Wonderful antique Georgian ladies chemises or shift (although mot really refered to as such as considered as vular by this time), which has been completely hand stitched from fine homespun linen, with embroidered initials to the neckline. The chemises is full to the body with wide simple square shape, low neckline (to suit gowns of this period) with drawer string. The chemise has short capped sleeves, with triangular gusset added to the under arms, which is typical of chemises's and shirts from this period.
The chemise would have been an integral part of the ladies underclothes during the late 18th and early 19th century, and would have been worn during the day and at a night and a nightgown. The chemise is so long, and drawers at this time were not worn, with the stays (corset) worn over the chemise, and gowns over this. A similar chemise can be seen on page 127 of The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute's "Fashion , A histury from the 18th to the 20th Century", where pictured with a corset and pannier, and is dated 1780'. Another example is shome on page 29 of "Four Hundred Years of Fashion " published By the Victoria and Albert Museum, which us dated to the mid 18th Century. Also several similar examples are in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, all dated to late 18th and early 19th century.AGE - 
