Star Trek: Enterprise Undershirt Analysis/Tutorial: Analysis, part 2 - Button(hole) Panel/Front Facing/Collar Facing

However, the ENT undershirts' front button panel construction differed from typical shirt construction methods in three major ways:

First, for "normal" shirts with a front button panel (and not all shirts have these), it is common practice to attach a front button panel to one side only (the buttonhole side)! The button side is turned under and topstitched in place.

Contrarily, on the ENT undershirts, there was a front panel attached to BOTH sides of the undershirt, button side and buttonhole side alike.

Mike Paugh photo of Reed screen-used ENT undershirt

STPCAA photo of Travis Mayweather screen-used ENT undershirt

Second, normally this front panel (and its corresponding folded/stitched button side) only extends up to the bottom of the collar (but not onto the collar itself), where it is "swallowed" inside the collar at the collar/body seam.

The ENT undershirt front panels, however, extended vertically over the entire collar.

(typical contemporary dress shirt on left, ENT undershirt auction photo on right)

Mike Paugh photo of Reed
screen-used ENT undershirt

STPCAA photo of Travis Mayweather
screen-used ENT undershirt

And lastly, the front button/buttonhole panels on the ENT undershirt folded under to form a unique hybrid of self-facing and collar facing.

Mike Paugh photo of Reed screen-used ENT undershirt

As a side note, the overall shape of the facing appears to have been similar to the facing on the corresponding jumpsuit (which is, of course, also a common shape for facings on suit jackets and waistcoats):

"Lynsioux" photo of
screen-used ENT jumpsuit

Mike Paugh photo of Reed
screen-used ENT undershirt

The ENT undershirt facing also served a similar purpose to the facing on the ENT jumpsuit, which was to give a nice (and somewhat mysterious) look to the underside of the garment when worn open at the top, hiding any apparent construction details like seam allowances, overlock seams, etc.

ENT, 1x6 "Terra Nova"

ENT, 1x21 "Detained"

"Lynsioux" photo of screen-used ENT jumpsuit

Note how, during the show, whenever a character wore their ENT undershirt unbuttoned, no construction details (except for the buttonhole) were visible on the underside.

ENT, 1x19 "Acquisition"

ENT, 3x4 "Rajiin"

ENT, 4x11 "Observer Effect"

ENT, 3x13 "Proving Ground"

ENT, 4x5 "Cold Station 12"

We know that this single piece served all three functions because there was no seam allowance at the centermost (open) edges of the shirt; note how the button/buttonhole panel was folded to the underside of the shirt and the seam line continued along the upper edge of the collar.

ENT uniform eBay auction photo

"Lynsioux" photo of screen-used ENT undershirt (and jumpsuit)

These ENT undershirts' construction is consistent with the ones we saw throughout the show.

ENT, 1x25 "Two Days Two Nights"

ENT, 2x14 "Stigma"

ENT, 2x16 "Future Tense"

Note how the collar/"collar facing" seam line continued unobstructed all the way around the top of the collar:

ENT, 1x4 "Strange New World"

ENT season 4 Blu-Ray special feature, "The End of an Era"

The "collar facing" extended all the way around to the center back, where the two "facings" were joined via a vertical seam.

Mike Paugh photo of Reed
screen-used ENT undershirt

STPCAA photo of Travis Mayweather
screen-used ENT undershirt

The lower front portion of the "facing" was secured to the front of the undershirt via a "stitch in the ditch" along the front/button(hole) panel seam line up to about even with the fourth-from-top button.

Mike Paugh photo of Reed screen-used ENT undershirt

The fastening "stitch in the ditch" most likely did not extend farther up along the front or farther forward along the collar so that the "nebulous" illusion of the upper front interior when worn with the top unbuttoned.

The "collar facing" was similarly secured for several inches in each direction of the center back.