This what the Tudor Tailor (TT) has to say about shirts/smocks finishing: "The fact that shirts and smocks were intended to survive regular washing is evident in the construction of extant examples. The stitches are very regular and tiny, often so small as to be invisible to the naked eye. The strength of the selvedges was exploited in the long seams down the sides which were butted together. Seams made along a cut edge have the raw part carefully folded under and enclosed with another row of stitching."
A number of years ago I picked up a man's shirt at a yard sale in Germany. I took it to the Dennita Sewell, the fashion curator at the Phoenix Art Museum with the idea of donating it to the museum (they were very happy to add it to their collection). She said it was probably 19th century, but certainly constructed just like they had been in the 16th and 17th centuries. As stated in the TT the long side seams are butted with an overcast on the inside. The cut portions are sewn and then folded over. The folded over seams are hardly bigger than an 1/8 ". There is a lot of entredeux work on the cuffs, and drawn work on the neck opening. The straight top stitching is so tiny and perfect that it is really hard to imagine it was not done by machine, but as the rest of it is clearly hand sewn, I think it is as well. I have yet to actually turn this garment over to the Museum. I intend to photograph it carefully and post pictures before I do give it to them. I will post pictures as soon as I have done this. Saragrace On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 10:18 AM, Ginni Morgan <ginni.mor...@doj.ca.gov>wrote: > I think Arnold covered this in Patterns of Fashion, but I could be wrong. > I'm at work and all my costume books are packed up anyway. My guess is a > small rolled hem on any cut edge. The openwork stitching that attached one > piece of cloth to another needs something to anchor it that won't fray > apart under strain. It is my understanding that the garments were often > taken apart for washing and sunbleaching. Thus each piece would need to be > finished. > > Ginni > > -----Original Message----- > From: h-costume-boun...@indra.com [mailto:h-costume-boun...@indra.com] On > Behalf Of Liz H. > Sent: Friday, May 09, 2014 9:55 AM > To: h-costume@mail.indra.com > Subject: [h-cost] Chemise/Shift question > > I'm sure sometime has answered this sometime over the years, but I can't > seen to find it... > > In the 1480-1600 period of time, does anyone know how the edges of the > cloth, or seams of under-tunics/shifts/shirts/chemises would have been > finished? I figure that as they would have been the most often washed > garment, something would have been done to help prevent the edges of the > cloth from unraveling...but I haven't been able to figure out what, during > that period of time. > > (Me, I either zigzag or whip-stitch the edges usually...but I'm wondering > what would have been done *then*) > > Thanks! > -Elisabeth/Liz > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > h-costume@mail.indra.com > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > > CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication with its contents may contain > confidential and/or legally privileged information. It is solely for the > use of the intended recipient(s). Unauthorized interception, review, use or > disclosure is prohibited and may violate applicable laws including the > Electronic Communications Privacy Act. If you are not the intended > recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of the > communication. > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > h-costume@mail.indra.com > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > -- -Sg- _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
