HSF14 Challenge #4: Under It All

Last time I moved I did actually get rid of some of the things that I would probably never finish. This shirt however I could not leave since it is such a lovely soft fabric.

When the Under It All challenge came up I decided to take it out of the bag where it had been sitting for five years or so. I soon realized that the problem was the ruffle. "What ruffle?", you ask. Well, the one that I unpicked, tried once more to attach neatly and then unpicked again and settled for doing without in order to actually finish the shirt. 

I also decided to sew the remaining long straight seams using the sewing machine. I then unpicked those since I had it inside out when sewing them. The only reasonable place to use the sewing machine at the moment is the kitchen table, and by the time I had unpicked the seams someone else had spread out an entirely different project there. So the shirt is hand-sewn since I wanted to finish it rather than wait for my turn to use the table.

The Challenge: A 16th century shirt

Fabric: Thin hemp

Pattern: Loosely based on somebody's description of the Sture shirts, I think. 

Year: 16th century

Notions: thread (linen, silk and cotton by the looks of it)

How historically accurate is it? Reasonably

Hours to complete: No idea, how about thirty?

First worn: Only for the photo. I intend to make a dress to go on top of it.

Total cost: None now, and I don't remember how much it was when I bought it. 

Sewing

I decided to try the Historical Sew Fortnightly.The setup is a new challenge every two weeks, but I might skip some of them. I can't quite wrap my brain around what to do for "Innovation" and "The Politics of Fashion " anyway.  I'm a bit surprised that I decided to do this since I don't really enjoy sewing and don't identify myself as a seamstress. I do enjoy having stuff when it's done though, so this is a way to actually get some things finished.

The Challenge: #1 Make Do and Mend
I have an old green dress that had three small holes near a seam in the lower skirts. I decided to use a patch on one of them and moved the seam 5 mm to get rid of the other two.

Fabric: Thin green wool

Pattern: One of the Herjolfsnes dresses, pattern originally made by a friend.

Year: 14th century

Notions: Thread

How historically accurate is it? Reasonable from the outside. It has lots of machine-sewn French seams on the inside. The patch is made from the same fabric as the dress and hand-sewn with silk thread. The thread is a bit too bright, but I find the result OK.

Hours to complete: Under 1. It was done about a week ago, but I didn't get around to blogging.

First worn: The dress itself maybe in 2008. It hasn't been worn after mending.

Total cost: Almost none, just some thread and scraps.