Late Victorian Vampire Shirt

The recurring joke is that because of some health issues, in summer I dress like a Victorian Vampire.

But how would an actual Late Victorian Vampire dress? Picture her, she would look like some kind of eccentric gentlewoman, as vampires usually do, probably with a style that is a bit conservative, rather than following the latest fashions.

Now, she wouldn’t probably wear men’s shirts. But what if she was a lesbian¹ vampire? Wouldn’t she need a fancy, frilly shirt to go with her tailored cycling suit when she’s out seducing the more active ladies in the neighbourhood?

Or maybe not. It’s not making a lot of sense, is it? But I do have a lot of shirt fabric in my stash², and I could use a few more shirts that were practical and comfortable, but also somewhat over the top.

For the practical and comfortable I went to my trusted 1880s shirt, while for the over the top part I looked at inspiration from the earlier 18th century frilly shirts, and their later imitations.

I decided to use some nice cotton batiste I had bought quite a few years ago to make one of my first historically inspired shirtwaists: I may have a tendency to buy a bit more fabric than actually needed by the pattern, but that’s what everybody does, right?

For the ruffles I decided to use a lighter weight cotton voile, also from the stash.

At the front, I wanted the ruffle to be inserted in the yoke, but I was also whipstitching the gathers to it to make them neater, so I started bu attaching the yoke lining to the gathered front, then I whipstitched the ruffle to the front, catching each gather, and finally I whipstitched the other yoke on the ruffle and the rest of the gathered front.

And then after sewing the collar, I realized that this way the slit would have remained open in the front (or the collar too narrow), so I had to unpick the front part of the yoke, and sew it again, this time leaving an excess of fabric as wide as half the placket width from the pattern, to be sewn directly in the collar band.

From then, things progressed smoothly, with some interruptions, until I got to the first sleeve, which I failed to insert twice, as one does.

On the third attempt, with a different method, I succeeded, I tried the shirt on, and it already felt extra.

But it could be even more extra. With some ruffles also at the collar.

The shirt had been made with a simple collar band, and I could have just added the ruffle to it, but I also wanted to be able to wear it with other detachable collars, so I decided to make another collar band with ruffles, to wear on top.

And that was mostly it, except for the reinforcement patches at the side seams and cuffs: I love having them, because they make the seam end neater and stronger, but they are a bit of a hassle to make, so they got postponed a few days.

But finally, the shirt was done.

And I tried it on, and it was good.

But now I really need a pair of cycling breeches, don’t I?