Renaissance Chemise from a Recycled Bedsheet

Several of my chemises and smocks need replacing, so earlier this year I made a new gathered chemise. It was made from a nice, soft recycled cotton bed sheet. The body panels and sleeves were rectangles, with triangular gores at the bottom for extra width and gussets under the arms for extra comfort. The fabric is wonderfully soft and comforting to wear.

A rough guide to how the pattern pieces looked. I didn't measure; just held pieces against my body and estimated sizes.

The interior seams were done by machine and then hand felled. The neckline and shoulder area was hand gathered down into a bias band and hand stitched down. The sleeve and bottom edges were hand hemmed.

Hand sewing the bias band around the neckline.

I plan to put some embroidery on it at a later stage.

The finished chemise. It doesn't look like much, but is lovely to wear.

'Oldies but Goldies' Series - "Virtues" Chemise

I recently was surprised to find a folder on my computer with notes on old projects and research notes that I meant to blog about. I hope you won't mind if I occasionally post some of these less than current projects.

This one is from at least 2015 or 2016 (possibly earlier, I can't remember the date!). I made this chemise band for a dear friend. It is embroidered with chivalric virtues and the design is taken from a 16th extant modelbuch. The base fabric is linen, but it was so long ago that I can't remember if it was worked in silk or DMC floss. 

The chemise poking out from under the beautiful gown (gown made by C. Linder), image credit: P. Abrahams.

Adjusting an old chemise

I had major surgery a few months back and my recovery has been hampered by lingering chest infections so I haven't been able to do any major projects. I've been focused on maintaining a minimum of ten minutes of A&S activity a day.

One thing I did manage to do this week was to shorten an old chemise. I think I made it back in the early 2000s, and I rarely wear it because it is quite heavy fabric. I originally made it almost ankle length, which is a bit unmanageable. Any time I wear it I think 'I must alter this' and then I put it off or forget. 

It was only a very quick job because I hemmed it with the sewing machine, but I am really glad I managed to get this one small thing ticked off the to-do list after so long. Small wins!

The embroidery motif on this chemise is taken from Shorleyker's 'A Scholehouse for the Needle':