The gifted Victorian Corset & Bustle.

For my Bustle Dress, which is needed October 11th, I need an entire set of underpinnings. I never make myself anything which is why I always miss events, well that and illnesses, whether mine or the kids, so it was a great help when Mara offered me a corset she has made as a mock-up, and her old bustle! This has saved me so much time! I really do not think I would have had time with work to get all of this done, particuarly when these two things are so time consuming. The bustle works perfectly, and though the corset is a bit small, I will just allow it to have a bit more room in the back than it should until I can loose a few pounds.

I had been saving this cute little trim for when I made my corset, but now that I have something that will work for the time being (obviously I should have one made for my shape but its not going to happen for a while), I decided to go ahead and put it on the corset I was gifted. It took me a few hours to do the top and the bottom, but I really like how it looks with the lovely silk.

Here is the corset with its original trim. It was constructed from a muted fleshy-peach silk, with flat-steal boning. It is very well made, she did a wonderul job on it.

I pulled off the other trim and sewed this one on by hand. The busk comes up high enough that I really do not need the ribbon at the top--I don't think. If it turns out I do, I will just tack one in place. Because this trim is cream and the binding on the corset is white, I took a simple flat cream lace I had and bound the bottom edge as well, so it did not look so stark (not shown).

Here is a close-up of the corset over my chemise. I realy do love this trim, At one time I had enough to trim the top and bottom, which was my intent, but I cannot figure out what happened to the rest.

Side view of the corset, worn over my chemise, with the bustle Mara gave me.