Mens Shirt Gussets

[ScottFugate]

Has anyone sewn a shirt with gussets in the shoulders where the collar is sewn in? I am attempting to duplicate a shirt in "Thoughts on Men's Shirts in America" that has these gussets. The pattern I am using as a starting point does not have them.

Are these single or double thickness? Another shirt in the book has a note which mentions double thickness gussets. Would one just sew right side to the right side of the front and back pieces, and then fell like any other seam?

Thanks for advice anyone might provide.

Scott Fugate

[RyanBWeddle]

Has anyone sewn a shirt with gussets in the shoulders where the collar is sewn in? I am attempting to duplicate a shirt in "Thoughts on Men's Shirts in America" that has these gussets. The pattern I am using as a starting point does not have them.

Are these single or double thickness? Another shirt in the book has a note which mentions double thickness gussets. Would one just sew right side to the right side of the front and back pieces, and then fell like any other seam?

Thanks for advice anyone might provide.

Scott Fugate

The neck gussets are a rectangle with all edges pressed inwards, then this rectangle is folded into a triangle/parallelagram of sorts and felled into the "V" shape shoulder seam which runs into the collar. I hope that makes sense . . .

[KLCoombs]

My understanding is that gussets are usually (but not always) double thickness, with the folded edges facing each other. That's the way the Homespun Patterns shirt is, and the one original that I have, anyway.

[Michael Semann]

Mr. Weddle and Miss Coombs are both correct. Nearly all extant shirts with the afore mentioned type of gussets that I have personally examined, and that I have reproduced myself, were indeed doubled over and sew in place as a double thickness. By the way, THOUGHTS ON MEN'S SHIRTS IN AMERICA is a super book to work from. Cheers.

[ScottFugate]

Thanks. The tuck-in and fold over instructions make sense.

Would these have been attached by overcasting inside and out, or by top stitching through all thicknesses?

Scott Fugate

[Michael Semann]

Most of the shirts I have examined that had this feature had them sewn in place using an overcast stitch. It was done very carefully though, so that only a faint stitchline poking through was visible on the outside of the garment.

[Canton Zouave]

Many of the neck gussets I have examined in originals are double thickness. however, they almost all have been sewn in various manners. Take a good look at the #7 shirt in William Brown's book. It gives an excellent example of how a gusset is must commonly installed. However, as noted in the Federal Domet Flannel shirt, which has doubled gussets, the outside one is almost completely covered with the shoulder strap/reinforcement. In this case the top and botton gussets are whip stitched. In the #7 the gusset is top stitched. Add to this, the fact that some of the period shirt I have looked at have no neck gussets at all.

Just some thoughts.