18th Century Women’s Shifts

There’s no one singular & historically accurate style of 18th century shift that’s universally correct for the entirety of the century.

See the extant examples below to understand how shift styles evolved through the century to suit changing styles of gowns.

For the most part, shifts were made of bleached (or at the very least, undyed) linen. You’ll find a few with ruffles in a finer linen or cotton. Some shifts probably had buttonholes at the cuff to accommodate sleeve buttons. Some shifts demonstrate thrift by using a less-expensive, coarser fabric where it wouldn’t be seen, and a finer fabric where it would be seen. Some are marked with the owner’s cross-stitched initials or her name written in ink, often at the center front, a few inches below the neckline.

In addition to the extant examples & illustrations, there are a few sources that describe how to make 18th century shifts. The 1789 Instructions for cutting out apparel for the poor includes instructions for making shifts for girls and shifts for women.

Garsault’s L’art de la lingere (1771) also provides instructions for making three styles of shifts, as illustrated in the diagram below — Fig. A is an English style (“à l’Angloiſe”), Fig. B is a French style (“à la Françoiſe”), and Fig. C is an English style for petite women (“Chemise à l’Angloiſe … Cette façon ne convient qu'aux perſonnes menues”)— as well as an economical way to add about six inches to a growing teenage girl’s shift.

Chemise pattern

Additional Resources

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The Cognitive Shift, or 18th century shifts, what I know and how I learned it

Making an 18th Century Shift

How to Make an 18th Century Chemise

Making a shift from start to finish

Shift (Diary of a Mantua Maker)

Burnley & Trowbridge Shift Sew Along: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, a shift sleeve hack, Q&A with Neal Hurst, Q&A 2

Hand Sewing an 18th Century Shift video tutorial

Costume Close-Up: Clothing Construction and Pattern, 1750-1790

Extant 18th century shifts

MFA 43.1244, a heavy linen shift

MFA 43.1245, a heavy linen shift

Colonial Williamsburg 1984-79, white linen with ruffled neckline and hollie-point neck slit, England; 1700-1750, altered 1790-1820

V&A T.26-1969, linen; United Kingdom, 1730-1760; “Shift of fine linen, hand-sewn. With a low round neck and straight-cut sleeves set with a gore beneath. They are elbow-length, gathered and pleated into an arm-band with worked eyelet holes. The shift reaches to below the knees and is flared in the front, and with triangular gores inserted at each side of the back.”

Manchester 1969.237, 1740-1780; “Fine white linen. Low round neck, bound with narrow linen tape. Elbow length, straight cut sleeves, with a gore below, and gathered and finely pleated into an armband with worked eyelet holes. Body of shift reaches below knees, flaring to the front with triangular gores. Marked below centre front neck edge: "4 / SH" in red cotton cross stitch. Identical to two shifts at the V&A [T.25-1969 & T.26-1969] with the same inscription.”

V&A T.248-1931, Great Britain, 1740-1780; “Woman’s shift made of two qualities of linen, one known as 'coarse holland' with a thread count of 70 warp × 60 weft per inch for the body, and a finer one of 88 warp × 96 weft for the elbow-length sleeves, sewn with linen thread. The full width of the coarse linen can be calculated from the cut and was probably 29¾ inches (75.5 cm) wide. There are no shoulder seams in this example; front and back were cut as one, the selvedge on one side, cut diagonally on the other. Triangular gores were sewn to the selvedge edges of the front and back. The neckline is deep and V-shaped, with a narrow hem. The body and sleeves were bound separately with linen tape, then loosely sewn together. The sleeves retain their original pleating with starch. The cuffs are closed and there are no laundry marks.”

V&A T.25-1969, a linen shift made in England 1740-1780; “With wide oval neckline and cut very low in the front. It is mid-calf length and flares from the underarm to the hem. At the back, two triangular gores run from the middle of the armhole to the hem. The sleeves are set in straight with a triangular gore beneath. They are gathered and pleated in the pressing. They are open a short way up from the band and have two worked eyelet holes in the band. The neck is faced with a narrow linen tape. Embroidered at the base of the neck in red cross stitch with '4 / S H'. The chemise is very finely stitched.”

Met C.I.41.161.7, linen, French, 3rd quarter of the 18th century

Met 2005.369, linen and cotton, American, c. 1780

KCI AC6289 89-4-6, linen, c. 1780-unknown

MRAH, linen, with lace trimming the neckline and sleeves, c. 1750-1800

MFA 99.664.26, linen; Lexington, Massachusetts, late 18th to early 19th century

Livrustkammaren 21161 (61:41), shift of Queen Lovisa (1720-1782)

Colonial Williamsburg 1990-7, white linen with cotton sleeve ruffles and linen tape neck-edging and linen drawstring, New York, c. 1780

Linen shift from the 1780s

Linen shift, United States, c. 1780-1800

Connecticut Historical Society 1966.64.13, linen, c. 1780-1805

Colonial Williamsburg 1983-234, white linen with lace-trimmed scooped neckline and ungathered short sleeves, c. 1780-1810

Colonial Williamsburg 1986-207, white linen with drawstring and ungathered sleeves, England or America, c. 1780-1810

Connecticut Historical Society 1950.93.0, linen, c. 1780-1810

Connecticut Historical Society 1979.68.789, linen, c. 1780-1810

Connecticut Historical Society 1966.64.14, linen, c. 1780-1820

Colonial Williamsburg 1940-172, white linen with scooped neckline and short sleeves, America, c. 1780-1820

Colonial Williamsburg 1990-5, white linen with scooped neckline, long sleeves, open front (probably for nursing), and under-bust drawstring, New York, c. 1790-1800

Met 2009.300.392, linen, American, c. 1790-1810

Chemise said to have been worn by Marie Antoinette during her imprisonment

V&A T.467:1-1997, a woman's chemise from the early 19th century, linen, Great Britain, 1800-1820; “A woman's shift of linen, with a 3/4 inch band around the neckline and short, ungathered sleeves. The shift is cut in one piece with diagonal shaping at the sides. The sleeves are of a slightly coarser weave than the body. There are three groups of three tiny buttonhole stitches embroidered in pink silk thread at the centre front edge of the neck band.”

MFA 49.900, a French linen chemise with cotton embroidery, worn in Boston, Massachusetts about 1821