Making A Shift

If you’ve found All American Antoinette there is a great chance you know what a shift (or chemise) is. But just in case, it’s a long shirt worn as the innermost layer of clothing, the style of which changed very little from the 16^th till early 20^th century.  

My chemise was my first try at making a garment, let alone HA and completely hand stitched. And while I love it… I can’t say it’s perfect. For starters it came from Simplicity sewing pattern 3635.

Go ahead and snicker... I'll wait

Nope, never drafted a pattern in my life so this was where I began. The final shift is a marriage based on A and C

… and maybe just a bit from Marie Antoinette (2006)

…which I justified because it’s 100% hand sewn, made with historically correct fabric and notions, and also it’s under all my clothes to be seen by no one. That and I’m short, so very short. So short, that when I cut the fabric for the side panels, the shift became less structured and seemed to swallow me.

Living in a tiny apartment my kitchen table serves as my sewing room

This is how you're supposed to do it right? Right?

Moments away from discovering what a sleevil is...

It takes a village to sew a seam

 Ultimately my pattern came out like this:

Please ignore the stays- that's a story for another time

Just in case you’re a purest who can’t be bothered altering patterns without historical precedent, (or using ::gasp:: Simplicity) there are countless blog posts that tell you how to construct a shift (great examples can be found here and here ).
What was your experience like with your first shift? Did you hand sew, buy, use machine? Tell us in the comments below!