Browsing Category:

Corset

Truly Victorian 1913 Late Edwardian Corset
1912, construction, Corset, Edwardian, Historical Fashion, pattern, review, Sewing, WWI

Truly Victorian 1913 Late Edwardian Corset

If we’re going through our layers from skin out, after the combinations comes the corset. And y’all, this is THE EASIEST corset I’ve ever made.  It’s a single layer of coutil (no lining), and there are no gores or gussets, so fitting is fairly simple. I made a mock-up for peace of mind before cutting into my coutil (that stuff is expensive!), but I didn’t make any major fit changes to the mockup. If I were braver (more foolhardy?), I could have skipped it.

TVE13E – 1913 Late Edwardian Corset

As with my Wearing History combinations, I chose the e-pattern version of the Late Edwardian Corset from Truly Victorian. I resisted e-patterns for years after they started becoming popular, but I finally saw the light: INSTANT GRATIFICATION. And taping a pattern together takes about the same amount of time as tracing one off, so they don’t take more prep time for me. I’ve used a number of e-patterns from different companies at this point, and I have to commend the historical/vintage patternmakers – in my experience, the e-patterns from these companies generally go together much more easily than e-patterns from modern indie pattern companies.

I chose this particular overbust style because someday I’d like to do a proper Titanic-era outfit. The slim hip wasn’t as critical for this 1918 outfit, but it will be great under a more fitted 1912 dress. I LOVE the sleek silhouette this corset gives! Late-teens clothes aren’t extremely fitted, so if you wanted to skip the corset you could probably get away with it, but I enjoyed the effect it gives. It doesn’t cinch down much (and I’m not very squishy anyway – my corseted waist is usually about the same as uncorseted) but it REALLY changes your posture. No slouching allowed!

The instructions for this pattern have step-by-step text and a few illustrations, but I followed Jen’s 1910s corset tutorial at Festive Attyre for most of my construction. I guess my corset still is technically unfinished (no garter hooks, no lace at the top, etc) but it’s completely wearable, so honestly it’s probably as finished as it’s ever gonna be. For the Great War Gallop I wore knee-high socks from the Dollar Tree, which worked fine. Maybe someday I’ll want “proper” stockings, and then I’ll have to attach garter hooks. Maybe.

I do want to share how I handled the fitting stage. I stitched together the panels, inserted the front busk, back grommets, back (steel) bones and sandwiched my waist stay tape into the back facing seam. At this point there is only boning at the CF and CB, but you can try it on and get an idea of how it will fit and make adjustments because the seams are not yet covered with the boning casing. I ended up letting out the waist about 1/4″ on every seam to get a straight lacing gap in the back. I also made sure to sit while wearing it, so I could get an idea of where the bones needed to end in the front (the wrinkles show where my hips bend, so the boning shouldn’t extend past that point).

Inside of the partially constructed corset, ready for fitting

The waist stay, boning channels, and top and bottom binding all use 1″ twill tape, because I have a massive roll in my stash, so I use it for EVERYTHING. I used synthetic whalebone for the first time, and I found it to be very similar to the zip-ties I have used in other corsets. It’s so great to be able to easily fine-tune the length of the bones! I just use scissors and a heavy duty nail file to shape the tips.

Inside of the finished corset, nice and wrinkled from an afternoon of dancing!

Edwardian Corset Part 1

This weekend I got some help fitting my Edwardian Corset! I’m pretty good at fitting on myself, but not only is fitting a corset on yourself EXTREMELY hard, but I also needed an experienced eye for this one. Most of the reference images I’m finding are illustrations so stylized with miniscule waists and odd proportions, it’s hard to know how the corset should realistically fit. When Lauren from Wearing History said she could come up for a visit over the weekend, I immediately planned to rope her into my Edwardian world.

This is my scaled up version of the 1901 Corset from Hunnisett’s Period Costumes for Stage and Screen. I got lucky and the basic pattern is close to my size. This is actually my second mockup – the first one I took out from the bust and hips (not anything from the waist, boo!). Now I see I could have made more changes on the first go-round, but I didn’t know what I was doing! There are no bones in this mockup, and the final version will have a center opening busk.

(Man, my shoulders are way crooked. That’s all I can see when I look at these photos. Time for a massage!)

We shortened the body length about 1″ total so that the top of the corset hits at or just slightly above my apex. I also needed a little more gap at the CB, so we decided to take that out of the hip gussets. We got tired and didn’t pin out the total amount, that’s why it’s still too close at the bottom gap.
On the side view, you can see a little bit of the Edwardian “S” curve posture, where I’m tipped forward on top and backward on the bottom.
I think one more mockup for this guy, and then I’m gonna start on the real deal!

Great Stays Project of ’12

Things have been very scattered around here on the sewing front lately. I’ve got so many project and ideas swimming around in my head and I’ve had trouble focusing on anything. 30’s blouse? Hats? Regency stays? A shiny shirt for Chris? I’m also thinking about outfits for Camp Hollywood and Costume College. (–My first time attending, because it doesn’t conflict with CH for once! Whee!) All these were on the list, and then suddenly I was bit by the Edwardian bug.
More specifically, by this jacket in Downton Abbey:
I’ve never been a big fan of Edwardian fashion, but I’m starting to get it. I usually like tailored fashions more than fluff, but I’ve been branching out and finding a lot to like lately in the Edwardian world. And there are Edwardian events nearby (and as huge and crowded and frustrating as Los Angeles is, there are so many great events and fun things to do that I can’t imagine ever leaving…) So I’m going to branch out and sew an Edwardian.
I spent a lot of last week surfing around, looking for project inspiration (instead of actually sewing!). If I were more fun and less precise, I would just grab a Simplicity costume pattern and make a dress. But that’s not how I work. I try to be accurate and efficient, even in my “relaxing” hobbies. (I know, I bore myself even.) And everyone knows that undies make or break a period outfit.
So I’m going to take on the Great Stays Project of ’12. I’m going to sew Regency stays (1812) and an Edwardian corset (1912) simultaneously. Using my hands and feet at the same time? Something like that. But I think I can get these projects done a little faster and quicker if I do them both at once.  This also fits in with the Double Period Project on Your Wardrobe Unlock’d, so if I keep my membership I suppose I’ll enter.
Unfortunately, if I work from the inside out, I’ll have about 37 garments to sew before I can make that coat. Edwardian undies are seriously complicated. Someone talk me out of this, quick!