How to Make a Shirt

Home Needlework, 1882
More tears have probably been shed over amateur shirtmaking, with its frightfully complicated "seam and gusset and band," than over any other branch of needle-work. Often the most painstaking toil seems to be rewarded with the least success; and "giving up" is the only alternative left to the disheartened young wife.

A generation or two ago, to be able to make a shirt was an indispensable accomplishment for a young lady who aspired to the honors of matrimony; for in those days there were no establishments where dozens could be had ready-made at a moment's notice, and t wonderfully reasonable prices. I view of these facts, it is often a source of wonder why some industrious mater familias will spend so many hours, day after day, over her needle and sewing-machine, making shirts for husband and sons, when they can go to a dozen places and be as well supplied at a great saving of time and trouble.

But mater familias will answer that they are not so well supplied. The shirts look beautiful that first gloss of bosom, collar, and cuffs, is indescribable but, like the bloom on the fruit, once rubbed off it never comes again. Ordinary laudrying gives them a different aspect; and soon edges begin to fray out, seams to give way, and joinings to slit, until a general air of shabbiness pervades the whole. Ready-made clothes are seldom well made; in the haste attendant upon accomplishing them in wholesale fashion, there is no time to turn in proper seams, to put stays where the strain comes, or to sew in any other way than with the machine.

The good housewife declares that a set of bought shirts last but one year, while the same number of home manufacture are good for two. Experience proves that it is the same with all under-garments; and, for this reason alone, it is desirable to know how to do the work one's self. Much of it may be done on the sewing-machine; and by "making a day" of it, with one to sew, and one to baste and another, if possible, to finish off a great deal can be accomplished in a comparatively short time.

Besides, shirts are not what they once were, with their long, wide, bulgy bosoms, tucked to the bitter end, and opening in front for the further maliciousness of buttons and button-holes; and neither are carefully-stitched collars and cuffs now appended. The generation that cried over shirts had reason to cry; a fact of which any one who reads ancient volumes of needle-work soon becomes convinced. "The Song of the Shirt" is a dismal ditty, but the subject was dismal too.
In the illustration, Fig. 1, the bosom is made in the old style; but with this exception it answers very well to explain the modern method.

The best way of proceeding in making shirts at home is to have a good paper pattern (which is very easily procured), but, if this is not at hand, exact measurements must be taken from the person. The points to be noted in doing this are:
1.The length of the whole shirt, which is taken from the nape of the neck at the back to the knee.
2.The width of the chest, taken from under one arm to the corresponding point on the other side.
3. The size of the neck.
4. Length of the sleeves.
5. Size of the wrist.
For a medium-sized man, the shirt would measure in the back about a yard and six inches; and in the front (which is always cut shorter) a yard and three inches. Three yards and a half of muslin will make the garment. It is best to cut off sleeves and yoke first, and make the two straight breadths of what remains. These breadths are prepared separately before being sewed together.
Fig. 1
For the front a crease is first made down the middle, to mark the exact half, but this is neither plaited nor cut out, as in the old method, in order to form the bosom. The latter is made of linen, about fifteen and a half inches being a medium length, and eight inches of breadth. A crease is marked down the middle of this piece, on which to work the eyelet-holes for studs; and it is tapered to about half the width at the bottom.
Fig. 2
Sometimes the bosom is quite plain, and sometimes a single tuck, which must be allowed for, is made on either side of the eyelets. Too fine a quality of linen is not desirable, but one with some body, as this retains the starch better. It is lined with butcher's linen, and stitched over the corresponding place in the middle of the front breadth, thus making two thicknesses of linen and one of muslin. After hollowing out the neck, the linen bosom should descend on the shoulder for about two inches.
At the lower end of the bosom a sort of flap, represented in Fig. 2 is stitched to keep the front down smoothly. This is accomplished by means of a button-hole fastened on a button of the vest.

The needle-woman who does not particularly fancy either patching shirts or making new ones, will next baste on a muslin facing, stopping at the line where the shirt-bosom stops, and covering every inch above it except where there are already three thicknesses. This will be found an excellent preventive against wearing out, and a great improvement on the two-inch facing generally used. When the bottom is hemmed, and neck, shoulders, and arm-holes cut out, the front may be considered finished.

The modern shirt opens in the back; and the most elegant style of treating the slit is to turn down a hem of an inch in width, or rather to put a facing of that depth on the right side of the muslin, but left side of the shirt, and lap it over a narrow hem on the other side, the whole to be stitched down. A less troublesome and more common way is to put a narrow hem on each side, and secure the end with a small gusset.

The upper part of the back below the yoke has the same facing as the front; and these two linings are evenly joined under the arms. This half of the shirt is sewed, after being gathered, on a yoke, which is necessarily in two pieces, one of which is represented in Fig. 3. This yoke is lined, and the gathers are placed between and stitched on each side. On either end is plain piece of about two inches, and midway of the yoke, where it joins, are button and button-hole to fasten shirt together.
The bottom of the back is hemmed in the same way as that of the front, both being rounded at the corners; and the sides are also hemmed for space of about two fingers. The two halves of the shirt are then untied by a felled seam, as the sides are sloped; and a small gusset at the end of this seam prevents it from giving way.

The neck, cut to the proper size and shape, is finished with a narrow band, and at each end of this band, as well as in the middle, there is a button-hole for the studs, that fasten on the collar. These button-holes should be made lengthwise of the band.
Fig. 3
From twenty-seven to thirty-five inches of muslin will be required for sleeves; and these are cut partly on the bias, in such a way that one width of the material will make both sleeves. One side of each sleeve is straight, and this straight side is the upper one, as the strain comes beneath. The sleeve is somewhat rounded at the upper end, and has a little fullness just at he top of the shoulder. It is closely back-stitched in on the right side, and hemmed down on the wrong, being put in the double yoke and lining.

The seam of the sleeve stops at about a finger's length from the bottom; and this opening is either finished with a narrow hem on each side and a small gusset at the end of the seam, or it has a wider stitched hem or facing on one side, and the gusset is dispensed with. The sleeve is gathered into a wide band with a button-hole at each end for the inevitable stud, and a button in the middle for fastening on the cuff.

Collars and cuffs are rarely made; as they can be bought at so low a rate, there is no inducement to spend the necessary time over them. For it is a job of no little nicety to get them perfectly smooth, evenly stitched, and well-fitting; and, in spite of speedily fraying edges, mater familias draws the line there and declares that it doesn't pay to make what can be constantly replenished at so trifling a cost.