Jamestown Shirt Done!

So Wednesday after 3 months of hand-sewing and embroidery, one of the Jamestown shirts is done!

Each piece was hemmed by hand with white linen hiding each raw edge. The pieces were then assembled using open work seams. This seam consists of a blanket stitch on the edge of each piece, buttonhole stitch just wider. Then the pieces are joined by stitching around the black silk on the blanket stitch with a white silk to join the pieces and create a decorative spiral look. This was based on examples from Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The neck was reinforced with a spider type stitched, based on examples from Janet Arnold.

The embroidery was stitched with a simple back-stitch and a reverse chain for the stems. A french knot was used for flower centers.

 

 

Finally the ties were finger woven using 5 loops into a square cord using white silk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Materials used: Soie Perlee black silk and Gemstone white silk. The Au ver a Soie line is colorfast with washing while Gemstone silks will fade with time and washing in my experience. White linen thread and white linen fabric. I will post close up shots of the open work seams and embroidery later.