Regency man's linen shirt

A new Regency men's linen shirt for J-L to wear. She does have two shirts, but both are taken from a commercial pattern and are a tad 'pirate' looking. I'd like her to have proper underpinnings for her Regency garb.

I'm using the Kannik's Korner pattern, I bought their waistcoat, front dropped trousers and this shirt pattern earlier this year. The waistcoat pattern is excellent, I made a lovely reversible linen light blue and dark blue vest for J-L to wear to the JAFA in April this year.

Its a great pattern, excellent instructions, but like most men's garb its too narrow at the hips for a women. I forgot to compensate for this with the fashion fabric and so had to compensate by putting in side slits, not period I know, but no-one should see them I hope.

So, onto the shirt. The pattern is just a set of rectangles and I could have easily used the many versions out on the interwebs I suppose, but the instructions are excellent and will help with getting the appropriate 'look'.

I am hand sewing  the shirt, not my usual style, but its a nice 'in front of telly' project for these cold winter nights.

The first step is to do a rolled hem down the bosom slit, I did that, and more as I did the whole neck, d'oh! Concentrating on the Tour de France, rather than my sewing.

Next are the neck gusset triangles, these strengthen the 'corner' of the neck at the shoulder points.

Sorry, forgot to take pics as I went, too busy watching the Tour de France!

Shirt is finished bar buttonholes and buttons, I'm passing that to a friend, my button holes are sow's ears, even machine ones, no idea why I can't do them nicely, le sigh! The hand sewing went very well, I haven't completed hand stitched a garment since 6th class when I made a skirt and a pair of bloomers! The linen was beautiful to stitch, a great second hand shop find as well.

For a great tutorial on creating Regency neckcloths, pop over to Tea in a Teacup's blog post on the topic. We are making men's garb for the Jane Austen Australia Costuming Challenge, though she's slightly ahead of me, here's her shirt blog post.