hsifeng | Shirt Based on Museum of Bath Extant (Reply)

Well, I did say I got a lot done this weekend. With the School of the Renaissance Soldier coming up next weekend, I knew that hubby could use a second high collared shirt for the event. His breast plate strap digs into his neck too much for his open necked shirt to work well at any event where his armor is going to see use.

So, I started out with a plan to make a simple version of the JA 'Museum of Bath' shirt. I have made this sort of shirt before for the hubby and he likes them. I already planned to hand-sew the shirt (OK, OK, I am going to machine the straight seams and then french seam by hand). At any rate, this was going to be a very simple linen shirt.

I like to think I am reasonable when it comes to projects (those of you who know me well, *don't laugh!*. Sure, I got a little nutty on my husbands Waffenrock, but this shirt was not going to be a 'big project'. Well, either I love him a lot, or I am crazy - I am sure he would say, "Both!"

*grin*

FATAL DECISION #1: As I was cutting out the bits for the shirt, I was already planning on fingerlooping the ties for the neck and the wrists. I was fiddling around with the iron, pressing the cuffs and collar, when I suddenly though, "I wonder if I could do some simple drawn-tread bits on these, and spice them up a bit."

I blame

attack_laurel and her falling collar project from awhile back.

A few minutes later, I had done some very simple drawn tread patterns on one of the cuff bits. They looked nice, but still *quite* plain. I thought about it for a moment and then figured I could add some color by doing a little embroidery to embellish the drawn threads.

FATAL DECISION #2: So I went through my embroidery thread stash and polled hubby on some basic color choices. I landed on red (nice contrast - now I pray it is color fast!) and went to work on the first cuff. It took me about 45 minutes to finish and we both liked the results, so I went to work on the other cuff and the collar. They were all done by the end of the day on Saturday, despite pot-luck dinner with friends and gardening trying to take up large chunks of time. But that entry will have to wait a day...

I got up early on Sunday and went back to puttering on the project. As I was working on the neck slit/head opening, I began to realize that they really *needed* some embellishment. This is commonly one of the most heavily decorated sections on a shirt like this (beside the sleeves - *wait for it!*) and this one was going to look *very* plain by comparison to the cuffs and collar.

FATAL DECISION #3: So I got to work with some handsewing to finish the neck opening and then decided that I would start out by working a 'bar and web' ala Janet Arnold's most recent work. The goal was to make something like this -

Here's the photographic evidence of what I managed:

Bar with buttonhole knots to create a cord

Getting back to the center of the bar to start the web

Finished web - note, I did not 'cord' the webbed threads, but instead did a combination of buttonhole knot covered bars and some really sloppy 'guess work'

I am curious to see how well this holds up over time. I will be *thrilled* if it does well, as I like this finish much more than any of the other versions I have used to re-enforce the base of the neck opening. But the shirt front still looked plain...

The 'DECISIONS' keep adding to my work load...

Half-finished neck work(now complete!)

"But the sleeves look so boring!" (still in progress)

Gusset, 1/2 done on one side....

So, the shirt is not so simple anymore - but I am going to be much happier with the results. It should easily be done by Sunday of the event, and gives me something to sew on while we are there. I will have to make him another, simple shirt later...*chuckle*

EDT: Damnitalltohell. I just took another look at the shirt front on my lunch break. I need to pull the stitches on the pulled thread pieces and make another row to match up properly with the collar. Obviously I was running on fumes when I did this part the first time. Thankfully, it is an easy fix and will only set me back abou 30 minutes of work!

EDT2 (4/14/09): Shirt front re-prepped and ready for embroidery tonight!