt, without lace ruffles and the like. So I decided to use pattern 15 from the excellent Patterns of Fashion 4, a ca. 1659 shirt worn by Claes Bielkenstierna. This had the typical characteristics of shirts from the period (also the earlier period, which was necessary as the siege of Grol took place in 1627) but no frills. 

I measured the pattern and found that the circumference of the shirt was 2 metres! I know shirts were very wide in the past, unlike the jackets that went over them, but as my husband’s build is very slim, and pictures of Bielkenstierna showed he was rather rotund, I reckoned I could make my version of the shirt a little narrower. Otherwise I mostly did as the pattern description said. These were the pieces of linen I cut (the photos in this post are pretty terrible; somehow my camera seemed to have trouble with the bright white!):

Dimensions (incl. seam allowances):

1: Body: 85 x 200 cm (cut 1)

2: Sleeves: 60 x 59 cm (cut 2)

3: Sleeve gussets: 14.5 x 14.5 cm (cut 2)

4: Collar: 9 x 43.25 cm (cut 1)

5: Shoulder piece for reinforcement: 7,5 x 20,5 (should have gotten narrower to 4,5 cm at the neck; cut 2)

6: Cuffs: 7 x 23 (cut 2)

7: Bottom side seam gussets: 5 x 5 cm triangles + seam allowance (cut 2)

8: Extra shoulder reinforcement pieces; unused

This is the shirt before I gathered the neckline. The shoulder seam on shirts like these tended to hang off the shoulder, but without gathers, she shoulders would have been very wide!

And after gathering the neckline and attaching the collar and tapes:

I worked a bar reinforcement at the bottom of the front opening. The original shirt had a ‘spider’ reinforcement, which I tried before on an underdress I made for myself, but this is another style that was also used in the period.

The shirt was sewn by machine, with all hemming, topstitching, and the above reinforcement, done by hand.

Through modern eyes, a shirt like this is almost a dress! But the shirt would have been wrapped between the legs before putting on trousers, and used instead of underpants.

The original shirt had tapes at the cuffs as well as at the collar. But I replaced the cuff tapes by hooks and thread loops, because it seemed very inconvenient for my hubby to not be able to close his own cuffs.

I embroidered my hubby’s initials, and a 4 for the fact that this is the fourth shirt I’ve made for him.

Regency officer and gentleman shirt

Pattern: Improvised (see below for dimensions)

Fabric: White linen

Haberdasheries: three mother-of-pearl buttons, red silk embroidery floss

After making the previous shirt, I read that Regency men’s shirts didn’t have ruffles on the sleeves. So I looked at paintings and fashion plates of Regency men, and though it is often hard to see, their shirts seem not to have ruffles in most cases, so I omitted them on this shirt. That made this shirt slightly different from the last one, which is nice, as I’m not that fond of making exactly the same thing twice. I also used a piece of fabric for the ruffles that was 1.5 times as long as the one I used for the previous shirt, as I thought the ruffles could do with a bit more fabric.

This type of shirt is referred to as ‘square cut’, because it consists almost entirely of squares and rectangles. The image below shows all the pieces except the collar, which is also a rectangle. Only the side bottom gussets are triangular. I cut the pieces on the grain, which makes it easier to get them neat than pinning a pattern to the linen would.

Dimensions (incl. seam allowances):

1: Body: 63 x 101 cm (cut 2)

2: Sleeves: 50 x 50 cm (cut 2)

3: Sleeve gussets: 14.5 x 14.5 cm (cut 2)

4: Neckline ruffle: 15 x 116 cm (cut 1)

5: Cuffs: 18 x 26 (cut 2)

6: Bottom side seam gussets: 9.5 x 9.5 x 13 cm triangles (cut 2)

Collar: 28 x 46.5 cm (cut 1; not in picture)

The shirt is machine sewn, with all hemming, and the buttonholes, done by hand.

 

 

 

 I read about embroidering a number on shirts to track progress, and did that here, too.

My portfolio

This is the old version of my portfolio. For the new one, have a look on my Pinterest board!


Every time I make something new, I try to post it. But I already made lots of things before I started this blog! Here’s an overview of all the historical items I’ve made so far, largely in the order of making.

When no mention of a pattern is made, that means I improvised.

 

My first ever historical piece, a Regency day dress

(Photo by Johan Evers)

I found it difficult to get my hair right in the beginning, but I do love the décor on this photo. I have since lowered the neckline of this dress, and added a gold band on top of the ribbon at the waist and wrists.

White Regency bonnet with flowers, and matching reticule

A Regency spencer with regimental buttons of the 92nd Highland regiment

Regency redingote, beret and matching reticule

A Regency ball gown made of silk with a woven in kashmir pattern

Late 1920s clothing

 

This is a cotton satin slip with matching tap pants. The slip was inspired by the blue crepe the Chine one with lace insertion on page 116 of Fashion From The 18th To The 20th Century by the Kyoto Costume Institute.

I based the pattern for this coat on my bath robe :P.

Regency short stays

Pattern: I got a hand-drawn copy of the pattern for this from a friend, so I’m not sure which it is; possibly Simplicity 4052 or Sense & Sensibility Regency Underthings.

Regency camp follower’s / working class outfit

A Regency turban to match my knitted pineapple reticule

A pair of Regency gentleman’s breeches

(Photo by Stephan Vroom)

A Regency stovepipe hat and woollen spencer

(Photo by Hans Hoevenaar)

Regency morning jacket and cap

Jacket pattern: Patterns of Fashion 1 by Janet Arnold, a shortened version of the c. 1795-1803 Victoria & Albert Museum robe (pages 43-45).

17th century clothing

(The brown spots aren’t due to wearing, but to the tea I spilled over the corset just after finishing it...)

Corset pattern: drafted based on The ‘pair of straight bodies’ and ‘a pair of drawers’ dating from 1603 which Clothe the Effigy of Queen Elizabeth I in Westminster Abbey (Costume, vol. 41, 2007) by Janet Arnold, and http://www.elizabethancostume.net/effigy.htm

Bum roll pattern: drafted based on http://www.elizabethancostume.net/bumroll.html

Drawers pattern: Patterns of Fashion 4 by Janet Arnold, number 64 (pages 50-51 and 106); embroidery pattern from Blackwork Embroidery Archives.

 

Victorian underwear

(This one’s still under construction, as I want to add lace at the top, and flossing.)

Corset pattern: Laughing Moon Mercantile #100 Ladies' Victorian Underwear, Silverado corset

Boer war nurse outfit

(Photo by Christine Pet-Sepers)

Bodice pattern: Truly Victorian 420, 1879 Cuirass bodice with evening options (modified)

Skirt pattern: Truly Victorian 291, 1898 Walking skirt 

A late 1920s party dress and matching head dress

A 1940s outfit

Knickers patterns: Vera Venus’s free circular knickers pattern, and circular drawers pattern from A Complete Course In Dressmaking In Twelve Lessons by Isabel de Nyse Conover (1921)

Blouse pattern: Simplicity 1430 (vintage)

Skirt pattern: Simplicity 4915 (vintage)