Good Chemise Pattern?

[Jademozingo]

I need a good pattern for a chemise.  Can anyone out there recomend one?

Jade

[Betty Munro]

Draft your own.

For a quick and easy peasant/wench basic chemise ...   
Measure from your throat to your knees, that is your height.  Measure around your body, that is your width.  Cut 2 rectangles from wrapping paper. (1 for front and 1 for back) 
For arms, measure from neck to fingers, that is your length.  Measure around the largest part of your arm and double.  That is your width.  Cut 2 rectangles from wrapping paper.  Fold all rectangles in half lengthwise and cut out triangles from the outside corners, 4 inches in, 8 inches down on the diagonal.
That's your pattern.  Mark arms and body.  After you make your first one, if you need to make it smaller or bigger / longer or shorter, you have the original to work from.  You can taper the arms to slim out towards your hands if you want, but I like the extra puff.

Sew body back to body front.  Sew up arm seams.  The arms attach to the body at the triangles making the top of the arm also part of the neckline.  Hem neckline, bottom and sleeves.  You can use hem tape (Non-iron on, the sew on tape - it comes in lots of colors to match your chemise) to make a casing for the drawstring around the neckline, or use your hemline.  Use hem tape at the wrists to make casing for drawstring.

An average size will need 2 1/2 to 3 yards of fabric.  You'll need 1 package of hem tape if you use it for for the casing.

Anyone want to offer modifications feel free.  I am not "proud" of my method, and any alterations to better the process is quite welcome!

Happy sewing!!!

[Jademozingo]

That sounds great!  Thank you! 

Jade

[operafantomet]

Jennifer Thompson's Italian chemise pattern is really easy to work with, and the result is lush:
http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/chemise.html

Here's a chemise I made based on the pattern, it took me just under two days to complete it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/venetian/italiancamicia.jpg

I made the sleeves a tad shorter and narrower than what her pattern suggests, because I didn't have enough fabric, but the look it pretty much the same. I especially like how the chemise is lower in front than in the back, it stays in place even though the neck opening is wide. I added a Venetian lace to the neck opening, and a drawstring to the cuffs, and I like the result very much. And this comes from one who HATES to make underpinnings for her historical garbs....

[Butch]

WOW!  Operafan!  That looks fantastic on you!

When I do gussets under the arms, I do not split the squares into two triangles; instead, I leave them as whole squares and sew them into the the arms just like the triangles, but not across the hypotenuse.

[Betty Munro]

The Italian Chemise pattern is DIVINE!!!  Cut and pasted onto a word doc to save forever ... and also the link for FRENCH SEAMS!!! 
The pictures and explanation for how to make french seams is worth every minute I have sent playing on R/F. 
I can not wait to get my sewing machine unpacked and get back to garbing!!!
Wow - thanks ladies!

[operafantomet]

WOW!  Operafan!  That looks fantastic on you!

Thank you so much for those kind words! I was very happy with how it turned out. I made a chemise about 12 years ago, it was meant to be a temporary one and wasn't all that well made. But as I loathe to make underpinnings I continued to wear it year after year... When I put the new one on, I realized that although dull to make, it makes all the difference to have a decent chemise! It's a comfy and period looking cut.

I'm glad some of you found Jennifer Thompson's pattern helpful. I love the simple, yet well researched and useful instruction pages she's put together. The chemise is probably my favourite. I'm so sad she stopped making Renaissance garbs!

[operafantomet]

Haven't tried these out myself, but the following page has lots of patterns, as well as pictures of extant garbs:

http://www.kostym.cz/Anglicky/obsah.htm

[isabelladangelo]

Operfantomet already posted my favorite but another really good one is http://www.elizabethancostume.net/chemise.html

Great for Elizabethan costuming!

[Butch]

Alright, I'm making chemises (chemi?) for a friend and her dau.  Pretty straightforward pattern.  Before I gather and tape the neckline to the appropriate size, I should finish the edges.  Now, I was going to do a small roll hem (I don't have the presser foot, so this is time consuming).  I recently got a serger.  How do you all think a small serged edge would look for the neckline and the sleeves (they want SHORT SLEEVES!).

Opinions before I tackle this tomorrow (Sunday)?

[Hoowil]

When I do gussets under the arms, I do not split the squares into two triangles; instead, I leave them as whole squares and sew them into the the arms just like the triangles, but not across the hypotenuse.

I generally find the triangle split gussets easier to work with. Its a little extra to sew, but it keeps the side seam one long seam, without a hard turn in it. But thats really just personal prefference.

[gem]

Alright, I'm making chemises (chemi?) for a friend and her dau.  Pretty straightforward pattern.  Before I gather and tape the neckline to the appropriate size, I should finish the edges.  Now, I was going to do a small roll hem (I don't have the presser foot, so this is time consuming).  I recently got a serger.  How do you all think a small serged edge would look for the neckline and the sleeves (they want SHORT SLEEVES!).

Opinions before I tackle this tomorrow (Sunday)?

Butch, my favorite chemise has the neckline and wrists serged with black thread (you can kind of see in this picture, right above the corset, and [duh ] at the wrists). I absolutely love it and if I had a serger of my own, I'd make gads of em--I would definitely make one with gold thread, to look like the Italian camicia. I don't know about using contrasting thread on a short-sleeved chemise, but if you used white thread (or whatever matches the fabric), you wouldn't even notice the edge.

[Butch]

OK, thanks Gem!  I'll try it!  This will be the first time I'm using the serger, so we'll see how it turns out.

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

The drop neck Chemise patterns that I use are the ones from SIMPLICITY. I add more height to the center of the sleeve, taper down to the side seams to make the neck deeper overall.

[Cilean]

I need a good pattern for a chemise.  Can anyone out there recomend one?
Jade

If you do a search in the sewing forum you will find dozens of threads about Smocks.


www.reconstructinghistory has a smock pattern and other things

www.margospatterns  Elizabethan Underpinnings are an awesome pattern to obtain

Free Patterns on the Net:

Many people love and adore Drea's Smock Pattern:
http://www.elizabethancostume.net/smockpat/


Caitlyn has a good one:
http://www.caitlinsclothing.com/underwear.html

Here is a PDF to make a good smock
www.houseffg.org/resources/Elizabethan_Shirt.pdf


Red Dawn's Smock Pattern
http://www.reddawn.net/costume/shirt.htm


What I would recommend? Margo Anderson's Patterns, I have used Red Dawn's and Caitlyn's in the past and I have just Dame Drea's as well.

Cilean