1830's Day Dress: A Chemise

As with all good things, you need to start with a base. 

During the 1830s, that base was the chemise.

The chemise is the French word for the shift. The word chemise is used here even though it is very similar to the shift from my Robe a la Francaise. However, since the time of the Robe a la Francaise (Which I estimated mine to be around 1760), Marie Antoinette popularised the Chemise a la Reine. The Chemise a la Reine is a high-waisted gown made of light cotton, fastened with simple drawstrings and decorated with cotton ruffles and a few dainty ribbons. Due to the popularisation of a Queen wearing this gown, the word shift very quickly was swapped for the word chemise. From what I've read and seen the word chemise continues to hold popularity for the remainder of the 19th century and is still used today (1).

I followed the Black Snail Pattern for an 1830's Corset and Underwear for this chemise. The pattern has optional ruffles for the chemise on the neckline and sleeves. I chose to not do the ruffles because I didn't want to chance them being seen on the exterior of the costume.

So ignoring the neckline ruffle instructions, I started on the yoke. This yoke is straightforward in terms of construction. I quite like how they get you to do the slight at the center front. I think it gives a much cleaner look than a rolled hem neckline that I did on my previous shift. 

I think that the underarm gusset might have been a bit overcomplicated. They have a whole system of how they want you to finish the seams. They want you to flat-felled seams but in a very specific way so it looks like one seam. I personally don't like flat-felled seams as you see two seam lines on the outside of the garment. Instead, I trimmed my seams as if to do flat-felled seams but I then fell stitched the seams to themselves. I then pressed them down so they wouldn't create bulk. 

Attaching the front and back panels, and the sleeves were straightforward. I did have to gather them down to fit the yoke and underarm gusset which I think gives it a very charming look. I did find it odd that this pattern doesn't have side gussets for extra movement. I think that they have solved the movement issue by having you gather down a bigger panel to fit the yoke. I haven't had any issue so far with restriction of movement though.

My sewing machine is very sensitive when it comes to buttonholes. It doesn't like the fabric to be thick underneath the foot otherwise it will just stop moving. Due to this, I put the buttonholes on the thinnest part of the front of the yoke. Unfortunately, I didn't take into account the size of the buttons that I had. I sewed the two buttons on and tried the chemise on and found that the buttons kind of overlap each other. This was a mistake on my part that I should have checked beforehand, but now I've learned for next time.

This was my first time working with a Black Snail Pattern and while the instructions were good, there were not a lot of diagrams which can sometimes leave things up for interpretation. On the positive side, they do have a blog where they show the process of them making the garments which I found helpful for looking at photos to make sure what I was thinking of doing was aligned with what they had meant for me to do.

Overall, I really like this chemise. I think it's really cute. I used a plain cotton and it is so comfortable. I think even without the ruffles it has a charm to it. I much prefer it to my previous shift that I made purely due to how it looks. I definitely think I'd make this again for my own closet.

I'll talk to you soon. Have a swell day!

-Maysie

1. I referenced 'Stitches in Time' by Lucy Adlington. This is a book about the evolution of different pieces of clothing. It is a really interesting read and I highly recommend it.