Shirts

[Clifford Hyde]

I was wondering just what shirts were lined and what weights would have linings? 5oz.? 9oz? etc. Were Battleshirts lined? Thanks guys for your replies. Clifford E. Hyde

[Canton Zouave]

Mr Hyde,

A good place to start to answer you question is to get a copy of William Browns "Thoughts on Men's Shirts, 1790-1900". The book shows several variations of shirts, and includes an image of a half lined "French Pattern" shirt.

Many of the original shirts that I have examined featured no lining at all. The ones that I have seen lined were only half lined or lined only through the back. These shirts were also in many different weights of fabrics.

I have attached a couple of images from a shirt held in the collection of the Gettysburg National Military Park. One shows the lining material for the shirt (loooking through the placket) and the second shows an overall view of the shirt. The shirt is machine sewn throughout, and as evidenced, the lining is made of a different material than the body of the shirt. The shirt is lined both throught the back and chest.

Hopefully this starts to give you some answers to your questions.

[Blum]

Nice pictures Todd, But i am not sure to well understand them :
- in the first we see the shirt has a body lining in a different fabric than the shirt himself. Ok.
- in the second picture, is the bottom of the shirt pieced with a totaly different fabric ? A third fabric.
Thanks for sharing these pictures.

[Blum]

After another looking at the second picture, i had finding that the bottom back is of another fourth fabric !!!
That is as crazy as the CC Troïani ’s shirt.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Thats shirt is beautiful! Is there a know provinace of who it originaly belonged to?

[fidlr1]

After another looking at the second picture, i had finding that the bottom back is of another fourth fabric !!!
That is as crazy as the CC Troïani ’s shirt.

Looks like it was either pieced when being made, or repaired, perhaps when the tail was either damaged or irretrievably soiled. That is beautiful main fabric, isn't it? I'm amazed at how intricate the patterns are on some of these original garments.

[RyanBWeddle]

Tood,

Can you expound on how the lower piecing was done?

What method was used to attach the seam?
French felled? Open seam?

Was it Machined or Hand ?

Very nice...

[Canton Zouave]

OK,


Should have put the overall view first. Then the inside of the collar.

The shirt itself has no specific provenance to any particular soldier of the period: (Shucks, but of the three I looked at in Gettysburg recently...none of them had provenance to any aprticular soldier)

Here is the way that the shirt is listed and reads on NPS Form: 10-254

"Men's Long Sleeve cotton shirt w/ 4 button placket front & turn-down collar, buttons 7/16" dia. white glass, small borwn tear drop & crosshatch design printed on Face, 1 button on each cuff, shirt pattern is blue w/ white vertical stripes (wider white stripes w/ small blue ovals seperated by 3 thinner white stripes) lower 10" of shirt tail in front is large blue white check pattern, in back is small blue gingham pattern, same pattern as inside back pannel, blue- white/ brown pattern lines breast near arm holes.

In addiiton, the shirt was dated as c:1860

The article has an Acquisition Date of 08/20/1997 and was "Purchased" by the NPS. I am still working to find out if the shirt was sent to Harpers Ferry for study to determine it's authenticity as a period garment.



Now the shirt front & back as noted has had a piece added. The overal shirt has been machine sewn, and the sewing is not very straight. The additions have been hand sewn on both the front and rear of the shirt. They have not been flat felled but are merely sewn with a running stitch, in what appeared to be a heavier cotton thread than the white thread used to sew the shirt originally. The like sides were matched and then the pieces stitched together. There were no attempts to flat fell or overcast the two types of cotton fabric. These pieces are freyed, but not overly so. Both additions are also rolled and whip stitched. This hand work was obviously done by a less experienced sewer that what is normally (But not always) seen on hand sewn shirts. In addition, the buttons reseamble thoughs buttons that appear on the print shirt in William Brown's "Thoughts on Men's Shirt, 1790-1900".

It should be noted that this shirt is only half lined in the back, with a different type of fabric in the front for an inside shoulder reinforcement.

I have added a few more pics so you may see the two additons, and get a really good idea of the pattern of fabric for the body of the shirt.



Enjoy,

[Canton Zouave]

For some reason the second image is not coming up, but it is appearing in the thumbnails. It gives a good overview of the shirts cloth pattern.

[fedhead]

For some reason i can't see any of the images , i am very interested in seeing the machine stitching on the french pattern shirt .

Are main seams on the arms and body flat felled by hand or machine or are they french seams, are the hems machine sewn . I have thoughts on men's shirts but the details of the stitching on shirt #17 are not very clear . Has anybody seen shirt #17 and taken photographs or maybe of any mid 19th century french pattern shirt .

Thank You