Men's
shirts have not changed a lot over the years, but Civil War era shirts had a
few style differences. Shirts generally had a shoulder yoke and shoulder
seams were cut very wide. The body of the shirt was cut to be very full
and loose fitting. The sleeves were cut full in the arms. Cuffs
were generally narrower than they are today.
Shirts had a band collar or built in collar with short, squared points in the front. Band collar shirts sometimes used a removable collar that buttoned on the inside of the band. Work shirts and plain shirts did not button all the way down, but had a placket in front with 4 buttons on it.
Fabrics
used on shirts included wool, flannel, heavy cotton, and fine shirts were made
of linen, muslin or fine cotton. These shirts were available in white,
plaids, stripes, and calicoes. Quality men's dress shirts might feature
tucks or fine needlework patterns and were always white.
An undershirt was usually worn. This could be another, older shirt. Knitted or woven undershirts of soft wool or cotton were worn in cold weather. A "Union Suit" type of one-piece underwear was worn in the coldest weather.
Due to the loose, easy fit of period shirts, this should be an easy project to make from scratch. Period patterns are available with complete instructions included.Considering the cost of reproduction shirts ($25.00 - $65.00), you can make a wonderful, custom fitted shirt for much less.
For your first event or two, you can adapt a modern shirt to a period looking style using our helpful instructions below. This will get you through as you try out reenacting, or while you are working on acquiring your period garb.
A good quality cotton, flannel or wool men's shirt can easily be modified to the period look of a four button pullover. You will want to find a printed shirt with a loose fit. (Buy it an extra size larger) The print should be pin strips in a mattress ticking style, a small plaid or small check in a muted, drab color. Avoid loud or bright colors. If you find one with out a collar, even better.
Get out your seam ripper and open up the seam that attaches the collar to the neckband. Remove the collar and whip stitch the neckband closed. Remove any pockets. Next rip the seam that attaches the button hole tab to the shirt, starting at the bottom and stopping short of the fourth button from the neck. Measure down about an inch and a half from the fourth button hole and cut off the bottom part of the fabric tab. Fold the two corners to the back, forming a point and sew together. Sew together the bottom half of the open front of the shirt. The small strip or check pattern will make this seam invisible. Sew the point down over the top of this seam. If the shirt has wide cuffs, cut them down. Turn the edges in and whip stitch the two sides together.
Photo at left courtesy The Library of Congress, image on right courtesy of The Daguerrian Society