1862 U.S. Sanitary Commission Wool Flannel Shirt
During 1862, the New England Sanitary Commission developed a wool flannel shirt pattern for distribution to its network of volunteer sewists. Designed to efficiently use fabric with little waste, it is possible that this garment pattern was inspired by, or even closely duplicated, a mass-produced shirt associated with the readymade clothing market.
In the evolution of U.S. Sanitary Commission shirt patterns, this garment stands out. After tens of thousands of these shirts were produced from pre-cut kits and paper patterns, the specifications for this garment were selected to be shared nationally on May 1, 1864 in the publication: The U.S. Sanitary Commission Bulletin.
Not only had the design of Sanitary Commission shirts evolved, but also that of the distribution of patterns. These published instructions in The Bulletin included the illustrated shapes of pattern pieces engraved on printing blocks that were typeset alongside construction specifications. This new way of printed distribution allowed the pattern to efficiently reach larger audiences, provided a visual to clarify construction specifications, and attempted to standardize which pattern volunteer sewists followed.
There are no specifications for the fabric color of shirts constructed from this pattern. However, through examining other U.S. Sanitary Commission patterns and instructions from the war, it is very likely that this shirt was to be predominately manufactured of gray, natural/white, or red wool flannel. Some colors like gray or off white/white could be obtained through undyed natural colored sheep fleece. The use of vegetable dyed red wool flannel was not for aesthetics, but rather because of the believed medicinal value of the material as a counter irritant—especially for rheumatism which was one of the leading causes of medical discharge from the U.S. military. It is clear from U.S. Sanitary Commission documents that it preferred 100% wool flannel shirts, rather than the often-coarse wool/cotton mix of regulation Federal Issue shirts. Shirts of all-wool flannel composition were deemed to be healthier for still recovering soldiers exposed to elements in the field after rejoining their regiments.
Per the historic instructions, this pattern features both one-piece and two-piece sleeve options—sewists can construct their sleeves consistent with each other for the garment or utilize both sleeve options on the same shirt. Construction of this pattern would have depended on what technology was available to volunteer sewists. It is likely that both hand sewn, and machine sewn shirts were represented by U.S. Sanitary Commission shirts distributed to soldiers. Buttons were specified to be blackened bone. For instructions on how to recreate blackened reproduction bone buttons with an adapted historic recipe, please visit the following link.
The 1862 U.S. Sanitary Commission wool flannel shirt offered by Civil War Patterns is drawn directly from the original specifications, in addition to in-depth research on civilian wool flannel shirts from the middle part of the 19th century. This pattern is offered both in its original size of a 42 chest (sizes 36 to 42 would be one size, similar to U.S. issue military shirts) and in larger sizes graded from the original specifications.
As this shirt was made on the home front utilizing a wide range of sewing skill levels, this garment is an ideal candidate for being replicated by home sewists with little to moderate sewing experience, by using our digital pattern with 124 pages of instructions.
Print-On-Demand Option:
Planning to print the A0 size file from your digital pattern? We can do it for you with this option! Here's a link to consider adding this to your order:
Fabric and Thread Required:
- 2 1/4 to 3 yards of 56-inches-wide wool flannel in a gray, natural/white, or red color, visit this link for more specific details
- Five 1/2” blackened bone buttons (visit civilwarpatterns.com to obtain instructions for blackening bone buttons)
- One yard of cotton silesia 45-inches-wide
- One to two spools of Gutermann’s cotton quilting thread for a machine sewn shirt and up to two spools of hand sewing thread for a hand sewn shirt