Chemise
Definition: A loose, shirt-like undergarment, usually hanging straight from the shoulders with no tailoring. "Chemise" may also refer to a dress resembling the undergarment or to a modern sort of nightgown. Note that "shirt" has always been the common term in the English language for the male garment covering the upper body.
Period: Early Medieval to Edwardian.
Etymology: First used ca 1050 as cemes in Old English, from the Old French chemise meaning "shirt" or "tunic". "Chemise" appears in English in 1200 but it was not a common term until the 19th century.
Other terms:
- Shift: First attested in 1598 in reference to the undergarments of both men and women. This term began to replace "smock" in the 17th century.
- Smock: First used before 1000 as the Old English smoc, referring to any garment with a hole for the head. Shift slowly replaced "smock" during the 17th century, and by the late 18th century this term would have seemed very antiquated to the average city dweller. A smock was always a feminine garment, except in the very early history of the word. A smock as worn by artists is attested from 1938.
In context:
"CHEMISE, s. f. (chemise d'homme.) A shirt. Chemise de femme. A smock, a woman's shift."
- Dictionnaire françois-anglois et anglois-françois by Abel Boyer (1792). |
The understanding of "chemise" in 1792. Shift was still the common term - even the archaic smock was more widely recognized.
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"Two or three of the men or women were lying on the benches, others on old chests; and one figure started half out of a trunk to look at me, whom I might have taken for a ghost had the chemise been white, to contrast with the fallow visage. But the costume of apparitions not being preserved I passed, nothing dreading, excepting the effluvia, warily amongst the pots, pans, milk-pails, and washing-tubs."
- Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Volume 2 by Mary Wollstonecraft (1796), pg 184. |
Notice how "chemise" has been italicized, indicating a foreign word. This was still the period of the shift.
"Costume" is also italicized. I'm not entirely sure about the purpose, but I do have one theory: Although the word entered the English language from French in 1715, it still was not used in the modern sense (Halloween costume, theatre costume, etc), with the exception of the clothing of a certain place or time period, until 1818. Wollstonecraft states that the dying person was not dressed the way she would expect a ghost to dress (in stereotypical ghost garb, a sort of character costume in the theatrical sense), so she moves on. |
Examples:
Contemporary sewing instructions:
HOME NEEDLE-WORK
BODY LINEN. FOR cutting out and making all the different varieties of chemises and shirts, there are fixed rules to be followed; and, when once these invariable rules are conquered, but little difficulty will be experienced in making the various kinds. This end will be attained by a careful analysis of the component parts, as these, when examined separately, will give a better understanding of the whole. We will commence, then, by describing the chemise, the making of which is much less complicated than that of the shirt.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CHEMISE--MEASUREMENT--CUT--MAKE--DIFFERENT VARIETIES.
Fig. 1.--A chemise is composed of eight parts, which are--
1. The body of the chemise. 2. The gores. 3. The sleeves. |
4. The gussets.
5. The bands for the sleeves.
6. The band for the neck.
7. The shoulder straps.
8. The trimming.
5. The bands for the sleeves.
6. The band for the neck.
7. The shoulder straps.
8. The trimming.
MEASUREMENT.
In making of a chemise, it is not of importano (sic) to be very exact as regards measurement, as in no case does the garment fit closely to the body. Plenty of width ought always to be allowed, yet it is necessary to ascertain--
1st. The measurement of the length of the chemise, taken from the shoulder to half way down the leg.
2nd. The size of the top of the chemise, taken from one shoulder to another.
3rd. The length of the sleeves. This, in the case of a nightgown (which has much similarity to a shirt, and which will be fully treated later on), with the sizes of the neck and wrist, are all of importance. The length of the chemise sleeve is according to taste. These measurements are generally taken from a pattern chemise; but, failing this, they must be taken from the figure of the intended wearer. It will then be easy to ascertain the quantity of material required. Thus, for a person of medium height, about two yards and a half of linen or calico would be necessary. The material must be at least a yard in width, but greater width than a yard and a quarter would occasion waste.
1st. The measurement of the length of the chemise, taken from the shoulder to half way down the leg.
2nd. The size of the top of the chemise, taken from one shoulder to another.
3rd. The length of the sleeves. This, in the case of a nightgown (which has much similarity to a shirt, and which will be fully treated later on), with the sizes of the neck and wrist, are all of importance. The length of the chemise sleeve is according to taste. These measurements are generally taken from a pattern chemise; but, failing this, they must be taken from the figure of the intended wearer. It will then be easy to ascertain the quantity of material required. Thus, for a person of medium height, about two yards and a half of linen or calico would be necessary. The material must be at least a yard in width, but greater width than a yard and a quarter would occasion waste.
CUT AND MAKE OF A CHEMISE--DIFFERENT METHODS OF PREHARING (sic) THE BODY OF THE CHEMISE, THE GORES, ETC.
To begin with a very simply-made chemise about a yard and a half long, the sleeves four inches in length. For this is will be requisite to have three yards of material; as this is composed of two widths of the calico, besides a quarter of a yard for the sleeves, in all about three yards and a quarter will be required. From this quantity the piece for the sleeves ought first to be taken, say a quarter of a yard. The rest of the chemise will then be formed of the remaining three yards. Divide the material in two equal parts, one to form the back width, and one for the front. It will at once be perceived that, in leaving the body of the chemise thus, there would be too great a width at the top, and not enough at the bottom. The desired shape is therefore given by the gores.
Fig. 2. Gores.--These are strips of material cut from one side of the length, pointed at one end. There are different ways of preparing gores. 1st Method.--To cut these gores from each side of the chemise, the width required for the neck ought carefully to be marked by pins. From each pin to the end of the chemise there should be several inches (say five), which represent the width of the gore at its base e; from this the stuff must be cut on the cross and narrowed to a point towards the |
middle of the chemise—that is to say, to the outer edge of the material. For a beginner, it will be better, before cutting the stuff, to fold it firmly on the cross, making a mark where the scissors ought to go. After these first gores are cut (two are cut at the same time, one from the back width and one from the front), and after having cut in the same manner the gores from the other side of the chemise, let all the four gores hang from a few threads on each side of the body of the chemise. Then, turning them towards the lower edge, they must be sewed by the salvage to the edge of the chemise. This method gives a pretty cut to the top of the chemise, and form short gores, such as are now preferred.
2d Method.—The gores can be placed on one side only of the chemise. This plan is excellent where the material is very wide. In such a case it is only necessary to cut two gores from one side of the chemise. These (one for the back width and one for the front) must be larger than if they were taken from both sides. These gores are sewn to the opposite sides from which they have been taken. The gores of this (and in all cases) are sewn by their selvage to the selvage of the chemise, and then closed at the sides by running and felling the seam. Again, if the material be very wide, the four gores can be shaped from a straight piece taken from each width of the stuff. These long narrow pieces must be folded and cut on the cross, each straight piece then making two gores. These gores are first fixed and tacked to the chemise by the selvage or straight sides, and are afterwards neatly seamed.
Fig. 3. 2d Method.—This is useful to know, as it is very quick and simple, and requires no preparation for the gores. After having cut off the material required for the sleeves, etc., that intended for the chemise is folded into three parts, a, b, c, so that the two ends meet in the middle of the material, then the sides are sewn together; this forms a bag, or rather a double bag having two ends, d, e. It is from each side of the bag near near to the sewing that the gores are to be cut, so that the straight ends of each of them meet in the middle of the under portion of the bag. The edges of the opening of the bag are the lower ends of the chemise, which lie exactly on the centre of the material; that centre is the top of the chemise. It is from the lower portion of the chemise that the gores are cut, taken, as usual, from the width remaining after the size of the shoulders has been arranged. Fig. 3 allows one gore to be seen, after noticing which the method will be easily understood. When all the gores are cut, the bag is unfolded, and the gores will be found to be sewn up. (Fig. 3.) It only remains to finish the chemise according to one of the ways described further on. When the chemise has been closed at each side by a seam run and felled from the slope, and when the hem, of about one inch and a quarter in width, has been made, the neck must be finished off.
2d Method.—The gores can be placed on one side only of the chemise. This plan is excellent where the material is very wide. In such a case it is only necessary to cut two gores from one side of the chemise. These (one for the back width and one for the front) must be larger than if they were taken from both sides. These gores are sewn to the opposite sides from which they have been taken. The gores of this (and in all cases) are sewn by their selvage to the selvage of the chemise, and then closed at the sides by running and felling the seam. Again, if the material be very wide, the four gores can be shaped from a straight piece taken from each width of the stuff. These long narrow pieces must be folded and cut on the cross, each straight piece then making two gores. These gores are first fixed and tacked to the chemise by the selvage or straight sides, and are afterwards neatly seamed.
Fig. 3. 2d Method.—This is useful to know, as it is very quick and simple, and requires no preparation for the gores. After having cut off the material required for the sleeves, etc., that intended for the chemise is folded into three parts, a, b, c, so that the two ends meet in the middle of the material, then the sides are sewn together; this forms a bag, or rather a double bag having two ends, d, e. It is from each side of the bag near near to the sewing that the gores are to be cut, so that the straight ends of each of them meet in the middle of the under portion of the bag. The edges of the opening of the bag are the lower ends of the chemise, which lie exactly on the centre of the material; that centre is the top of the chemise. It is from the lower portion of the chemise that the gores are cut, taken, as usual, from the width remaining after the size of the shoulders has been arranged. Fig. 3 allows one gore to be seen, after noticing which the method will be easily understood. When all the gores are cut, the bag is unfolded, and the gores will be found to be sewn up. (Fig. 3.) It only remains to finish the chemise according to one of the ways described further on. When the chemise has been closed at each side by a seam run and felled from the slope, and when the hem, of about one inch and a quarter in width, has been made, the neck must be finished off.