Corset, corset, corset...

It's been a long week, mainly of my own making with the late nights studying, and I am determined to relax and get an early night tonight, but I couldn't resist a bit more work on the corset.  One thing I wanted to do was to check the new bones and whether they are a good fit, and the other thing was to move onto the side panels which run down the centre of the hip panels that I have made.  It is the first combination of cording and spiral boning and I was keen to see how that worked.  I am a  little in love with spiral boning by the way, I just love the flexibility of it, it makes me want to just keep testing all the things it could do!

So, a quick look at the bones, I think they'll be fine.  In some respects, they will have to be as they are the narrowest width that I can get, but the widths I think will work well with the width of the pieces.  The seams themselves will hold the bones in snugly enough and I can decoratively stitch them in place at the top.  Well, that's the plan at least!

On to the side panels.  Laying the bones in place I marked the channel for the bones on either edge of the panel.

Then, as the gap between the bone channels was quite narrow, I marked in the lines for the cording.  Not my best thought, more later...

Sewn in, with the cording and bones in place, the cording did not work.  Never mind that it was wonky, the channels were too big and the cording wasn't tight enough.  Even with the boning it was far too flexible.  I spent the next 45 minutes unpicking!

And went back to sewing the cording channels in the old way.  I really didn't think that there was enough space for 4 lines of cording but I was wrong and the effect of that extra run of cording is noticeable.

The only thought I do have is that I could possibly have (should possibly have?) ordered wider bones for this panel.  If you look at the picture there are three lines of cording.  The next size up in boning width and it probably would work but I'm not that fussed, and definitely not unpicking it all again!  Just a mental note for the next time ;o)  What interests me most about this little observation is that the images in Corsets & Crinolines really aren't illustrations but very detailed road maps; if you read them properly that is!

And I'm late to bed... g'night everyone.

The 1873 Corset, second draft

This week, I have slowly been working my way through the second draft of the 1873 corset.  It shouldn't have taken so long, but it has been a case of snatched moments here and there.  After the first redraft, I have also edited pieces as I have sewn the muslin together and then annotated the paper copy with (dated) reminders.

I was even more pleased with my new system when I put the second muslin on Miss G and realised I'd not increased the width of the back piece, which was probably the most important adjustment from muslin number one; dopey does not even begin to describe it!

I have also pinned and marked points on the muslin at which the fit or line is not right as it is sat on Miss G.  I'll need to double check everything on myself before I transfer the markings to the paper pattern though.

The main issues is that the bust area needs looking at a little more.  The first muslin is pinned in reverse on the right hand side of Miss G for reference and it sits far better over the bust than the new muslin does.  The second is quite puckered and doesn't look anywhere near as smooth.  The measurements on those pieces have not changed, so I am wont to blame my sewing; but the bottom front panel, which is a good deal bigger than the original has also distinctly (and unexpectedly) raised the waist line.  I actually rather like it, but I fear that this line will be too short on my body and another reason why the main side panel will need looking at further. 

That said, barring these last few tweaks to the front pieces, I'm pretty happy with how it's progressing.  the changes to the bottom pieces have certainly given me the exaggeration to the hip that I was looking for.  Here's some photos, with the hip padded out to give a better idea of how it will look once boned.

You can see in this last photo the difference in waist lines.  It definitely needs to be revisited though the second muslin looks so much crisper with the shortened waist. 

I am also getting slightly nervous though about how the final piece will go together, the muslin goes together so well because the fabric is so flexible and I won't have that luxury on the final pieces.  Last, but most definitely not least, I now need to decide on some fabrics.  Never mind that I can keep tinkering with the pattern, I can't go any further past that point without some fabric!

The 1873 corset continued...

Well, I've had the lurgy!  Woke up Boxing Day with itchy ears and it all went downhill from there... good thing about the enforced rest though is that I have had plenty of time to think and google, plot, play and plan the new corset.  And, I made a great discovery, the beautiful Before the Automobile blog and, in particular, an amazing version of the 1873 corset; oh, to have even a smidgen of M's talent.

In addition to being a very talented seamstress, she is a generous lady who answered my email full of questions about redrafting Norah and it's construction.  Armed with her tips and advice I, very randomly, found myself making my first muslin mock up yesterday.  It was all very unplanned and haphazard, no planning or photos etc., and I spent the majority of the time telling myself that you can't just suddenly decide to mock up a corset as intricate as this with no planning or real forethought (on New Year's Eve no less) and it not be an utter waste of time... I was a lucky lady, the fates were on my side.

The corset is surprisingly easy to sew together, not construct - that will be a whole other story, but piece together based on the annotations on the pattern.  I was expecting some serious head scratching but, apart from the obvious amendments that I still need to make to the pattern, it was nice and straightforward.

Based on M's advice, I lengthened the corset but decided not to add anything to the the width and, as it happens, the front of the corset fits perfectly.  I will need to add approx. 2" across the back, which I will divide equally across the side and back panels.  What was immediately obvious was that the panels on the bottom that form the shape of the hips need to be adjusted.  The front one, which should be a single, sweeping piece, I had to extend and will need to redraft.  I also need to lengthen a couple of the other panels and, am thinking of extending them all a little more as I am looking for quite an exaggerated shape.

As I pinned the mock up to Miss G I made notes on the main pattern, measuring and redrafting as I went along.  I will then unpick the mock up, add in the new pieces and, with any luck, have a finished pattern within a couple of attempts.

In the meantime, I have filled an Evernote notebook with web clippings of various fabrics. What was immediately obvious, from M's corset, was that the cording would not work with my original idea of a canvas top layer.  I have been looking at different, softer canvases and also at Aida's but also found, in the googling, some rather lovely fabrics and am now utterly undecided as to what to do... I feel some sample ordering coming on.

The Starry Night Corset

I have decided on a name for the corset for the Selene costume, thanks to Mr Van Gogh (though it has already been nicknamed Norah!), and have started on the pattern.  The reproductions in Corsets and Crinolines are to scale, and in the first instance I have transposed that onto tracing paper; my first thought, it's tiny!

The scale on the pattern worked out to 6mm = 1".  

With a little maths, some light graffiti in my book and a little artistic license, in about an hour I had a pretty faithful reproduction of the pattern in the book.

Now, with a restocked glass of red, I am working my way through Appendix 1 and annotating like crazy.   Norah Waugh gives a fascinating account of how to construct a corset, mixing instruction with contemporary quotations and historical detail.  I did not know before, for example, that modern women's backs are broader as we have not worn corsets since childhood, which narrowed the shoulder blades and, what a bonus, caused "greater development" of the bust to occur - if only I'd known that sooner!  The suggestion is to make the corset two inches smaller at bust and waist, the next step is to measure myself and redraft these larger pieces to my measurements; great time of year to do this, just as I'm about to tuck into a Christmas dinner or two!  That might have to be 3" smaller and a workout or two in the new year ;o)