Sewing An 18th Century Shift for Beatrice

Beatrice is a LUTS Kid Delf Bory on a Girl Type 1 body with Normal skin.
She stands 39.5 cm tall in bare feet.

I made an 18th Century Shift mock-up following the guidelines in
this YouTube video:

The mock-up fabric used was an old bedsheet with a high thread count.





Beatrice measurements for
18th Century Shift

1. 24.0 cm shoulder to mid-calf
2. 6.5 cm shoulder width
13.0 cm 2x shoulder width
3. 1.3 cm shoulder strap width
4. 3.0 cm top of shoulder to top of bust
5. 2.0 cm top of shoulder to back neckline
6. 2.5 cm radius of neckline curves
7. 2.5 cm gore base
8. 12.0 cm gore height
9. 6.0 cm shoulder to elbow
10. 8.0 cm around arm

Patterns based on the above measurements:

Pattern One
Pattern Two
Pattern Three

The shift was measured to her mid-calf, but when the neckline was gathered, the finished hem came down to just below her knees. I am thinking about getting some lightweight linen handerchief fabric to make the final 18th Century Shift.

 

A very good tutorial for sewing the sleeve gusset can be found here:




Video description:
Sewing a Gusset -- on a Sewing Machine (Basic and French Seam!)
9 minutes 16 seconds
Morgan Donner
Feb 25, 2019
Today I have a basic tutorial video:
how to sew square gussets using a sewing machine!
I often seek out tutorials about one specific technique,
and when I couldn't find anything on how to french seam
a gusset, I took that as a challenge to figure it out myself!
It took me a couple tries, but once I found the correct order
of operations, I knew that someone else out there would
appreciate the info
Basic Construction starts at 00:42
French Seam tutorial starts at 04:53

 

I have ordered a couple of yards of White Handkerchief Linen from FabricStore.com. It is quite dear, costing $11.81/yd plus shipping and handling. However, I think that I should be able to get several items of doll clothing from it, plus some handkerchiefs as well (good practice for hemming). I searched Amazon.Com for lightweight linen, but was not satisfied with any of the search results.


blueFairy

There are many sewists really into Historical Costuming. I watch a lot of YouTube videos about making various items of 18th century clothing. On YouTube, search for: how to sew 18th century costumes

Substitute 'costumes' with 'shift', or 'stays', or 'petticoats' and so forth, to find some wonderful inspiration.


blueFairy

 

@MaryLiNy Thank you for the fabric suggestion, and also for your kind words. I am a Novice sewist and am learning as I go. To tell the truth, I ordered linen because it was the traditional fabric used for shifts in the 18th century. I was hoping that lightweight handkerchief fabric would be fine enough for the shift. I will order a couple of yards of cotton batiste and try it as well.

Next up are jumps (stays without bones), then an under-petticoat, and an over-petticoat. By that time, I hope to be able to sew a short-gown (jacket). I have no idea how all these layers are going to look on Beatrice, but I am going to try. Today I practiced hand sewing a rolled hem, and awl-made eyelets.


blueFairy

 

This is a second mock-up and pattern for an 18th Century shift for Beatrice. The first one was twice the width of her shoulders. This one is one and one-half times the width of her shoulders. However, this second mock-up cannot fit over her head, and it is very tight getting it over her raised arms and shoulders. I had to remover her head to get the shift on her. As a result of this tightness, I modified the original pattern, adding 1cm overall. I did this by moving the CF and CB out .25cm. Anyway, I think this second mock-up looks good on her. Like the first mock-up, this one is made from an old high thread count bed sheet.





Here are the links to the pattern:

Front Shift Pattern

Back Shift Pattern

Front and Back Shift

Measurements for Beatrice:
LUTS Kid Delf Bory - Girl Type 1 Body - Real Normal Skin
1) 24cm shoulder to mid-calf
2) 6.5cm shoulder width
3) 1.3cm shoulder strap width
4) 3.0cm top of shoulder to top of bust
5) 2.0cm top of shoulder to back neckline
6) 1,5cm gore base
7) 12.0cm gore height
8) 6.0cm shoulder to elbow
9) 7.0cm around hand and thumb
0) 1.0cm radius of neckline curves

 

This second shift was so difficult to get on that I tried cutting a 4cm slit down the Center Back from the neckline; then blanket stitching around the slit with a small 2mm hem, and finally adding two eyelets, pierced with an awl. Now the second shift can be put on feet first without any problems. I am going to draft a third shift pattern which will be a little bit smaller than the first shift, and a little bit bigger than the second shift. If everything goes well. then I will finally make the final shift using Irish handkerchief linen.

 

Beatrice is a LUTS Kid Delf Bory with a Girl Type 1 Body and Real Normal Skin.
This is the third pattern revision and mock-up for an 18th Century shift.
The mock-up is made from an old high-thread-count bedsheet.
This shift mock-up fits over her head without the wig on.
The length is down to her calves.






18th Century Shift Pattern #3 Front

18th Century Shift Pattern #3 Back

I will be making this shift using Irish Handkerchief Linen.


BlueFairy

 

Thank you for your kind words.

This is a work-in-progress snapshot of the shift mock-up.
I did put a black carpet thread drawstring in the neckline.
It does not take too much to pull the neckline onto her shoulders.
I ended up hemming the shift 12mm instead of 6mm.
The extra length in the pattern allows for a long shift.



This third shift mock-up was completely hand sewn. I am getting better with practice.
I will post pix of the finished 18th Century shift in the sewing forum.


blueFairy