1780s Shirt

Started to work on the inspiration costume, the first item will be the man's shirt. I got this pattern from www.lostcoastpatterns.com just a few weeks ago. She was having a warehouse moving sale. So, I snapped it up along with a couple of other patterns.

Within the last year, I have made an effort not to cut up my original patterns. Instead, I trace a copy from the original using light cheap fabric. This way, I have the orginal patterns all together, which can easily be used as the reference copy. Also, I save my new pattern pieces in a separate plastic ziplock bag. The pattern is labeled with the new pattern pieces and I keep the original pattern and instructions together.

I am sure that everyone does this, but I will mention it here anyway. When I purchase fabric now, I label the fabric with the type of fabric it is, if I know what it is, the quantity, the width of fabric and lastly the date of purchase, you can add the cost per yard if you like. I cut up a little card, note all of the pertinent information and pin it to the fabric. When I go through my stash, I can see when the fabric was purchased and how long it has been hiding in my closet.

It's a little extra time and a few extra steps to create this working copy of the pattern, but I really think that it is worth it.

Actually, I had a shirt pattern which I had purchased from Butterick last year sometime and made a couple of shirts from that pattern. I noticed with that pattern, the sleeves were extremely full. That worked for the pirate costume that I was making for a friend. However, I wanted this shirt to be more historically accurate. We shall see.