Making 1860s chemise and drawers (with patterns inside!) | 1860s transformation dress diaries

Welcome to the first part of my 1860s transformation dress series. Today I'm going to show you how I made my chemise and drawers. You can find the links to the patterns in the description. When people ask me what garment they should make first when starting in historical costuming, I always say chemise or a shift or a pair of drawers. You know, something easy that can help you to dive in and won't scare you off. So, let's get started with something nice and easy. Place the selvedge edge together in the middle and line up the center edge of the chemise pattern along the fold. Then cut around the pattern piece and repeat. Place the sleeve pattern so the top edge is along the fold. Pin it in place, cut it out and then repeat for the other sleeve. Then cut 1.5 inches or 4 cm along the fold line. And the last piece. Let's call it a yoke. Make two marks on the selvedge 4 inches or 10 cm apart and cut a bit past your selvedge. Now grasp each side and begin to pull apart tearing the fabric. I think it's the easiest method to get a perfect rectangle. Repeat it for the other mark. Now press it down, then fold it in half and press again. Wrap the yoke around your shoulders and bring the ends together at the center front. Look in the mirror and decide how you want the top of your chemise to look. I opted for a V-shape, but you can also make a straight edge. Pin it at the front and mark the lines on both sides of the yoke, so you can stitch them together later. You should also mark the side seam on your shoulders. Like if your shoulders had a side seam. I hope that makes sense. Now pull it off, press the marked lines to create a memory crease and cut off the extra fabric. Unfold the yoke and fold the edges right sides together. Pin the edges matching the folding lines and stitch them together. Press the seam open. I decided to add the crochet lace to the top of the yoke. I started stitching it from the center front and after I was done, I connected the edges by hand, so it looks nice and clean. It's the last step for the yoke. Fold it so the center front on the side and mark the opposite edge at the center back. And now let's start working on the main piece. Lay your yoke piece over the front of the chemise. Both pieces should be folded at the center. Place the yoke so the center edge is along the fold and it looks like this. Mark and cut this triangle. Now let's connect the sleeves to the chemise. I did it using flat felt seam. But you can also use French seam or even a regular seam and leave the edges raw or trim them with pinking shears. I did this a lot back in the day and it's ok, no one's going to see this under a dress anyway. I added the same lace to the sleeves. The method I used is hard for me to describe, so I'll try to show it to you. Now it's time to sew the side seams. Start with the sleeve hem and go down to the chemise hem in one continuous seam. Let's finish the hem. You can use a double fold hem or add another lace, like I did. Now you should gather the neckline. Set your sewing machine to a long straight stitch and stitch two lines on the front and back piece. Grab both bobbin threads on one side of the piece and pull to slide the fabric along the threads. Take your time and slide the fabric with your hand along the threads. Pin the chemise and yoke right sides together, matching the marks on the sides, center front and center back. Pin only one side of the yoke. Stitch both pieces together between the two gathering threads. Be careful to only catch one side of the yoke. When stitching the sleeves, stitch closer to the edge. Remove the gathering threads. Press the seam from the right side on a rounded object, like a hem. Then fold the raw edge up towards the inside of the yoke so that it's hidden inside the top of the chemise and press. Attach the yoke to the chemise. I usually use small whip stitches to do that. Be careful that your stitches don't show through on the right side. And with that the chemise is done! I will show you how it looks on me at the end of the video, but for now let's work on the drawers. The pattern for the drawers consists of only one piece that looks like a hexagon that was drawn by a child. Fold the fabric right sides together. Pin and cut the pattern. Don't forget to make a notch at the side and mark the top part with a marker. Now you are going to make a waistband, the same way you made the yoke. The length of your waistband should be equal to your waist measurement plus 3 inches, or 7.5 cm. You can make it as wide or as narrow as you want. Here I made mine 10 cm wide. Fold it in half and press. Then fold it so the short ends meet. Mark 3 eighths of an inch, or 1 cm, from both edges. Mark the center back. Then fold it in half again to mark the sides. Let's leave the waistband for now and start working on the main parts. First you are going to work on the crotch seams. Since you are making split rows, you don't need to stitch them together. But you need to hide the raw edges. First, press the raw edge over by 1 quarter of an inch, or 6 mm. Press the hem over a second time. And then stitch close to the open folded edge. The next steps are fairly decorative, and you can skip them if you want. I decided to add a lace insertion to my drawers. I marked a line 4 cm from the edge on the right side and pinned the crochet lace to this line. I sewed both sides of the lace to the drawers 5 mm from the edge of the lace. Then I carefully snipped down the center of where I stitched the lace to the fabric. I folded the clipped edges and then pressed them away from the lace. After that, I only had to sew over them to hide the raw edges. And the best thing is that it's almost invisible from the right side. Then I sewed the lace to the hem using the same method I used for the chemise. I wanted to add pintags between the insertion lace and the hem, so I grabbed my pintag foot and double needle. If you are going to do the same, make sure that the needle matches the foot. I tried different tension settings until I was happy with my pintags. And then I made 4 rows of them on my drawers. After that, I added another 4 rows at the top of the insertion lace. What can I say, I love pintags. Now it's time to go back to the practical steps. Fold each leg and stitch the inseam using your favorite seam. I used French seam for mine. You should have two nice drawer's legs by then. Gather the top edge of each of them using two gathering threads. Pin one side of the waistband and the drawers right sides together, matching the marks on the sides. Pin the center front of the drawers to the marks at the edge of the waistband. The back part of the legs should overlap a little bit. Make sure that you pin the drawers the right way, otherwise you'll end up with a lot of fabric at the front and not nearly enough at the back. Stitch both pieces together between two gathering threads. Be careful to only catch one side of the waistband. Press the whole waistband up and away from the drawers. Then fold the raw edge towards the inside of the waistband and press. Flip the long folded edge of the waistband to meet the waist seam. The right sides of the waistband should be together. Sew the ends of the waistband, then clip the corner and repeat for the other side. Then flip the waistband right side out. Attach the inner side of the waistband to the drawers. Again, I use small whip stitches for that. Place two small buttons on the right side of the waistband and mark their placement. Cut open these lines and make blankie stitches around the hole to create a buttonhole. Now it's time for a fitting to sew the buttons in the correct position. Put the drawers on and pin two edges of the waistband together, so the right one overlaps the left. Make sure that it's not too tight. Mark the dots through the buttonholes and sew the buttons in place. And that concludes my tutorial for the drawers. Now let's see how both garments look together. What can I say, I'm absolutely happy with the way these garments turned out. And I hope this tutorial was helpful to you. I think that's all for today. Thank you for staying with me till the very end and I'll see you when I see you.