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Claude Moore Colonial Farm
6310 Georgetown Pike •  McLean, VA 22101 •  703-442-7557
  

A visit to the Claude Moore Colonial Farm is a visit to another world ...the world of an 18th Century family living on a small,
low-income farm just prior to the Revolutionary War.

The year is 1771 ... won't you come and visit?
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Colonial Day Resources
from Claude Moore Colonial Farm

 

How to turn an old shirt into a colonial shirt

Time to complete:
30 minutes

Supplies:
Men's old dress shirt
Choose an old shirt that is white, brown, blue, red, checked, or striped. Don't choose any really bright or neon colors.

Scissors

3 Buttons
In the 18th Century a working man's buttons would have been made of horn, bone, wood, or pewter. A dress shirt might have had thread buttons. Choose buttons about 5/8" wide in brown, off-white, or white metal. Eighteenth Century buttons usually had 2 holes, not four, or were metal with a loop on the back. Fabric glue or fusible web, a sewing machine, or a needle and thread.

Background:

In the 18th Century, shirts were used the way shirts are today, but they were also used as underwear, and to sleep in. Dress shirts were white and made of fine bleached linen or cotton. They might have ruffles made of lace or linen at the neck and on the cuffs. Work shirts were made of coarser, cheaper material. They were usually white or the color of unbleached linen, but they were sometimes dyed, or checked, or striped.

Directions:

Modern shirt showing what is to be cut off

1. Remove pockets, buttons, and any labels.

2. Cut the points off of the collar to make it rectangular. Colonial collars were often rectangular. Sew or glue the cut edges of the collar together.

3. Cut the rounded edges off of the bottom of the shirt to make it straight. Leave the tails as long as possible. Colonial shirts were long. They came down to the middle of a man's thigh. Glue or sew the hem at the bottom of the shirt.

4. From the bottom of the shirt, cut 5 or 6 inches up each side seam. There is no need to finish the edges if the cut is made between two rows of stitching.

5. Cut the cuffs to a width of about 1 ½ inches. Glue or sew the edge of the cuff.

6. Glue or sew the front opening shut from the bottom up to the second button hole. Do not let the front button holes show.

7. Sew a button on each of the cuffs and at the neck. Clip the buttonholes if necessary to make them a little larger.

8. Tie a kerchief around the neck loosely, and wear the shirt out to hide the front of the trousers.

Note: The fabric which has been cut from the shirt is in this photograph to give a rough guide as to how much has been removed - and from where

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6310 Georgetown Pike, McLean, Virginia 22101 • 703-442-7557

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