Riding Costume...Shirt

This is the first piece of the riding costume to be almost complete. Only thing left to do is add elastic at the wrists. I tried very hard to use the design of the vintage linen tablecloth to the best advantage, and to waste as little of the cloth as possible. I think I did a pretty good job. I still have two center medallions, and two small scrolls, left to play with or to add to something else.

In the photos, the shirt has been ironed, so looks all nice a smooth. Once worn and washed, it will be wrinkled...and will stay that way, as I have no intention of ironing it every time I wash it. Besides, it's meant to look a bit "rough."

This old linen feels lovely against my skin, and hangs beautifully. When you pick the garment up, it feels a bit heavy, but once on, you don't notice it at all. I am really sold on this whole recycling of old linen, so will be looking for more at the Goodwill and antique/thrift stores. I need another big one to make the skirt for the costume, so the hunt is on!


Here is the front of the shirt. The sleeves are waiting for the elastic at the wrist. Also, I positioned the pattern pieces so that the hand-crocheted edging of the cloth got used on the hem and sleeve edges. What I didn't use, I have kept for use on other garments. It's just too precious to toss away.

Front close up.

Back view.

Detail of back. I especially like the way I got the scroll to fit on the collar piece.

This is a detail of the sleeve. In order to get the design to work best, I had to cut the sleeves in two separate pieces, rather than place the pattern on the fold. In doing so, I ended up with a seam down the top of each sleeve, but that doesn't really bother me, since the design was too nice to lose. You can just see the casing for the elastic on the left side of the sleeve. That will give me a wrist ruffle of about two inches.

Next in line after the shirt will probably be the jacket, or the waist chincher. I'm really having a lot of fun putting this costume together.