Shirts?

[J.R. Logan]

Does anyone know when full button front shirts started to come into fashion?  As I get older it is just easier to button up than pullover.

Thanks for the info.

J. R. Logan

[Wild Billy Potts]

Some time toward the turn of the 20th century.

[Delmonico]

Acually before the Civil War, I can come up with picutres from that era of full button ones.  One must bear in mind that they were not the most common style by far then, but they got more common as the 20th century drew nearerer.  One also sees some that buttoned in the back.

[Kentuckian]

Acually before the Civil War, I can come up with picutres from that era of full button ones. 

Since you are talking about the period I'm interested in, I'd like to see those. Is it a picture of the shirt with the tail out in full view or someone wearing it tucked in?

Most of the time people think that they are seeing open front shirts when in fact they are pull over shirts that are long enough for the placket to fit to the waist of the pants (since pants then were meant to be worn at the true waist - a little above the belly button - not where you wear modern blue jeans.

[Delmonico]

I need to dig and rescan a couple pictures, my files are a mess right now because of having to rebuild my computor, will try tommorow to find the pictures in my books.  But these are not placket shirts, a placket shirt with the tail to go into the top button of the pants has a bit off a different look.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Acually before the Civil War, I can come up with picutres from that era of full button ones.  One must bear in mind that they were not the most common style by far then, but they got more common as the 20th century drew nearerer.  One also sees some that buttoned in the back.

That's dead on correct from what I've read & seen. 

[Delmonico]

I think a lot more would show up if most guys hadn't of worn their vests when the got their pictures taken.

I've got a lot of strange ones in the files, but when I reloaded the pictures they all went into one file and need sorted, all 2853 of them I got reloaded.

[Don Nix]

Button up shirts go way way bck. In fact the reason that mens shirts burron left over right and womens shirts or bodices button right over left is because most men wore their sword on the left side. So to keep the hilt from snagging the shirt front mens shirts button left over right. This goes way back to Europe. Pull overs were simply easier to make for people who did noy have the luxury of Tailor made clothes. Also buttons were hard to come by as they were handmade. That is why buttons were saved and collected even back to the pre colonial days.

[Kentuckian]

Also buttons were hard to come by as they were handmade. That is why buttons were saved and collected even back to the pre colonial days.

By the 1850s and a little earlier, Buttons such as porcelin,Calicos, inkwells...etc. were being factory made and in mass quantities. In 1856 the Steamboat Arabia, heading to the Western Frontier, went down with with over 10,000 printed Calico buttons.

http://home.mlode.com/~jimnlindy/buttons.html

Goodyears Patent for rubber opened the way for factory made hard rubber buttons in the 1850s (I use originals on most of my garments).

Madison, Indiana had a factory that made Mother of Pearl button from fresh water Mussels in the late 1800s. They were cut and the holes for the thread drilled.
http://www.keywestshrimphouse.com/the_old_button_factory.htm

So for the Cowboy period, factory made buttons were around in abundance.

[Delmonico]

Good information Kentuckian, folks often forget that this era was called The Industrial Revaloution sometimes.  I found those pictures I mentioned last night, but I can't get my scanner to work, been having a few problems, I need to get my Geek over, it's beyond me right now.

[Don Nix]

My point was that button up shirts existed prior to the industrial revolurion. In the new world and on the ever expanding frontier where homemade cloth and clothing was rhe norm rather than the finery of landed gentry, buttons were scarce and easily lost on workaday clothing/ Hence the pull over shirt was more practical and easier made,larger better suited to life but button up shirts were around.
In facrt fancy bottons were a status symbol and a womens fine dress would have many many buttons as woulfd a fine silk or tailored shirt to show off the tailors skill and the owners opulance in that the buttons were expensive.

[Delmonico]

The real advantage of a full button shirt is it allows the fit to have a more tailored look, one that fits like that is hard to pull over your head.  The shirts that are full button seems to be either dress shirts or shirts that started out that way. 

[St. George]

One thing to remember - the pullover shirt stayed in wide use until after the Great War.

The Army issued pullover shirts until the '30's, though they adopted the trouser belt and loops in about 1910.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

I think we need to understand that we're talking about full button shirts of a different era.....before I would go down to the nearest western wear store I would do a good amount of research to make sure it was the correct KIND of full button shirt, and get the documentation from the shirt maker. Especially if he/she says it is period correct.

Bill

[Fox Creek Kid]

Almost always the button holes were horizontal and not the vertical used today until approx. mid 20th century I believe.

[Wild Billy Potts]

Kentuckian, when did you start playing banjo?

[Kentuckian]

Almost always the button holes were horizontal and not the vertical used today until approx. mid 20th century I believe.

Civil War period they ran both ways (or at least they are on the originals in my clothing collection and other collections I've looked at).

[Delmonico]

Civil War period they ran both ways (or at least they are on the originals in my clothing collection and other collections I've looked at).

Got a tour of the climate controled vaults at NSHS a few years ago, the stuff I got to look at ran both ways.  On shirts, machine sewn buttons seem to run straight up and down, but thats logical to increase speed in mass production.

[John William McCandles]

By the 1850s and a little earlier, Buttons such as porcelin,Calicos, inkwells...etc. were being factory made and in mass quantities. In 1856 the Steamboat Arabia, heading to the Western Frontier, went down with with over 10,000 printed Calico buttons.

http://home.mlode.com/~jimnlindy/buttons.html

Goodyears Patent for rubber opened the way for factory made hard rubber buttons in the 1850s (I use originals on most of my garments).

Madison, Indiana had a factory that made Mother of Pearl button from fresh water Mussels in the late 1800s. They were cut and the holes for the thread drilled.
http://www.keywestshrimphouse.com/the_old_button_factory.htm

So for the Cowboy period, factory made buttons were around in abundance.

Leavenworth, IN. also had a button factory that punched them out of mussel shells. Our group does  two shows at their River Fest each July.

Reagrds
JW

[Fox Creek Kid]

Interesting, I've never seen a 19th cen. shirt w/ vertical buttonholes. Learn something every day. The first buttonhole machines were invented in 1862 from what I've read.