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Sewing the Eleventh Century Chemise

sleeve hem stay-stitched
Stay-stitch the bottom of the sleeve, just inside the seam allowance. This will make it much easier to turn up later, and prevent it from fraying.
sleeves sewn
Sew the sleeves into tubes along the long side.
sleeve placed in arm slit
Turn the sleeve right side out, and place it onto the arm slit. The seam of the sleeve should line up with the top of the side seam.
sewing sleeve to body
Sew the sleeve into the body of the chemise. I'm doing this by hand.

Why am I doing this by hand? Because it’s too small to fit into my sewing machine. This is also why I had to finish the seam allowance by hand.

chemise, right side out
Turn the chemise right side out.

She looks like someone’s holding a gun on her, doesn’t she? The arms set at that angle because of the angled arm slits on the body. This places a disproportionate amount of fabric under the arm. That’s why I say this sleeve is basically self-gusseting. The extra fabric a gusset would add is there because of the angle the sleeve is set at. Pretty slick, if you think about it…. (Not too flattering to wear, mind you. Gussets put the extra fabric directly below the armscye, so there’s less bulk at the front and back shoulder area.)

Next… Finishing

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