AY Honors/Plastic Canvas/Requirements

Shirts

Men's shirts were often constructed out of squares and rectangles of material so that every inch of fabric was used. Red and blue calico shirts were especially popular because they were not so apt to fade as other colors. White was another popular color because it was easier to clean. Other colors were difficult to keep from fading but a white shirt could easily go back to being white. They were sometimes called "boiled shirts", named for the practice of boiling white shirts to clean them.