18th Century Corset Update.

It is finally done. And I hate it. That is all. Will post pics at some point.

18th Century Linen Shift and Silk Corset Update.

Rule #1--do not sew when you are sick. I screwed up the shift and wasted 2 yards of linen.
Rule #2--do not try to fit yourself in a corset, assuming it will be okay because it fit before. It fit about a year and 10lbs ago. So now it is finally done and the back is all wrong. Do I pull all the binding off and re-do the back? Toss it in a corner? Start over? Who knows... Very irritated to say the least.

A little bit more on the 18th Century Corset.

I finally transfered these pics so I could uploads them, but admittedly not too much progress has happened. I have yet to make up my mind on what I am doing for the binding so I have seriously been stalling. I did however, get both linings basted in, and one half's grommet holes done. Not quite as neat as I would like but at least they are done. 

 

I had this nice piece of vntage cotton--lovely and soft--that I thought would make a nice lining.

I took the corset, and making certain the it was flat across the top and middle, pinned it to the lining. It is important that there is no wrinkles in the cotton when you do this. You want it perfectly flat all the way down to the waistline; from waist down I did it was done differently.

This is not the best picture to illustrate this, but I will try and explain. There is "give" in the shape of the corset from the waistline down, as the pieces move and spread to go over the hips, to make this work our correctly, once i had to top part pinned smooth, I flattened out the bottom pieces as much as I could to give that spread, then cut all the way around--from waistline on one side, around the bottom, to the waistline on the other side. One it was cut out, starting from the center back I started to pin the tabs, slicing straight up the middle between them so there was enough fabric to so spead out. The most difficult piece is where the side front/front meet, but I used this same process, moving and flattening the pieces as I went. You have to pin each piece really thoroughly or they will slip.

Once it was all pinned, I started to baste the lining to the silk by hand. I thought about doing it by machine but felt I had much better control if I did it this way instead. Now the top and bottom (including tabs) are basted on WITHOUT turning under or finishing the edges, this is because of the binding. At center front and center back the edges were turned under. I gave myself a good 1/2" inch for this, It not only made it easier to pin, it gaves it more heft for when I sewed in the grommet holes.

I trimmed all the excess away. I was sirprised at how neat it turned out to be.

18th and 19th Century Corsets.

Though I am working on my 18th century stuff, an event came up for some 19th century bustle dress goodness, so now I need to get going on that as well. I don't have much time, and no money, to put out on the Victorian ensemble, so am having to go with whatever is in my ever dwindling stash.

I ironed down the edges on all the pieces of my 18th century corset and stitched them down. I saw this technique used on a couple blogs and thought I would try it, as I am hoping it will neaten up the finished product. Mt next step is to whip stitch the pieces together.

For the Victorian corset I did not want to waste time drafting, so I found a corset pattern with pieces close to the shape I wanted, then did some serious tweaking. I lengthened it, the reshaped the pieces over the hips and some at the tops. I used some beautiful fuschia Moire taffeta for the corset and cotton duck for the interface. Was just getting ready to start on it when I discovered I have no more corset busks! NOoooooo! Will have to hurry and order one tomorrow. Guess I will start on the chemise or something.