Blackwork Shirt
OK.. Here's my first attempt at posting pictures. I'm starting with (as per mr_nice_gaius's request) with the blackwork shirt that I've made. The basis of this shirt's construction (although not the embroidery) is the blackwork shirt dated circa 1580-1590 in the Museum of Costume in Bath, England. This shirt is made of linen, hand embroidered with black silk embroidery floss, and is entirely hand stitched with linen thread, with flat felled and finished seams. The embroidery pattern is from the Jane Bostock sampler dated 1598. Although I'd consider it a completed project for now, I'll probably continue the embroidery along the sleeves and the body of the shirt at some point. Looking at the original shirt it does appear that the embroidery pattern, at least in some areas, was completed after the shirt itself was constructed.
As far as photos I'm posting photos of my shirt plus some photos that I took when I was in England for my wife and I's Honeymoon/SCA research trip that we took last summer. I apologize for any fuzziness or darkness of photos.
Here's the original shirt (the one on the right)
Here's My shirt.
The cuff of my shirt.
The cuff of the Bath Museum shirt.
This is the embroidery pattern that mine is based on. The original is the oldest dated sampler in England (dated 1598), which is in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
For Kicks, here's the embroidery patterns from the shirt in the Bath Museum
The repeating pattern
The bird/thistles/leaves thingy
Finally, the Bee
Looking closely at these patterns, they don't appear to be counted work and, I'd guess, had the patterns drawn on the shirt then embroidered over. The pattern I chose, on the other hand is entirely counted work and I stitched it entirely by counting threads rather than drawing out a pattern. The linen I used was not an even weave linen (way too expensive to do an entire shirt out of!)I figure in period, an embroiderer would work with what they have. The weave was close enough to even to come out pretty well and by being very careful as to the direction that each piece was cut out of the original fabric, the pattern should remain consistent as I continue the embroidery onto the body. To that end, take a look at this picture:
If you look at where the embroidery pattern of the sleeve meets the body of the shirt at the seam, you will notice that the line outlining the pattern continues all the way to the seam, while the embroidery itself truncates a little bit prematurely at where the seam is flat felled to. This, to me, indicates that the lines making up the outline were likely done before construction, but the actual repeating pattern between the lines was likely completed afterward.
So now, on to the construction: I made a single assumption on the construction of this shirt, which I was unable to observe on the original, which was a square gusset sewn underneath the arms. I've found references to other shirts from the same time having one and, for me, with durability and wearability in mind, I added one. I also added a buttonhole bar as a reinforcement for the front slit. The original bath shirt, didn't appear to have one and shows some damage as a result of not having one. I could be wrong though. Here's the collar and front slit on the original and on mine.
For other details, the original shirt (and mine) have a gusset over the shoulder where the body attaches to the collar. The original shirt has the front and back of the body cut as a single piece of fabric. For my shirt, I opted to cut the front and back separately and put in a shoulder seam. This made it easier for me to cut and position the collar and also to put in this neck gusset. One point that I found unusual about this shirt was the reinforcement employed on the side seam where the side seam splits. I have often seen patterns based on period shirts that employ a triangular gusset for this purpose, but this shirt employs a rectangle of linen sewn to the inside of the shirt at the location of the split. Here's the original and mine.
Well, that's it for now. Hopefully these pictures work out!
As far as photos I'm posting photos of my shirt plus some photos that I took when I was in England for my wife and I's Honeymoon/SCA research trip that we took last summer. I apologize for any fuzziness or darkness of photos.
Here's the original shirt (the one on the right)
Here's My shirt.
The cuff of my shirt.
The cuff of the Bath Museum shirt.
This is the embroidery pattern that mine is based on. The original is the oldest dated sampler in England (dated 1598), which is in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
For Kicks, here's the embroidery patterns from the shirt in the Bath Museum
The repeating pattern
The bird/thistles/leaves thingy
Finally, the Bee
Looking closely at these patterns, they don't appear to be counted work and, I'd guess, had the patterns drawn on the shirt then embroidered over. The pattern I chose, on the other hand is entirely counted work and I stitched it entirely by counting threads rather than drawing out a pattern. The linen I used was not an even weave linen (way too expensive to do an entire shirt out of!)I figure in period, an embroiderer would work with what they have. The weave was close enough to even to come out pretty well and by being very careful as to the direction that each piece was cut out of the original fabric, the pattern should remain consistent as I continue the embroidery onto the body. To that end, take a look at this picture:
If you look at where the embroidery pattern of the sleeve meets the body of the shirt at the seam, you will notice that the line outlining the pattern continues all the way to the seam, while the embroidery itself truncates a little bit prematurely at where the seam is flat felled to. This, to me, indicates that the lines making up the outline were likely done before construction, but the actual repeating pattern between the lines was likely completed afterward.
So now, on to the construction: I made a single assumption on the construction of this shirt, which I was unable to observe on the original, which was a square gusset sewn underneath the arms. I've found references to other shirts from the same time having one and, for me, with durability and wearability in mind, I added one. I also added a buttonhole bar as a reinforcement for the front slit. The original bath shirt, didn't appear to have one and shows some damage as a result of not having one. I could be wrong though. Here's the collar and front slit on the original and on mine.
For other details, the original shirt (and mine) have a gusset over the shoulder where the body attaches to the collar. The original shirt has the front and back of the body cut as a single piece of fabric. For my shirt, I opted to cut the front and back separately and put in a shoulder seam. This made it easier for me to cut and position the collar and also to put in this neck gusset. One point that I found unusual about this shirt was the reinforcement employed on the side seam where the side seam splits. I have often seen patterns based on period shirts that employ a triangular gusset for this purpose, but this shirt employs a rectangle of linen sewn to the inside of the shirt at the location of the split. Here's the original and mine.
Well, that's it for now. Hopefully these pictures work out!