Linen Research: preparing to start a shirt

Hello Friends and Welcome!

Last week’s break gave me a great opportunity to get outside and enjoy some very lovely winter weather; beautiful snowy landscapes, an ice coated lake, and a warm, crackling fire surrounded by family!

But the weather I was experiencing over that break also reminded me that winter won’t last forever. The days are slowly getting longer, the temperature is increasing little by little, and snowy days are turning to sunny ones. And while I’m looking forward to the change to springtime, I also realize that one of my winter goals has been left unstarted.

I think it’s time for that to change!

Sewing a Shirt

For those of you who have been around here for a long time, you’ll already know that I originally learned to sew by making garments. I know many inspirational makers – friends and family members, mentors and teachers – who have encouraged me to experiment with my own designs and taught me all the necessary skills and ambition to follow through on them!

Since getting into quilt making several years ago, quilts have somewhat consumed me. But after graduating from university, I’ve become quite interested in returning to dressmaking. I believe that a simple shirt project will be the perfect reintroduction!

I was inspired by a project made by Bernadette Banner; a dressmaker who focuses on historical garments and sewing techniques, primarily from the 19th century. She released a video on September 2020 with her making process for an 18th century shirt made up of only squares and rectangles. The use of only straight lines makes this a very simple garment to construct and the rectangular cutting results in very little fabric waste.

I saw the video when it was first released and was really interested to try making it for myself, so I copied her pattern notes (which were made freely available with the video) and adjusted it to my own measurements:

I decided I wanted to make my own shirt in burgundy and to use gold buttons as an accent colour. I bought the fabric last summer, and I finally have enough time and enthusiasm to get the project started!

But since this is my first project using linen, my next step will be a little research! Here’s what I learned:

Fabric Prep

Going into my research, all I really know about linen is that it's pretty notorious for wrinkling. I'm not sure how much that bothers me since I have no first hand experience wearing or working with linen. And of course, there could be other things I need to be aware of that I haven't yet considered.

Starting with Bernadette's video; she mentions that, if you are planning to machine wash the finished garment, you should machine wash the fabric before cutting it. If done this way, the fabric will shrink before being made into a garment rather than risking your finished garment shrinking to an unwearable size.

Bernadette doesn’t provide any additional details on her washing methods, so I continued my research.

I moved to the information page of the company I originally bought my linen fabric from; Pure Linen Envy. They recommend machine washing and drying the fabric once or twice before cutting, but didn't provide any information beyond what I'd already learned.

Upon further research, other sources I found mentioned washing linen anywhere from 2 to 6 times to ensure it has shrunk as much as possible. For temperature, it seems that a particularly hot wash and dry cycle will have the most dramatic effect on the fabric – removing excess dye and altering the texture and finish – but that use of your standard wash cycle should be sufficient if that is the only way you ever wash the fabric.

I opted for about 3 hot wash and dry cycles. I want all possible changes to the linen to happen now and this feels like enough to accomplish that goal. I’ve currently completed 2 of those cycles and will be doing the last as soon as I have time!

Thread Choice

I was also interested to know what thread is best recommended for sewing linen. I already know that standard practice is to match the thread fibre to the fabric fibre as this ensures they behave in similar ways when washed and handled.

In her video, Bernadette uses a linen thread that matches the colour of her fabric. She specifically sought out thread that had been made to historical standards and advises against using this type of thin, linen thread with a sewing machine. However, other than mentioning that her thread is different than common polyester thread, she makes no mention of an alternative option.

Moving to the Pure Linen Envy site, I also didn't find any recommendations for thread. As I'm using their fabric for this project, I did send an email to them to see if they have any official recommendations when it comes to thread. That email was sent fairly recently, so it's quite reasonable that I haven't received a response yet. I'm still interested to hear their input, so I may wait for a response before proceeding with the project.

As for other sources, I feel this question was never completely answered. Most sites agreed that any common thread could be used with linen, but were fairly inconsistent when commenting on what exactly that meant. I assume cotton and polyester would both be considered common threads, but of the two, I would prefer using cotton.

I would really love to be able to match my sewing thread to the fibre content of my fabric, but a search for an affordable linen thread in a colour that's reasonably close to that of my fabric hasn't yielded any results.

I have a brown cotton thread that I believe would work for main construction seams and borrowed a red variegated cotton thread from my Mom that should work for any potentially visible seams. There is not enough of this second thread remaining to be used for the full construction of the garment.

Or if I really wanted to match the colour, I'm sure I also have some polyester thread in my stash somewhere that would match really well, but I’m not that fond of using synthetic fibres in my sewing anymore.

I think I’ll need to put a little more thought into thread choice, factoring in whatever response I get from Pure Linen Envy, before making a final decision.

All this research has given me quite a bit to think about. Although working with linen is a new challenge for me, it’s one I’m excited to take on!

As usual, you can find all my sources at the end of this post. Be sure to check them out if you have any questions of your own about working with linen! Or, if you have any tips from your own experiences, be sure to share them with me in the comments below!

I’d also be interested to hear of any good source of quality linen thread since I am still quite torn on the thread conundrum. When I do come to a decision, I’ll most likely share it on Instagram @vafibrearts, so be sure to visit me there for updates between blog posts!

I hope all of you were as interested as I was to learn about working with linen this week!

Until next time friends

~VA

References:

• Banner, Bernadette. “I hand sewed a pirate shirt using 18th century sewing methods.” YouTube, uploaded by Bernadette Banner, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql9r8UKIvZs&ab_channel=BernadetteBanner.

• Burnston, Sharon Ann. The Cognitive Shift, or 18th Century Shifts, What I Know and How I Learned it. 2018, http://www.sharonburnston.com/shifts/shifts_materials.html.

• Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic. “Everything You Need to Know About Sewing with Linen.” Curvy Sewing Collective, posted by Jenny, 2014, https://curvysewingcollective.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sewing-with-linen/.

• Gifford, Shannon. “Linen.” Emma One Sock, 2018, https://www.emmaonesock.com/guides/linen.asp.

• Quinn, Elizabeth A. “Sewing with linen – everything you need to know to make a linen garment!” The Thread, posted by Nikolai Karpushin, 2008, https://blog.fabrics-store.com/2008/03/04/sewing-with-linen-everything-you-need-to-know-to-make-a-linen-garment/.

• Pure Linen Envy. “Information.” Pure Linen Envy, n.d., https://www.purelinenenvy.ca/Information.