Mrs. Hancock's Hurricane Shift

Miss Hancock models her almost completed shift.

Mrs. Hancock

Remember that hurricane last weekend? I set the goal to make a "hurricane shift", that is I tried to create a baby shift before the end of the storm. I wasn't entirely successful, but I was able to complete it fairly quickly...

I borrowed from research at 18cNewEnglandLife.org and the V&A's Dictionary of Children's Clothes: 1700s to Present (p.270). I know that children's shifts were essentially the same as mommy shifts, so I didn't use a pattern.

The storm's winds started in my section of southern New England on Saturday evening and lasted about 24 hours. I lost power on Sunday morning and it wasn't restored until Monday evening so I'm counting that in my timeline here. Sew I started the project Saturday evening. (Sorry, I like bad puns.)

Saturday Evening

Miss Hancock currently wears the 12 month size in Carters brand clothes and she will transition to the 18 month size this fall. I used one of her 18 month onsie / pant outfits to approximate measurements...

I measured this slightly larger size from the shoulder to the elbow...

...and from the shoulder to the knee to guesstimate the shift's measurements.

 I cut a piece of fabric for the body and sleeves, and started flat felling the side seams so that...

...by Saturday evening as the sun was setting,  I was well on my way with this project. 

By the time I went to bed Saturday night, I had finished the side seams and had started hemming the skirt.


Sunday 

Sunday: one sleeve attached, the other pinned in place

By Sunday evening I had completed the following:

• the sleeves were sewn
• one sleeve was attached (with the cute little gussets) 
• and the skirt's hem was complete. 

Monday 

On Monday I realized I had incorrectly sewn the first sleeve and gusset. I ripped that out and reset it, and then correctly attached the other sleeve.

I also added two drawstrings...

In the first drawstring, I simply turned down the hem at the neckline and added two eyelets. 

For the second drawstring at the sleeves, I used some fabric scraps to create a casing. As you can see above, this scrap wasn't long enough so I pieced it together. 

Later in the Week...

When Miss Hancock tried on the shift I realized that I made it waaaaay too long. This shouldn't have been a surprise since the measurements were based on the size that's larger than what she currently wears. She will be walking soon so this length just won't work.

Back to the workroom. When she was wearing the shift, I noted where her knee was. I used this length to trim several inches off the skirt and rehemmed it.

This resulted in the boxy and rather awkward looking shift pictured above. It's done. It's doable for a working class impression, though I don't think it's my best effort.

Besides taking better measurements so that my shift has the right triangle shape, areas for improvement include:

• Primary Sources. I relied upon secondary sources because I couldn't find primary sources. I plan on making her a spring shift (which she'll wear to the summer event) and hope to find a) an extant garment to work from or b) 18th century documentation in writing (maybe something like the 1789 Instructions for Cutting Out Apparel for the Poor but published two decades earlier).
• Better fabric. I choose the softest linen from my stash but forgot that it doesn't have a tight weave. As you can see in the picture below, it pulls very easily. I had planned on embroidering her initials at the front of the neckline and "12-18 months" to represent the size at the inside back of the neck (like a modern tag) but that just wasn't feasible. (Yes I realize embroidering the size is not accurate, it would be for my future reference since I plan on making her many shifts as she grows.) 

As you can see, this linen doesn't have a tight weave and leaves little marks from the stitches. 

Lastly I was concerned that maybe I tackled this project too quickly. Shifts are garments that receive much wear and laundering. It took me months to make my shift as I tried to finely and neatly sew the stitches. But in this case, I was focused on completing the project as fast as possible. 

In the Diary of Anna Green Winslow: A Boston School Gift of 1771 (Applewood Books), she writes on December 24th, "I began a shift at home yesterday for myself, it is pretty forward" (p10). Then on December 28th she writes, "Last evening a little after 5 o'clock I finished my shift. I spent the evening at Mrs. Soley's. I began my shift at 12 o'clock last monday, have read my bible every day this week & wrote every day save one" (12). 

So (sew?) I feel justified that Miss Hancock's shift will do. 

Clever Geometry

Dearest Friends,

Problem: Fit a square peg in a round hole.  That, in essence, is what you are doing when you make a shift. You need to make a group of rectangles fit a three dimensional curvy body. Making a shift is a great example of very clever geometry!

Here's a diagram to help explain it. First you need to take a rectangle and make it shaped more like a body -- narrower on top than on bottom.  You do this by slicing off two long triangles at the top, flipping upside down them and attaching them to the bottom - creating gores.  Two rectangles become the sleeves that are made wider at the top than at the bottom by the use of two small squares that become underarm gussets. And Abracadabra! You have a garment of squares and triangles that turn into a shift.

Next post I'll show you the economical use of fabric employed when you cut it out.  Waste not want not!

Your humble & obedient servant,

Mrs. S.

Shifting Into First

Dearest Friends,

Time for a new shift! Following my theme of items with New England provenance, I need to find a NE shift. Extant 18th century shifts are like hen's teeth.  No surprise since they were subject to being boiled on a regular basis, subject to constant wear, bodily fluids and oils, and if there was anything left of them after years of service, they ended up with the rag man. However, a few examples do exist. One well known one is at the Smithsonian and I'm lucky enough to have the diagram that I will use for the construction of mine and luckier still that this example is from the Copps of Connecticut! To read more about this wonderful textile collection, you can download a pdf written by Grace Rogers Cooper in 1971 from the Smithsonian website.


Shiftless in MA,
Mrs. S