Double Period Project 1812 / 1912

The J.P. Ryan shirt pattern was already apart of my pattern collection.  I actually made the ruffled version of the shirt last year.  However, I have not had an opportunity to wear it. I really liked the pattern, it went together pretty well.  I found that the instructions were a bit confusing with its layout and order, but other than that I liked it.  Oh, there was a lot of hand sewing required for this shirt.  I fudged on the ruffled version and did of it most by machine.  That was shirt was not meant for competition.  This one, I actually did all of the hand sewing that it suggested.

Initially, I was not looking forward to all the hand sewing, I found that I didn't mind after a bit.  My stitches got better with pratice.  As mentioned in the previous post, there were a few alterations to the pattern which had to be made, but only a few.  The collar needed to be a  standup collor, no ruffles down the front and at the cuffs,  since this was a day outfit.  If it was meant for evening wear, than there could be ruffles down the front and perhaps at the cuffs.

I forgot, I also removed about six inches from the bottom of the shirt as well.  The previous shirt came almost to my knees. So, it was pretty full and long.

This is a picture of the shoulder support or reinforcement.  The body of the shirt is cut on a fold with a slash for the head and down the front that forms a "T".  To stop the shirt from sliding, the pattern required shoulder reinforcements and small neck gussets.

The original cuff pattern is at the bottom of the picture above and the slightly wider cuff new cutt pattern at the top. I think that I added about 2 1/2 inches to the original pattern to make the cuff more pronounced.

This picture shows the neck gussets after they have been folded and pressed.  They are now ready to be hand sewn into the neck where the neck slash starts.