A shift in another direction.
The shop knitting and crochet specialist here: Now, I had some lovely soft yarn in my thrifting stash and needing something to do to keep my fingers busy. So I decided to knit Charlotte a shift, or what we'd call a chemise these days.
There is a lot of information out there about 18th Century ladies underclothing. Many, many blogs and Youtube videos illustrate how to make a shift, or chemise as it is sometimes called.
Where I found it on pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/549298485792073865
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/27/a5/43/27a5431de1095b6529c2d47fda837cb6.jpg
While there are many examples of knitted stocking, hats and gloves for men, as well as caps and clothing for babies, there is not a lot out there about knitted garments for women. Extant pieces include a few sweater like items, a knitted petticoat to be worn over a pannier, fingerless mitts and stockings. Netting and Crochet was more common types of home a construction in the 18th Century. Crochet developed later out of the craze for tambour techniques from India. Crocheting hurts my hands, darn it
I could not find an example of an extant knitted chemise. But it was such lovely yarn. It is lighter than fingering with a bit of fuzz. So while the basic shape of Charlotte's is HA, the materials are not. Charlotte doesn't seem to mind. And the boss is okay with it too.
Many historical samples of shifts are plain in construction and decoration. Because Charlotte needed more room to put on her shift, she has a simple placket in the CF. The gathers at the neck are faked, so they stay put. The tie is there only to hold the placket closed. I didn't add lace at the neck and sleeves as I had intended. The shift is beautiful in it's simplicity. Instead, the hem is finished with a picot for something decorative.
Whose to say that we know everything about what women wore? Our foremothers were experts at making do and innovating. We do know that a lot of hand crafted garments were passed on or taken apart for reuse. So maybe all those lovingly made knits were worn to the point of no return.
Where I live it is -22 Celsius at the moment! And I wonder . . . If you were living on the frontier in nowhere North America would you be trying out the men's felted hats and gloves?