French Clothing in the New World. Part Two.

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o    CIVIL COSTUME AT LOUISBOURG: 1713 - 1758
MEN'S COSTUME

o    BY

o    MONIQUE LA GRENADE

o    March 1972

o    (Fortress of Louisbourg Report H-F16AE)

o    Translated By Christopher Moore

o    I. CLOTHING

o    A. SHIRTWEAR

o    1. THE SHIRT

o    Whether of rough cloth for the fisherman or fine cloth for the great merchant broker, the shirt was an indispensable item of clothing. During the day, men wore shirts against their skin, with a vest and breeches. The night shirt or Amadis shirt (chemise en Amadis) was made of "light cloth with more narrow sleeves". [1] The term "amadis" was not used at Louisbourg, but Governor Duquesnel, for example, owned sixteen "nightshirts" (chemises de nuit) at about 10 livres each. [2]

o    However the word "shirt" alone was most often used, since night shirts and shirts worn during the day were probably very similar. The shirt usually reached to knee-height. It was open at each side, and split at the front from collar to chest. The sleeves "reached beyond the hands; but were attached at the end of the arm by buttoned cuffs". To this basic style could be added trimming "of finer cloth, plain or embroidered, or of lace; the trimmings at the cuffs are called manchettes ... that at the front is called  jabot ..."[3]

o    The making of a shirt [4] began with the preparation of sleeves. To start, one folded a rectangle of cloth along its length and then sewed the two sides, leaving an opening of two pouces at one end to insert the armpit gusset and an opening of three pouces at the other end. Each side of this opening, called the fourchette of the cuff, was hemmed. Next the sleeve of the shirt was folded to the size of the cuff, to which it could then be sewed. The cuff is a narrow strip of fabric, doubled over. Its size could be adjusted to the wrist size of the wearer. Each side of the cuff had a button-hole. The body of the shirt was a long piece two aunes (approximately 94 inches) or a little less in length, folded over unevenly to make the front slightly shorter than the back. A six pouce cut was made in the front of the fabric for the opening of the jabot (a frill or ruffle of lace at the throat). The end of this cut was reinforced by a heart-shaped gusset called the coeur du jabot. At the neckline, the cloth was cut on the fold, to the right and left of the hole for the 'a.1 bat, to six inches from the shoulder. At each side, the upper third was left open to receive the sleeve; the middle third was sewn and reinforced by a gusset at the bottom; and the bottom third was left open.

o    The collar piece was a band of toile adjusted in length to the size of the wearers neck. Its width varied according to taste. It was folded along its length and the doubled band sewn at the neck of the shirt closed with two or three buttons.

o    Then the sleeves were attached. They were sewn to the body of the shirt, with flat folds on the upper side of the shoulder.

o    Accounts of inventories or public sales at Louisbourg are brimming with references to shirts. Often they tell nothing but the number of shirts, or add only the most vague details such as "common", "trimmed", "old", "used", "of poor quality". In general, then, men wore shirts as simple as those described above, made of toile. (See Table No. 1)

o    # For this and other un-translated terms in the text, see the glossary.

o   

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o    TABLE NO. 1: SHIRT FABRICS

PERIOD	TOILE	COTTON	UNSPECIFIED
1713 to 1745	80	4	521
1748 to 1758	105	4	513
1713 to 1758	185	8	1,034

o    DOCUMENTATION:

o    1713-1745: 49 documents referring to shirts 605 times

o    1748-1758: 48 documents referring to shirts 622 times

o    1713-1758: 97 documents referring to shirts 1,227 times

o   

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o    Throughout the history of Louisbourg, this fashion was unchanged. One finds a certain stability in comparing documents predating and post-
dating the English occupation of 1745-1748.

o    However the quality or type of toile could vary, as could the trimmings added to the shirt, and there are few exceptions to normal colours, styles and fabrics.

o    A few examples of price will show that a variety of qualities existed. In 1743 six used shirts which had belonged to a fisherman (compagnon pêcheur) were valued at 13 sols 4 derniers each.[5] In the following year, the effects of Governor Duquesnel included eighty-one trimmed shirts ranging in value from 4 to 14 livres.[6]

o    The amount of wear on these articles partially explains the divergence in price; but the quality of the toile must also be considered. (See Table No. 2) Shirts of toile d'Alaçon for example, were a luxury available only to the wealthy. Even simple white toile implies a concern for quality since the frequent washings required must have represented a great deal of work.[7] Hence it was rare for common people to wear those shirts, unless they had found some way to enrich themselves. In one case, a soldier drew attention to himself by wearing shirts of good quality stolen from a merchant. Questioned about it, a witness answered that he had not "suspected that the shirts had been stolen because the said Paquet usually wore the best, having earned a let of money the previous year..."[8]

o    Rough unbleached toile (la grosse toile écrue) was the most common type. It served in the making of the shirts sold by the merchants and probably also those classed simply as "common". This was cloth without

o   

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o    TABLE N0. 2: TYPES OF TOILE USED IN SHIRTMAKING

YEAR	QUANTITY	PRICE	CLOTH	OCCUPATION
1732 1736 1741 1750 1750 1751 1752 1756 1757 1757 1757	47 3 7 4 13 4 1 24 6 2 1	- 3#3s 1#4s 5# 6# - 1#15s - - - -	"rough unbleached toile" "white toilet" "rough toile" "blue Zinga toile" "Bretagne toile" "Rouen toile" "royal blue toile" "toile de Leval" "Jinga" holland toile Rouen toile	"bourgeois" - - schooner captain treasurer of the Marine stolen from a merchant bourgeois - merchant - -

o    DOCUMENTATION:

o    From the documents referring to shirt fabrics (See Table 1), we have isolated those which specify the type of toile. We have listed the average price for each group

o    and the occupation of the people involved when these details were available.

o   

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o    its fibers bleached: it was left in its original state, which was gray in the case of flax and yellowed if made of hemp.[9]

o    Apart from these two colours and white, coloured shirts were very rare. In all the consulted documents, there are only four shirts of striped cotton; [10] one of "blue Zainga toile"; [11] one of striped blue toile; [12] three of "blue checked cotton" and three other "blue";[13] one of "striped toile" and one of blue gingham.[14]

o    Except for the coloured cottons noted above and one other of "cottonade", [15] toile was always the fabric used.

o    Finally, several style specifications can be found. In 1734, the inventory of the goods of a drowned man, likely a fisherman, included "basque" shirts.[16] In four other inventories, all of merchants, can be found twenty-four "sailor's shirts" (chemises de matelot) in 1720;[17] thirty "fisherman's shirts" (chemises pour pêcheurs) in 1738,[18] fifty-eight "Saint Malo shirts" (chemises malouine) in 1743 [19] and twelve "Breton shirts" (chemises bretonnes) in 1756. [19a] Evidently these qualifying terms refer to styles of shirts favoured by seamen, so it is not surprising to find mention of them at Louisbourg, where fishing was an important activity. However, we have no information which would enable us to describe this shirt.