A Man with a Quilted Sleeve, c. 1509 by Titian shows the body linen better than the Titian Fresco Miracle of the Jealous Husband. The body linen for men would have been very similar between these two outfits. The body linen shows a circular neckline that is comprised of the sleeves and body pieces being pleated up to a band with the pleats free inside the band. You can see that the neckline is circular, as the back appears to sit farther down in the back than the front. This is because the head sits farther forward on the body.
The sleeves for this style of body linen would hardly show besides at the very top edge at the neckline. They would be almost completely covered by the sleeves of the outer garment.
To pattern this body linen, we took several measurements:
- Circumference of head (+2 inches of ease)
- Biggest circumference of the body
- Neck to Wrist
- Neck to Bottom Edge of the garment
- Armpit to Neck
- Bicep (not shown)
The body panels are each the width of the entire circumference of the body (this will allow 2 times the body circumference for the main portion of the body, below the gathered neckline and are the length of the Write to Bottom Edge.
The Sleeve panels are based on the bicep measurement plus about 7 inches of ease for width and the length is the Neck to Wrist measurement.
Gussets were 8 inches as I have a fairly substantial bust that needs to be allowed for in this male body linen.
The placement of the body panel to arm panel was based on the Armpit to Neck measurement. I used 10 inches instead of 11 inches in the garment because the neckline sits out from my actual neck a bit as it is big enough to go over my head easily.
The order of operations for the construction was to hem all 4 edges of the gussets and 3 of 4 edges of the sleeves– leaving the wrist unhemmed. Then whip stitch the gussets into the sleeves. Hem the body panels on all edges but the bottom. Then whip stitch the sleeves and gussets to the body panels. Once the garment was one piece, I used double box pleats to pleat up the neckline to the measurement of my head plus 2 inches of ease to allow it over my head and nose easily.
Once the pleats were tacked down, I tested the fit over my head and with the Checkerboard it will be worn under before machine sewing the first pass of the neckband.
I machine sewed a narrow, folded lengthwise, straight of grain band down to the neckline, just below the pleats. I then folded it over, covering the machine sewing and raw edge, and hand-tacked it down to the body linen.
The stitches tacking down the pleats were then removed to allow the double box-pleats above the neckband to move freely, as a small ruffle.
I used the same technique from the neckline on the cuffs. I used a combination of single and double box pleats to take the cuffs into a size just big enough to fit over my hand and then stitched a band down by machine, folded it over, and hand stitched it down the rest of the way.
Close up of finished neckline. The double box pleats are free inside the band to allow for a small ruffle like edge.
Close up of the finished cuffs of just the shirt. These just barely fit over my hands and the combination of single and double box pleats allow for a lovely treatment at the wrist.
Close-up of the wrists with the checkerboard garment over top. There will eventually be inner sleeves that mostly cover the body linen to finish this look off.
