Calontir Clothing Challenge II - Chemise

I'm trying to work on better habits in my sewing, so I actually prewashed and ironed my fabric for the first layer in advance. Then when I was ready to start cutting on Saturday I pulled threads on the edge to get an even starting point. I spent 30 minutes pulling threads. For the record, it took me less than 30 minutes to cut out everything but the gores for the chemise. I know that prewashing is important...but I'm not sure that I'm sold on it and found myself wishing that I could just jump ahead to the sewing part. Speaking of better habits, I was about half-way through stitching the chemise together when I decided that I should finish my edges and zig-zagged almost all of them. Zig-zag is a perfectly acceptable method of finishing seams...but I've got to remember to do that BEFORE I start sewing. It's just too difficult to finish the edges with that method once you start attaching the pieces.

Day 1:

I managed to cut out all of my pieces according to a cutting diagram of a 14th century tunic documented by Reconstructing History. Okay, so I tore them instead of cutting which slightly warps the fabric, but it felt so therapeutic - especially after spending 30 minutes just pulling out individual threads and I've lost count of time spent ironing.

On the left you can see the "fringe" created by the threads pulled on the right.

Next step was to insert the gores in the front and back panels. I was so unhappy with how my last few attempts at this have gone that I was seriously considering leaving the center gores out of my chemise and just adding the extra fabric in at the sides. However,

I recently stumbled across a tutorial on inserting gores/godets into fabric slits, so I tested out this method before trying it on my project.

My colorful test piece. Recognize this fabric?

My little test piece came out good enough that I went ahead and inserted the back gore. I hand-stitched the top few inches on each side of the gore to get the point nice and crisp, and then I machine stitched down the rest of the seam.

Drawing in the seam allowance, hand-stitching the point, pinning the legs of the gore in place for machine stitching, the final product.

Day 2:

I inserted the gore into the front panel and it came out alright! Time to finally start stitching the chemise together. The next few steps came together relatively quickly.

Tops of front and back body panels. Sleeve to underarm gusset. Gusset and sleeve to body.

Gusset to sleeve, and Gusset/Sleeve to Body.

I had just refilled my bobbin when my top thread ran out, and my other spool of white thread was looking low. I didn't have a lot left on this project, but I had this terrible feeling that if I tried to finish the side seams I would run out of thread. It was also about 3pm, which meant that the stores might be closed if I waited until after I had run out. So I ran to the store real quick and ended up completing the machine stitching with thread left over.

Spool that was running low along side the freshly empty spool. I'm used to low spools, but I don't actually empty them very often.

Freshly stocked on thread that I wouldn't end up needing for this project, I finished the machine seams. Remaining gusset sides to sleeve and body. Sleeve to sleeve. Body to body from underarm gusset to waist. Gore to front. Gore to back. One thing that I struggle with, especially on the gussets, is whether to sew to the edge of the fabric or just to the corner of the seam allowance. I marked the seam allowance on all four corners of the gussets, but one day I'll sit back and calculate which seams go all the way and which stop at the seam allowance.

Chemise front awaiting hand-stitched finishing: Flat-fell gores, hem sleeves and skirt, and cut and finish neckline.

Day 3

Flat-felled one gore.

Pinning the gores to fell the edges in place.

Day 4

Flat-felled other three gores and let hang overnight.

The front gore with the felling stitches in place.

Day 5

Hemmed skirt and sleeves.

Pinning the hem.

Day 6

Finished neckline.

The finished chemise!

While I completed this chemise over the course of 6 afternoons, it took me the month of October to finish the project. If you were paying attention to my earlier post you'll see that I hoped to finish it in about 3 weeks so that I could use the rest of the month to get started on layer 2 - especially the pattern drafting. I've started playing with a few drafts for the bodice of the cotehardie, and I'll share those in the next post. Hopefully I can finish that in November to stay on track for the challenge!

The Challenge: Calontir Clothing Challenge Layer 1 - Underdress

Material: Cotton Fabric - about 3 yards

Pattern: Reconstructing History Your First Garb

Year: 12-14th century Western Europe

Notions: Polyester Thread

How historically accurate is it? Fabric is cotton instead of linen, but at least it's still a natural fiber. Inner seams are machine-stitched instead of hand-stitched. I'd say it's about 75% there.

Hours to complete: 20 hours and 45 minutes - 9 hours cutting and machine stitching, the other 11:45 by hand

First worn: Next January when I complete the challenge!

Total cost: Stash, but 3 yards of cotton would be about $12-15 depending on the sale

Completed: October 2020

Links:

Kelly, Tasha Dandelion. "Setting a godet into slit fabric." La Cotte Simple. (Accessed October 3, 2020). http://cottesimple.com/tutorials/godet-in-slit-fabric/

McGann, Kass. "Your First Garb - Getting Started." Reconstructing History. (Published October 17, 2013). https://reconstructinghistory.com/your-first-garb-getting-started/