Sleeve bagginess for a man's shirt?

[chrysantimum]

Good morning!
The first Item of clothing I made for my outfit so far is a basic shirt, and for the look I'm aiming for it's supposed to be "cheap and easily replacable", so I used unbleached muslin. I based it on the Civil War (U.S., not English, sorry to say ) era shirt, one-piece body stitched up the sides, diamond gussets under the arms,small pleats at the tops of the shoulders, narrow collar, and two pairs of simple tie strings for the front, and just to look "fancy and different", I used cross-stitching on the outside of the seams with a tan-colorerd thread that looks cheaper/unbleached.  All hand sewn, by the way.

The sleeves are more "fitted" from the elbow to the wrist because of the gauntlets I would be wearing most of the time, but I'm thinking that the upper sleeves may be too baggy, though. They are baggy and billowy, and allow for great range of motion, but should they be more "fitted" also? Would the "better off" have narrower-cut sleeves than the lower classes in this case? This is going to be worn under a more close-fitting wool vest.
Thank you!
Greg.

[DonaCatalina]

Most shirts from the 16th-17th centuries were very loose in the upper arm. At one point this was referred to as the 'swordsman's' shirt. If you prefer a more fitted sleeve, you will probably have to use a pattern from the 18th - 19th centuries.
But if you just feel out of place, most people around you will have shirts with voluminous sleeves.

[CenturiesSewing]

Hi Greg,

As with many things, it depends.

Shirt sleeves could vary depending on the place, culture, income of the wearer, the fashion of the time. I could go on and on about them since I finished my own hand sewn shirt not too long ago.

But as a general rule, if you are wearing fitted sleeves, you want a fitted shirt. A ton of fabric shoved into a narrow sleeve gets annoying fast.

[chrysantimum]

Thanks for the replies! I was going on various repop shirts that I found during my research, and only decided to narrow the sleeves so I would'nt be trying to cram lots of fabric down my gauntlets! During my time in re-enacting/living history, I found the Woodland Indian type of dress (Or lack thereof) was much more comfortable than what the contemorary British types of the mid-late 1700's were with the tight-fitted sleeves and bodies of their wool coats-I remember seeing Rev War guys passing out from the heat dressed like that! The Natives and traders wore so much more sensible clothing! I guess I will leave my shirt as it is, and when I can figure out how to post pics, I'll put some up.

My next project will be my pants, finished in much the same way, but in linen.

Thank you!
Greg.