Mid-19th Century Chemisettes In Written Sources

"...we must advert to what the French call chiffons--the absolute accessories of the toilet, and without which no toilet can be complete; collars, cuffs, chemisettes, and, at present, sleeves, constitute the chief of these articles; they vary so much with fashion, that we cannot say much on any particular style to be adopted; they should in general consist of very finely worked muslin, cambric, or lace..."
--Godey's May 1860

 

Embroidered chemisette with front-buttoning closure.
American, c.1830. In the LACMA collection.

Back when I started quantifying chemisette styles and decoration in surviving garments, I also started compiling a separate document of magazine descriptions and fashion plates for similar project. That quickly grew unwieldy, so I'm instead posting it here for examples of the breadth of styles available.

Garment Names

While I used the terms "chemisette" and "dickey" to locate artifacts for the garment statistics, contemporary terms for the sleeveless, usually side-less, meant-to-be-seen partial undershirt include "chemisette" and "habit shirt". A full shirt-like woman's garment is also occasionally called a chemisette (like here in Peterson's in 1862, though the other style also appears under that name). The more complete garment is also referred to as a body, waist, guimpe, or corsage--terms also applied to the bodice of a dress. 

The minimal "chemisette" exists to fill in the open front or neckline of an otherwise complete bodice: sides, sleeves, etc. are superfluous to that task. Often the chemisette does have a back, either to fill in the upper back of an open neckline, or else to help anchor the front piece. The full shirt "chemisette" appears more in the early 1860s, worn with jackets, silk/Swiss waists, corselets, and similar accessories. These accessories cover almost the exact opposite of what an open bodice would, leaving the white waist to fill in a combination of front, side, back, shoulder, and/or sleeve areas. I did find one magazine illustration which appears to have sleeves attached to a side-less chemisette. 

"Chemisette" in Godey's May 1858.
Side-less, sleeveless chemisettes appear in the same volume.

Habit Shirts

Florence Hartley's Ladies' Book of Etiquette (Boston, 1860) allows that riding habits may be cut low for wearing with a chemisette, or cut high for use without. An 1857 treatise on equestrianism allows for habits to have necklines with linen collars or low necklines filled in with habit shirts (ideally of embroidered cambric, with a thick collar). An 1846 article on riding clothing concurs: the habit shirt should be 'handsome', and have a collar. In fair and exhibit catalogs (including the Great Exhibition) habit shirts are listed along chemisettes.

The chemisette and habit shirt seem to be largely the same, though there is room for some differentiation. The best example that I've found is in the August 1856 issue of Peterson's, which has instructions for an embroidered muslin habit shirt that is also called a 'chemisette'. The instructions differentiate these based on how the garment's neck is finished: if made up as a chemisette, the neckline should be edged in valciennes lace, but as a habit shirt it should have a matching collar (with instructions for drawing a collar from the scalloped front design). It also gives instructions for altering the given front-fastening pattern to make a back-fastening version. Additionally, there is a suggestion that the pattern is good for  "Swiss work", ie, embroidery on muslin with net insertion filling the voids (French muslin and Brussels net being the best).

"Lady's Habit Shirt and Sleeves of Thin Muslin", Peterson's April 1856. 
Not a full shirt, but two sleeves with a sideless habit shirt.

Shapes

Of the sideless chemisettes, there's a number of possible shape variations. The chemisette is frequently worn high (near the base of the throat), though lower or open necklines are also possible. A surprising number of chemisettes are also fully open down the front, with no apparent fastening mechanism. Chemisettes with high necklines can have collars attached, or may end with a small frill or lace trimming. The garment can fasten down the front or the back, with some low-necked chemisettes not requiring any fasteners. There's also a rare and intriguing possibility of chemisettes with open sides and attached sleeves. Knit, crochet, and guipure chemisettes (to be discussed later) appear in flat V-shape, covering only the front of the body. I've also found this shape once in white cotton, for an embroidered jaconet habit shirt in Godey's (1856).

Two chemisettes of fine muslin, 1854. Anglo-American Magazine.
The one of the right is open down the front, that on the left has a collar.

Half-high chemisette of Brussels net,
for use with a low-necked dress.
Peterson's, June 1855

Decoration: Lace, Embroidery, Frills

The usual embellishments for white cotton accessories appear on chemisettes: embroidery, broderie anglaise, lace, insertion, pleats, and self-fabric puffs and ruffles. Tatted decorations are rare, but do appear. Bows, though far from universal, appear on multiple examples.

The New Monthly Belle Assemblee, July 1846
Muslin and embroidered cambric chemisettes.

This Great Exhibition catalog includes four references to embroidered muslin habit shirts or chemisettes, one of frilled jaconet muslin, and one decorated with tatting.

Sartain's Union Magazine (Jan-June 1851) describes chemisettes of tulle with lace; embroidered muslin; embroidered tulle; bands of lace insertion. It also mentions chemisettes and fichus worn with dresses that are open all the way to the waist.

The Anglo-American Magazine (August 1854) has a fashion plate featuring two chemisettes with matching undersleeves: one is of fine muslin with detailed embroidery, the other of fine muslin with Honiton point lace.

Mrs. Pullen's Treasures in Needlework (1855), includes instructions for making chemisettes decorated in "Irish guimpure" (cut-work embroidery), broiderie Anglaise, embroidered medallions (satin stitch with optional cut-work), and antique point lace (needlelace stitches joining braid).

Guimpure on net, muslin, and linen cambric chemisettes appear in Godey's 1856 fashion descriptions, with somewhat less detailed decoration than in other volumes. 

Arthur's Illustrated Home Magazine, 1858.

Chemisette

    Of fine India muslin. It is made close at the throat, enriched with various tucks down the front, and surmounted with a round collar, edged with a border of oak leaves in the finest possible needlework; inside of this border the collar is dotted with eyelets and a cluster of small pansies, with their foliage, form a second border within the edge. 

    The front trimming is peculiar and for a certain style of person singularly graceful; a length of muslin with a delicately embroidered edge, is placed in a serpentine ruffle from the waist to the throat growing narrower as it descends, but gathered with a fullness very rich and effective. Under every second fold of this trimming a bow of ribbon peeps out, giving brightness to the whole.

Plain tucked muslin (without embroidery) is popular for chemisettes and habit shirts in Godey's 1859 fashion descriptions. The London and Paris Ladies' Magazine of that year mentions chemisettes of muslin, with and without insertion.

Godey's volume 60 (Jan-Jun 1860) includes a girls' chemisette trimmed in ribbon or passementerie to match a dress, and a cambric chemisette as part of a dress for a 14-year-old. As previously noted, it also calls chemisettes and similar small white accessories "indispensable" components of the wardrobe, with "worked muslin, cambric or lace" as the main materials. It observes that open-necked chemisettes give a finished look to low-necked gowns, and advises on fashionable collar shapes and becoming trim placement. A neatly tucked 'habit shirt' appears on page 449.

Open chemisette with puffs and lace.
Arthur's Home Magazine, October 1860

Other Materials

While chemisettes sewn of fine white cotton predominate, but there scattered references to other materials. 

The What-Not (1861) mentions chemisettes of white, scarlet, and blue cashmere; though some of these are in Zouave ensembles, and thus likely to be full "shirt" garments, one of them is a chemisette and undersleeves, apparently separate.

In addition to the open chemisette mentioned above, Arthur's featured two chemisettes of Irish guimpure (lace) and a crocheted chemisette. All three have a triangular shape, reminiscent of an 18th century stomacher. I've found no mention of how these garments should be fastened, though the lacey guimpure likely need to be attached to a fabric chemisette or something similar.

Irish Guimpure Chemisette.
Arthur's Home Magazine, September 1860.

The aptly named The Knitted Lace Chemisette Stomacher Receipt Book (London, 1847) gives three designs in knit, by description more decorative than warm. Interestingly, another book describes a  warm sontag as being 'like a habit shirt' in shape. Miss Lambert's My Knitting Book (1847) includes a warm habit shirt of 3-ply fleecy, and observes that is can be worn over or under the dress. The Ladies Companion (1850) has instructions for a "knit under habit-shirt".

In the October 1860 issue, Arthur's Home Magazine has a triangular 'crocheted chemisette'. The shape is like the Irish guimpre chemisette they ran the previous month: a front piece only, widest at the shoulder and tapering towards the waist.