Shirt

ΜΓ 431 A man’s off-white shirt. Its front consists of fine cotton, while silk cotton taiston (with puckered bands created lengthwise by warp threads of two different tensions) made of ttira and koukkoulli yarns, is used for the long sleeves, the collar, the back and the yoke. The front is composed of two cotton panels, 40 cm wide at the bottom, with seams beneath the armpits and at the extension of the vertical opening, which reaches at a height of 36 cm from the base of the collar downwards. Plackets of added or folded over strips of fabric, 1.8-2 cm wide, are machine-stitched on both sides of the opening. Placed on them are seven ready-made white buttons and corresponding handmade buttonholes. An eighth buttonhole is found on the neckline. On both sides of the opening, next to the placket, there extends a 5.5 cm wide panel of needlework (cutwork embroidery, filled with silk thread stitches), featuring opposite-facing wavy lines as the main decorative motif. Τhe needlework is lined with fine transparent fabric, plain yellowish silk on one side and silk-cotton taiston on the other. The needlework section, across both sides of the vertical opening, is flanked by parallel vertical tucks, three pairs and a single one on either side. Under the tucks and the breast opening the fabric gathers in free pleats.  The pointed collar (maximum height: 7.5 cm) consists of machine-sewn double fabric. Its inside is made of two halves, with a handmade joint at the centre of the back side, widthways. The stand of the collar, 1.5-2 cm in height, is sewn with machine stitching(?) in the upper part and handmade in the lower. The hand-sewn yoke, extending across the shoulders behind the collar, consists of a single strip of taiston fabric (length: 46 cm, height: 8 cm) with the ruffled bands in horizontal arrangement. It is lined with plain cotton fabric. The back of the chemise consists of four panels, two on either side. The upper panels (height: 52 cm, width: 34 cm) are of a greater height and gather under the yoke forming a row of pleats. The latter are secured with a handmade stitch that runs horizontally across them in the upper part, double in places. The two lower panels (height: 27 cm, width: 34 cm at the top and 36 cm at the bottom) are made of a different type of taiston fabric. The hem of the chemise is hand-sewn. The sleeves consist of two parts, 15 cm and 22 cm wide, joined lengthwise with seams on the inner and the outer back sides of the arm. Small pleats are formed at the joint of the sleeves to the yoke. The armpits consist of a small square piece of a different taiston fabric (measuring 12x13.5 cm on one sleeve and with 13 cm sides on the other), sewn in a diagonal position with handmade stitches. At the edge of each sleeve a 7-7.5 cm high cuff, lined with white cotton fabric, features two buttons similar to those at the front opening of the shirt. Pleats, formed above the cuffs, are secured across with a double stitch. This shirt stands out for its varied making and decoration as it combines different fabrics, sewing techniques (by hand and machine-made) and elaborate decorative means (cutwork embroidery filled with stitches, as well as pleats and tucks). In the Registry of the Museum it is described as a “formal chemise”. Height of chemise: 84 cm. Width: 46 cm on the shoulders, 79 cm at the base. Sleeve length: 60 cm. Sleeve width: 22 cm in the upper part, 10 cm around the cuffs. Date of entry to the Collection: 25.10.1985 Provenance: Lefkoniko – Donation by the family of Yiannakos Hadjisavvas.