My camicia , part 1/2

Finally I can start presenting the camicia I done for the challenge.By the way , camicia is the italian word for chemise.When I start uploading the pictures I realize that some of them have not been taken .That's why the post will be in two parts but I have so much to tell about this .

You should first know it was the first time I ever made an 80% historically correct chemise.Since I use the sewing machine for some part I can't pretend it's 100% period but still look perfect , at least for me.Before the challenge I never did embroidery of any kind.With lot of determination , I get good result and I am proud of it.Before talking of the first 10 pictures , here are some facts about this:

Hours to complete: 20 hours

Type of fabric: 4 oz linen from William Booth draper

Amount of fabric used:  around 4- 4.5 m

Embroidery : by hand and by machine

Buttons: made by hand

Pleating at the wrist: made by hand

Pattern: custom made from the Elizabethan smock pattern generator , 99% correct

Satisfaction with the result : 100%

This is the detail of the neckline.It has a square shape you can't entirely see.I wish to have a little gold so I made this by machine.The linen being delicate, I made a test before, I had to use tear away lining under the fabric .My machine refuse to do it without it.I remove the excess when it was done.

The hem at the bottom of the chemise.I put a lot of gold accent everywhere so I thought why not for the hem.I use a bigger thread and do it by hand.To make as much as possible regular size point , I take my time and it take 1h30min to complete.

My first try of mock up ,don't do it when your tired or not focus.For the pattern , I did use the Elizabethan smock pattern generator.Except for the size of the underarm gusset , which I did half the size , it was perfectly correct.

The reason I use the generator is from comment I did have read in the past , people were saying making a first chemise can be tricky and required lot of attempt to make something you will be satisfy with.For a reason of time , I thought it would be wise to use the generator as a base and will have a minimum of correction to do.I found the underarm gusset too big for my taste .That's why I do it half the size and it was quite enough.

Except for the side piece I cut too short and didn't place properly at the first try for the mock up, the construction was really easy to do.The chemise is longer of what you see on the picture , my personal choice.

For the decoration on the sleeve , it take me a lot of time to choose.Looking in my embroidery book to see what I can do , I finally find a model of start .As I say , the linen is delicate.To make the stars I use bead embroidery needle size 12 .

Even if it's a very thin needle , it make hole when it enter in the fabric.I was told it was normal but can be reduce if I iron it.I had not the chance to try it yet.The stars are made by hand for a total of 86 , 43 on each sleeve.

The beginning of my first button.I use the technique propose in the book The tudor tailor.

The finish thing.I make 2 of them , 1 for each sleeve.I also make a star on each and as you can tell from the picture , it was made by hand.

For the wrist , I wasn't sure how to do smoking .I simply thought as long as I could get pleat and fix properly , it should be find. I draw 5 lines on the fabric and did marks at very 1 inches to be sure to make things regular.At the end , it gave beautiful and perfect pleat.

The hem of the sleeve.Made by the overlock machine with a gold thread.

The wrist band.The band was first iron and then sew by hand . The design is made by machine and the button fix by hand.

The other side of the band.I made the buttonhole by hand but must admit isn't as much as perfect I would like but still ok with it.The picture was taken before I open it.