Construction of Chemises
Duena Constanzia Moralez y de Zamora 

I have learnt how to make chemises off other members of the SCA and have picked up all sorts of tips by talking to my mother, and mad keen costumers.  This is a great garment to learn to sew on because you won't see most of it!  I really hate making these things which means it's all the more important that this information is available to you!

We wear underwear to protect us from our clothing or from the elements. Fashion has changed significantly and so has our underwear. In period, you wear underwear to protect your clothing from you. Bodily secretions such as perspiration can rot and destroy fabric and chemises are there to mop this up. Chemises will enable you to avoid heavy laundering of you outer garment and allowing it to air instead of dry-cleaning or throwing it through a washing machine.

Chemises opened at the back or front - sometimes not at all - and closed at the neckband. This band was often decorated with embroidery or beading and closed with beads, agulets or laces. In a low neckline the chemise fronts are gathered into a band forming square corners. For women, the low, square-necked chemise was often almost out of sight or just above the bodice line showing off the decoration and more often than not there was a partlet. For some Spanish men for late C15th early C16th, the low, square-necked chemise was worn under low necked doublets to show off the collar bone and was considered "sexy".  It all depends entirely on the country your persona comes from and much of this information will be available by a good close analysis of a couple of examples worn in your preferred place and time.

What should your persona refer to as a shirt?

 Construction - High Necked Chemise
Chemises of ca1500-1600

 You will need:

• 4m of 90-112cm wide white or cream light cotton or linen
• Thread
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Pins
• Needles

Fabric Choice

Colours: Cream or White

• Linen: was the most common in period for shirts with occasional silks being used however this can be expensive and can be difficult to gather.
• Cotton Linen: a compromise however can difficult to gather
• Homespun: (Cotton) is stiff when first purchased but does soften up eventually. You can purchase Homespun for around $3/M.
• Voile (Cotton): Very light delicate fabric that will tear and threads pull easily
• Bleached Calico/Calico (Cotton): Cheap and durable fabric usually about $1-$2/m
• Hemp: I have not used this type of fabric however it appears that it may have been used by the lesser social orders.
• Silk: expensive, requires dry cleaning but is very nice to wear. I haven't used that much silk for chemises as I believe it to be a frivolous waste of money.
• Lightly patterned fabric - in the weave is acceptable (I'm referring to white on white)
• Polypoplin/synthetics - Don't go there!  Any synthetic fabrics in one of these shirts is asking for problems.  Synthetic fabrics do not breathe, and also stick to your skin if you accidentally get too close to a fire causing nasty burns.

Notice that most of these are difficult to gather.  The easiest fabric I've come across in gathering is a loose weave cotton.  It really depends on the quality of thread you're using.

Step 1 - Measure and Cut

There are four measurements that you will need:

1. Length of arm from nape of neck to fingertip. M1
2. Nape of neck to underarm, plus seam allowance; be generous. M2
3. Around the wrist. M3
4. Around the neck M4

Cut 4 rectangles of fabric at lengths of M1

Mark out the diagonal lines on your fabric using M2 (see diagram) Make these as even as possible.

Cut the triangular pieces off and you have cut the main body and sleeves of your shirt.

Step 2 - Putting it together

Start by placing two of the four pieces of fabric on top of one another. Sew along the diagonal cut. Repeat this step by adding the other pieces of fabric to each other

Tip – Remember to keep the right side of the fabric to the right side to ensure that you have the seams on the same side!

You should end up with something like this:

Step 3 – Facing the split

Cut a piece of fabric about 10cm x 20 cm. Mark an 8 cm straight line down the centre of the fabric from the top. Place this piece of fabric on the centre of the neckline of the panel that you want to be the front. Pin it into place making sure that the garment is right side out (seams on the inside).

Place your sewing foot to allow the needle to be about 2 mm from the line drawn and sew down one side of the 8cm. Now change your sewing direction and move 45 degrees and sew to a point. Change the direction again by 90 degrees and sew until you are back in level with your original change in direction. Change your direction again and run your seam 2mm from the drawn line again.

It should look like this:

Cut down the drawn line and ‘nip’ into the corners of the seam allowance making sure you don’t cut the seams. Turn the facing through.

Tip – Nipping allows your garment to sit better and is generally used on curves and corners for better look and movement of the fabric.

Fold your shirt pieces in half so it looks like this.

Sew from 10cm at the wrists, along the arm, and down the body, ensuring that the seams are the right side out!

Step 4 – Collars and Cuffs

Decide what width you want your cuffs. Add seam allowance and multiply the whole x two. EG A 5cm cuff + 1 cm seam allowance x 2 = 12 cm width.

Using measurements M3 and 4 (adding 2 cm for each measurement for seam allowance), cut these lengths out of your strip. You may be lucky enough to get all of the pieces out of one strip of the fabric.

Fold these in half and sew down the short sides

Turn right side-out and repeat for all your wrist and neck cuffs.

Dotted line is the fold!

 

Step 5 - Gathering fabric

Tip – Polycotton thread is the easiest thread to gather with

We will now be attaching the cuffs and collar to the main garment. Get the main garment and run a stitch-line long the neckline using a stitch length of four.

Tip - Make sure that your facing is tucked in the right way as you would if you were about to wear it.

Notice that the top (needle) line of stitching is different to the bottom (bobbin) line of stitch. Run a second line of stitching about sewing foot width from the first line of stitch. You can run a third run of stitching if you choose to. This can be useful if your fabric is not fond of gathering or your thread is old.

Tip – Gathering is easier if you ensure that you sew each stitch line in the same direction.

When doing collars, divide your shirt into four around the neck and mark it with pins. Also divide your collar in the same fashion. Pick up the bottom two or three threads (the threads that come from the bobbin) with your preferred hand and pull firmly and consistently, being careful not to break the threads.  

Pull the garment right side out. Place the collar (also right side out) on the gathering matching where you've placed your marking pins on the garment to the pins marking the collar. Pin adjacent to the edges of the fabric on the inside of the collar moving the gathering along its threads to sit evenly.

Sew along the inside of the collar slowly, pulling the pins out as you go.

Tip - Pinning adjacent to the seam line will allow a greater accuracy of stitch as you can run the needle right next to the needle before having to pull the needle out.

Repeat this same process on your cuffs and you will be finished the machine sewing part!

Decorating and the final touches

For some Chemises, you may choose to embroidery, beading or sewing ribbons in stripes down the sleeves. If you choose to decorate the just the collar and cuffs, it is a good idea to do this before you sew down the cuffs and collar. This is to hide any of the "interesting sewing" at the back of the embroidery from view and prevents it from getting caught when laundering. You will also have to ensure that the embroidery thread that you are using is colourfast! Find your local embroiderer for advice!

Hem the base of the shirt, collars and cuffs with a hemming stitch. This involves picking up only one or two of the threads of fabric of either side. If you would like to be a little more tricky, you may want to do a hidden hem stitch which is the same stitch however you run the excess thread through the inside of the hem.

Add your buttons, loops or ribbons to your shirt and you are now done.

Construction
The Square Necked Chemise

 This style chemise is virtually the same as the High-necked chemise with one or two differences. You can choose whether you wish to have cuffs keeping in mind that you may get a your sleeves into everything.

Follow the steps until Step 4

Square neck Collar

Work out how wide you want the collar; add seam allowance, double it and cut out a long strip. Fold this strip width ways to sit like your collar. Cut the left edge with a 45-degree angle from left to right. Measure from the top point the width you want with seam allowance. Now cut a 45-degree angle from right to left. Repeat this step again until you have 4 pieces, two of the length and two of width. Unfold the fabric and you should have four kind-of elongated hourglass shaped pieces of fabric.

They will look like this:

Join each hourglass shaped panel to each other by sewing down the dotted lines. Continue doing this until all four panels are joined to form a square shape. Fold the panels along the centre horizontal line to gather.

Follow Step 5 for gathering and the rest of the instructions to finish off.

Decoration

Once you've done a couple, you may be interested in decorating your chemises to give them that *lift*.  It's quite easy and effective!  There are all sorts of things that you can do - from blackwork to beading, gathering fabric on the outside of the collar to give it a slight frill.  Enjoy the following pictures for a bit of inspiration!

1516-1519 Romanino "Portrait of a Man"	ca 1530 Jan Gossaert "Gabriel de Salamanca"	ca 1530 Jan Gossaert "Gabriel de Salamanca"
1526-1539 Titian Isabel de Portugal Empress of the Holy Roman Empire.	1530 Maerten van Heemskerck "Family Portrait"	1495 attrib Bartolome Bermego  Isabel I, Queen of Castilla and Aragon