Bluework Ruffed Shirt

I'm back-dating this diary a bit. The entries dated prior to May 2006 are clippings from the Meesha's "McConnell" Bodice diaries. Any comments added to these will be in bold text.

This tunic will be a basic 15th century tunic, I think. It is being made to hopefully accompany Meesha's "McConnell" Bodice. I will do bluework (blackwork with blue thread though... would that be bluework then?) around the collar and the sleeve cuffs. I am still figuring out what design I want to use for the bluework. I have several I've been working on.

I have six sewing projects on my list (1 tunic, 2 embroidered shirts, 1 pair of wrap pants, the changes to the italian blue dress, and the bodice dress to accompany this). This doesn't even include the other things I plan on making. Just the ones that I need to do now.

I'm still debating if I want to keep it as a basic tunic, or make it into a gathered chemise, or into one of those nice high collar chemises or smocks.

This outfit is not complete though. I still have high-collar chemise to make (with blackwork in blue thread) with pleated ruffles (and make a shirt for her love too... without ruffles but with the embroidery). This will be a prototype too for her significant other's shirt, then again, most of the things I make myself are prototypes. I was thinking of using her nice tunic, but unfortunately, the sleeves are too short and look weird with the bodice sleeves.

I've been working on the shirt for this outfit. At this point, I have only the collar, cuffs, pleated ruffs, and hem to sew. Then I will work on the other projects and come back to the embroidery on this shirt. It looks really good so far.

I knife pleated the shoulders (where the instructions said to just gather them), and accidently stitched them the opposite way than I had intended, but it worked out better that way. The shirt has a better drap and fullness due to that little mistake, so I'm going to repeat that on the shirt for Meesha's love interest.

I'll try to get some photos up... with the progress of the bodice and the shirt.

I need to work on some more sketches for the complete outfit.

The shirt body has been completed since shortly after I posted the last entry. Since then, I've slowly been adding the bluework while working on other items as well. Then the shirt had to be put on hold for a number of months due to my move back to New Jersey. This actually consisted of two moves, one to my mother's residence and then to my own apartment. I still don't have all my items transferred over or sorted. But I am determined to finish the projects that I started in the past. This being one of them.

I completed the embroidery on the cuffs and wrist ruffs well before my initial move to NJ and was working on the neck ruff. I was debating about whether or not to add bluework to the collar as well. After trying the shirt on a friend and fellow sewing fiend, we both agreed that embroidering the collar would complete the shirt.

The neck ruff bluework was completed on 31 April 2006, and I started working on the collar that day. I have it a little over 1/3 done. I am hoping to finish it by thursday (friday at the latest).

I will put a critique up of the pattern used for future reference.

Finally! I have finished the embroidery on this shirt. I am tempted to do some more, but I don't think my fingers or my sanity can take anymore of it right now. So, I will see how I like this for the time being and work on other projects that need to be completed or started.

Images of this short are forthcoming. The critique of the pattern will be placed here when the pictures are uploaded.

Okay... I still have to put some pictures up of the shirt, especially now that I've decided to make a few more alterations to it.

First, my review of the design. As a reminder, I got the base design/pattern from Dawn's Costume Page: Shirt. Granted, I made some alterations, but mostly just by adding pleated ruffs, and pleating instead of gathering. The feel of the shirt and the hang of it would not have been terribly affected by these changes.

The shape of the wrist cuffs cause them to hang weird. I am not impressed by the curved shape and feel it does not add to the look of the item. Rather, it detracts from it and from a comfortable fit. The collar isn't as bad, but the flaws are similar, due to the shape (curved on top and bottom and dwindling to points on the ends).

The gathering at the shoulders, from collar to sleeve top, adds an odd bulk to the torso. It also causes a strange pulling sensation that makes the item feel like it doesn't fit. I had several people try it, including myself. One person was a fairly large fellow, the next (me) was of medium build, and the last person was thin. The shirt fit all three of us well, but had the same strange pulling sensation that made each of us feel like it was too small. The shoulder seam felt like it was straining, even though it wasn't. I knife pleated the shoulders, but any form of gathering across the whole shoulder seam would have had this same sensation.

The material around the neck is also gathered into the collar, which might have caused part of the pulling sensation in the shoulders, given all the gathering going on. I pleated this material too, so it would be less bulky. However, because of the gathering/pleating at the shoulders, the back of the neck ended up being puffy. This is NOT a good thing.

Will I use her shirt pattern again? No. I have made shirts without patterns before. The Elisia Embroidered Shirt is a fine example of this, as are various other items I have made and are represented in the different galleries (customer and personal). The design provided on Red Dawn's Shirt Page was worth a try, but definitely not one I will use again. It's far too complicated in some areas, and does not have a good shape to it. I would not recommend this design to beginners or anyone of a higher sewing level. There are better free online designs out there. Though I do recommend her site for other information.

As it stands, this shirt can only be used effectively with a high-collared doublet.

What will I do about this?

I am marking this item as not completed yet. I will go back and try to repair some of the design flaws. This will be time consuming, but worth it. I will try to narrow down the shoulders. Hopefully, that will be enough to fix the bulk of the problems. The collar, where it is attached to the neck, might also need to be reworked, but I'm hoping not.