Another Regency chemise

Made a new regency chemise, this time based on a c.1800-1820 original in the Albany Institute of History and Art, featured in Regency Women's Dress. The Albany Institute does not appear to have digitalized the original (or any undergarments), but their collections database has some very fun shoes, hair-work pieces, and a few dresses.

New linen chemise, style c.1800-1820.

The material is a light-weight linen from Fabric-Store.com (IL-020, I believe). It's entirely hand-sewn, with all the seams felled (having learned my lesson about linen raveling along unfinished seams). I adjusted the front width and sleeve depth to my measurements--the sleeves were a necessary change, but I ended up taking in a lot at the front sides after having expanded them.  As I found out last time I tried to made a regency chemise, I run into trouble getting a garment that sits securely at the neckline but is also cut generously enough over the bust. With the Victorian chemises I've made, the extra material is simply gathered into the yoke or band; with the Tudor shifts, I just cut the shoulders to fit and then flare the front sides out as needed.  Here, I ended up cutting the bust wide enough, then fiddling with the strap placement and pinning in the excess material at the sides. It's not perfect--the front neckline still gaps slightly and the straps are sitting further out on the shoulder than they probably should be--but it's an improvement over my first regency shift, and quite comfortable.

I'm going to put my thoughts on the pattern in a separate book review. 

In other news, linen is still a pleasure to hand-sew, and I routinely hit 14-16 sts on all the seams this time.