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Edwardian

Past Patterns 1912-1916 Princess Slip
1912, Edwardian, Historical Fashion, Sewing, WWI

Past Patterns 1912-1916 Princess Slip

Now we’re getting into the territory of “only for the brave”. This slip pattern is a single-size, straight-up repro of a Ladies Home Journal pattern, reproduced by Past Patterns (Pattern #9206: Ladies’ and Misses’ Dart-Fitted Princess Slip: Circa 1912-1916). The instructions are a single sheet of paper with the front and back of the pattern envelope photocopied on it. Honestly, the only reason I chose to do a princess slip instead of a separate corset cover/petticoat was because I wanted to cut down on the number of garments I had to make in a short period of time, but using an original pattern is not a path I recommend for new sewers. The actual sewing wasn’t hard, but deciphering the pattern did take some work.

Below you can see the total extent of the instructions. Don’t be fooled by the chunks of text that say “HELPS” and “FOLLOW THESE EASY DIRECTIONS”! Most of that text is generic and not specific to this pattern, so nearly all of the instructions are what you see here in the illustrations. I decided that the button opening is supposed to be on the back for all views, and I’m still not sure if you’re supposed to use only the circular flounce or the gathered flounce (but I cut all the pieces before I started questioning that, so I ended up using ALL THE FLOUNCES for extra floof).

  • Front Instructions
  • Back Instructions

The pattern states that it’s for size 34″ bust, 24″ waist, 37″ hips, but  frequently these old patterns have quite a bit of ease. I’m 2″-4″ bigger than those measurements throughout, and I still ended up pinching out more from the darts.

I used the same fabric and neckline lace as on my combinations. Because this slip has a CB opening, I decided to stitch my drawstring “ribbon” to it, which works well for wearing but isn’t great for laundry – I can’t remove the ribbon when it goes in the washer, so it gets a bit tangled.

  • CB opening – outside
  • CB opening – inside

Unlike with my combinations, for the slip I *did* remember to cut down the armholes before finishing them. I eyeballed the armhole placement and snipped the curve to open up to that point. This is something you want to mark while it’s on a body/dressform, so you can see in 3-D where you want the armhole to be. The armhole then got the bias tape treatment to finish it off.

Finally, the flounce! These lace strips were actually the first bits of heirloom sewing I did – I wanted to practice my technique before doing any neckline lace. Again, I followed the methods outlined on the Wearing History blog, with the only modification of using strips of receipt paper as a tear-away interfacing for support.

  • Finished lace panel
  • Narrow zigzag to join strips of lace

There are 6 panels total, and I joined them together with French seams after applying the lace. Then I hemmed the bottom, gathered the top, and  zigzagged it and the circular flounce to the bottom of the petticoat. Eventually that raw top edge should get covered with some wide beading lace with a pretty ribbon, but because that part is decorative and not functional, I’m waiting to find something affordable. Lace is not cheap! This insertion lace was already sitting in my stash – another lucky find from long ago.

  • Finished gathered flounce
  • Circular flounce under the gathered flounce

Done with undies for now! Whew. Next up – blouse and skirt!

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!
Wearing History 1917 Combination Underwear and Chemise
construction, Edwardian, Sewing, WWI

Wearing History 1917 Combination Underwear and Chemise

As I mentioned in my last post, for the Great War Gallop I created all new pieces – from the underwear out – which was both harder and easier than I expected. Everything came together pretty smoothly, and the only mockup I made was for my corset (which I probably could have skipped, but coutil is too expensive to take chances with).

But as a bunch of us have discovered recently during our forays into this period, Teens-era construction is deceptively hard! Basic skirts look like they should go together in the same way that modern clothes do, but are actually more similar to earlier periods. And yeah, there are sewing patterns, but most of the instructions are pretty sparse and cryptic. We joke that instructions on old patterns consist of a single sentence – “construct in the usual way” – but in this case, that’s true. Which is fine if you wore these clothes every day of your life – you’d know what the usual way was, but I haven’t spent much time studying extant garments from this era so it was unfamiliar to me. I spent a decent amount of time throughout this project looking at old sewing manuals online (yay public domain!) and asking friends how they thought something should be assembled. I don’t know that I got it “right” every time, but nothing fell apart and I think my construction techniques are close enough to the “usual way”, so I thought I’d share in case anyone else finds themselves in the same boat. Once you figure out how the darn things are supposed to be assembled, the actual sewing is fairly simple.

For my combinations (base-layer undies) I used Wearing History’s circa 1917 Combination Underwear and Chemise e-pattern. After purchasing the pattern I realized that I have a couple original vintage combinations patterns in my stash that I could have used (oops!) but I do enjoy the ease of e-patterns. This pattern includes the original instructions (which aren’t much) and some text “translations” of what those instructions mean for modern sewers, but not step-by-step illustrations for construction. Hopefully these photos will help explain some of the tricky bits, and if you have more questions check out the in-depth post that The Dreamstress did on this pattern.

I used a lightweight cotton broadcloth and made self-bias tape to finish the armholes, bottom edge, and to finish the inside of the CB pleat. I finished the neckline with beading lace using the heirloom sewing technique described on the Wearing History blog. If you don’t want to buy pricey lace or want a very sturdy top edge, you could also finish the neckline with bias tape and use that as a casing for your drawstring.

  • Straight sideseam! After pattern alteration
  • Back – flap buttoned

I only made a couple fitting adjustments – the balance was a little off so i removed a little from the front shoulder length to get the sideseam to hang straight on me. I wish I had scooped out the neckline and armhole a bit after shortening the front armhole, but I didn’t realize how high they were until after attaching the lace. And I took some of the width out of the sideseam because I didn’t want quite as much bulk under my corset. 

Front pattern alterations – Blue indicates the changes I actually made, and the purple lines are changes I’ll include for next time!

And here are a few more construction photos. Make sure to also check out The Dreamstress’s blog to see how she constructed these parts! Her versions are a little different but I think they all qualify as “the usual way”.

  • Outside CB Pleat Construction
  • Inside CB Pleat Construction
  • Neckline

Lanterman Ragtime Tea Dance

Last weekend we attended the Lanterman Ragtime Tea Dance – this event is held annually at the Lanterman House, a 19-Teens home in north Los Angeles. The event consists of a dance lesson, live music provided by Ian Whitcomb, and afternoon tea. (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I can get Chris to go just about anywhere if there are good cookies!)
I made my first attempt at a Teens outfit – like everyone else, I’ve been drooling over the Downton Abbey costumes, and this event gave me an excuse to make one. I didn’t have nearly as much time to work on this outfit as I normally like, so there are some fit issues that I’d like to correct. But considering this is basically my mockup, it turned out pretty good!
I bobbed my hair a couple weeks ago, so I gave a go at a curled Irene Castle bob. Not bad for a new era! Chris’s outfit blew mine out of the water, though – I’ve wanted him to wear a boater for years. Good look for him, yes?
Lanterman House – the tea was held in the center courtyard, and the ballroom is upstairs (where the tallest roof peak is) and runs the length of the house.
Downton Abbey Publicity Still? 
No, silly! It’s Cait from Curse Words and Crinolines and Lauren from Wearing History.
Cait is wearing an original Edwardian Suit, and if you ask her real nice I bet she’ll post some photos of the amazing details and beautiful lining. Lauren is wearing a late teens outfit she made herself.
Yes, right after I took this photo Chris *did* bust out some tap steps.
A wrinkled mess! Just look at the cute sailor collar instead. 🙂
An original WWI Liberty Loan pin, found at a local flea market. I added the ribbons.
Buttons! My favorite trim of the era. 
But really I just wanted to show you my white lacy shoes – my favorite part of my whole outfit!

Trying out some Vernon and Irene Castle dance steps…
…which quickly dissolved into the popular animal dances. 
Who can resist the “Grizzly”?

Ian Whitcomb and his Bungalow Boys provided the music.
Sheila Murphy-Nelson sang several songs with the band.
Walter Nelson gave the dance lesson and was on the floor the whole event, asking all the lovely ladies to dance (don’t worry, this photo proves he didn’t neglect his wife!)

More dancing…

Diane and Sheila
Dapper.

Relaxing on the balcony after we got tired of dancing.

Cait and Michael on the balcony. 
I love how you can see her tattoos through her original Edwardian blouse.
Time to go home? Oh no!
Trying to get a photo of the boys…easier said than done.

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!