"He looks as if he knows what I look like without my shimmy!"
The most basic layer of any 18th century get up is the chemise. Normally highly decorated with lace and frills, your chemise was a thin layer that protected you from your other garments and your garments from you. The chemise was generally made of cotton or linen- and was white, for easy laundering.
For my BBQ dress I knew I would need a chemise with a wide neckline, so I've used The Mantua Maker pattern 1800-3 Ballgown Chemise with no sleeves. My fabric is a cotton/linen blend tissue linen- and luckily the amount they had left on the bolt exactly fits my pattern pieces, it was a very close call. After assembling the pieces I did take in the sides to better fit my shape- I figured the less fabric bunched under my tightened corset the better. Because I'm an untucked chemise kind of girl I wanted to lengthen my chemise a bit with a ruffle at the bottom, but as of yet I haven't attached it.
The most difficult part about this pattern was the bias trim around the armholes. I know that shouldn't have been difficult, but I made it complicated for myself. As mentioned in the pattern I inset the shoulders with elastic (a modern cheat to allow for a greater range of motion), but i left out the part where you cover the elastic with casing. I couldn't get the casing to trim the way I wanted it to, and worried it would be too bulky under the shoulders of my dress. The result was edges that are bulky anyway, so I don't know that I actually accomplished anything other than giving myself a headache.
But, I do have a chemise, and the trim on it coordinates with my corset, which I feel really pulls the whole look together. In the future, I'd like to make more chemises, with different necklines and better trim, because I've discovered I'm a fan of linen.
I also saved my scraps from this project to be made into hankies.
