Standards - Clothing Essay - Men's Shirts

The medieval shirt or chirte, chert, shert, scherte, shurtes, schyrtys, shertys. There are no extant examples from the 15th century so we have to rely on art from the time to give us a clue on how one was made.

Observations:

• Most of the shirts in the art gallery below are from mid thigh to knee length with a few that are longer shown.
• The seams appear to be at the shoulder and on the sides indicating the shirt body was 2 pieces.
• In some of the more detailed images it is plain to see there is no curved arms eye and that the seam where the arm meets the body of the shirt is hanging off the shoulders and on the arm. This indicates that the body is square and not tapered in at the arms eye. (Pictured to the right)
• The neck openings appear to be simple circles in most cases and some are slit open down the front. It can only be assumed that the edge is rolled and sewn down to prevent fraying.
• Sleeves for the most part appear to be straight pieces of cloth; they have large cuffs which suggests no taper from the armpit to the cuff. Some might be tapered as seen in the some of the manuscripts below.
• Most shirts appear to be open on the side seam from the mid hip down, this is likely for ease of movement when walking.

 

Our Reconstructions

Materials

• From the Men's Basic Clothing page: "Shirt: A shirt should be made of white linen. It should be made in a tunic fashion with a gusset under the arm."
• Bleached linen from 3oz to 5oz works best. It will be 56 to 60 inches wide.

Layout

An efficient way to layout the shirt is pictured to the right (click for larger image). This layout is for 60 inch material:

• Body pieces should be 30 inches wide by 45 inches tall for a man up to 44 inches in the waist.
• Arms should be 27 inches wide by 18 inches tall. For a man with a large shoulder and bicep you may want to increase the size to 27 inches by 20 to 22 inches.
• Gussets should be 6 inches by 6 inches.

For 56 inch material:

• Body pieces should be 28 inches wide by 45 inches tall for a man up to 42 inches in the waist. For thin guys you can make the shirt body width less, just measure across thickest part of your body and add a few inches for ease of movement in the garment.
• Arms should be 25 inches wide by 18 inches tall.
• Gussets should be 6 inches by 6 inches

 

Image Gallery
Please click on the thumbnails for a larger image

Bouts, Dieric the Elder, The Execution of the Innocent Count c. 1460. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

Rogier van der Weyden. St John Altarpiece 1455-60. Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Manuscript, Augustine, La Cité de Dieu, Books I-X 1475 came from Koninklijke Bibliotheek National Library of the Netherlands (Click here for the search engine)

Manuscript, Valerius Maximus, Des faits et des paroles mémorables 1475 came from Koninklijke Bibliotheek National Library of the Netherlands (Click here for the search engine)

Geertgen tot Sint Jans. The Bones of St. John the Baptist c. 1485. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Bouts, Dieric the Elder, Triptych with Martyrdom of St. Erasmus 1460. Sint-Pieterskerk, Leuven

Jean Froissart Chronicles c. 1460.

Unknown Manuscript, 1475 came from Koninklijke Bibliotheek National Library of the Netherlands (Click here for the search engine)

Piero della Francesca. Burial of the Wood c. 1455. San Francesco, Arezzo