The shirt sleeves were just simple rectangles, typical for this period underarm gussets were used to provide addtitional support and mobility for the arm area.
The picture below shows the inside of the shirt sleeve with the cuffs pinned to the sleeve waiting to be hand sewn. I think, that I completed one of these cuffs in the morning prior to going to work. The extra width of the cuff really made a difference.
This is a better picture of the underarm gusset after it had been added to the sleeve. Once it was added, than the sleeve was added to the body of the shirt.
Also, the pattern suggested a very small gusset at bottom of the body of shirt's side seams. It was optional, but according to the pattern notes, this portion of the shirt received a lot of wear. Especially, if this was the gentleman's primary undergarment, the long shirt tails of the body were tucked between the man legs forming a sort of brief. The shirt was worn during the day with other outer garments, but at night, it was worn as a night shirt.
A closer view of the inserted underarm gusset.
Finally, a week later, the 1812 shirt is complete. Well almost complete, I still have to add buttons on the cuffs and one at the neck. I am pretty pleased with the way this shirt turned out. Also, the hand sewing turned out not to be so bad after all, I rather liked it. As other costumers have mentioned, there is a bit more control with hand sewing. It may take a bit longer, but once you develop a rhythm, it is goes pretty quickly.
Ok, one item done, next up will be the waistcoat.
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