Simplicity 8162 - Chemise

The chemise was the 2nd thing I made out of this pattern. I was going to make it out of something like voile or lawn but went with broadcloth instead. I was planning on wearing this during the colder months and wanted the extra warmth a thicker fabric would provide. Plus, its what I had lying around.

I really like how quickly this pattern came together. Also, the amount of hand sewing required was like zero so my hands were grateful after just hand sewing all the bias tape on the corset.

The arm gussets were pinned in place and sewed down. I also sewed an inch over the large dot on the sleeve fabric.

 I ironed the seams outward and cut little slits at the large dot where I stitched so that the fabric could slip behind it. I also did a small hem on the edge of the sleeve by turning it inward twice 1/4 inch and sewing it down.

Next I worked on the neckline. I sewed the shoulder seams together using french seams. I attached the neck facing, which becomes the drawstring channel, and sewed it down. Then I turned in the facing  by the specified amount and sewed it down. I made sure to keep the two pieces on the end turned in and separate to make the opening for the ribbon.

Then the sleeves needed to get sewn on. I attached them with a modified French seam. I say modified because I sewed it on regularly and then decided I would rather do French seams so I just turned in the ends and folded them over, ironed them down, and then sewed close to the edge of the fold. Maybe there is another name for it?

The side seams were sewn up in the same modified French seam manor. The last thing I did was hem it. I folded the edge inward by 1/4" and then by another inch and sewed it down.  Then she was all good to go.

Here it is with the corset over top of it. It comes up a little high on the dress form in the chest, but it looks fine on me when worn.

 And below are the finished undergarments together at last!

Thoughts on this chemise pattern were that it was pretty easy to put together and I didn't have any instructional issues like in previous Simplicity patterns.

Overall thoughts of the pattern as a whole were that they are really great starter foundation garments. I feel like a lot of thought was put into them to make them as historically accurate as possible while also still being functional enough that an inexperienced person could put these together. Great job American Duchess!

Here are the links to the stays and bumroll.

Happy sewing and thanks for reading!