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1900s corset
Jun. 22nd, 2007 12:12 amI found the corset pattern on La Couteriere Parisienne. It's right here, near the bottom. Hopefully this will become the base of my Hallowe'en costume -- the McGonagall that was. Apparently fashion lags behind by umptity years in the wizarding world of my mind.
I drew up the pattern exactly to scale on brown paper grocery bags. Confession: The first piece I drew out I used inches instead of centimeters, because I am a fool. I looked at it with my head cocked to one side and thought, "This is going to hang past my knees. Corsets aren't supposed to do that." Then I remembered that the metic system was big in Europe. The second attempt was much better.
Drafting the pieces was really easy. It only took me a couple hours, and that was only because my cat was interested in what I was doing and I kept misplacing my measuring tape.
( Here the pattern pieces are, all cut out )
To check and see if I was going to have to make any major changes to the pieces, I laid my 1860s corset out next to the pieces.
( Grandma Corset meet your grandbaby )
The 1860s corset is really a little bit too big -- I can almost lace it shut. I would have used it for this project, but it gives me a big bulge at the hips because there aren't any hip gussets. I think this one should fit just fine.
One criticism of the 1900s corset: I don't understand why the bust gusset is in two parts like that. It doesn't really provide an extra shaping that a single gusset wouldn't provide. Nobody has breasts shaped like that.
At this point, I have the half of the mock-up sewn up, and when I wrapped it around my body, it hit where it should. The the directions that accompany the pattern tell you to make a single-layer corset, but I don't like sewing all that bias tape down. So I'm going to make up one layer of lining fabric (firm cotton sheeting) and one of fashion fabric (dark blue satin), and stitch the boning channels in black thread, to coordinate with the dark blue/black vintage ribbon I'm going to run through some lace at the top. I knit the lace a long time ago to edge some pantalettes, but I never made the pantalettes.
I drew up the pattern exactly to scale on brown paper grocery bags. Confession: The first piece I drew out I used inches instead of centimeters, because I am a fool. I looked at it with my head cocked to one side and thought, "This is going to hang past my knees. Corsets aren't supposed to do that." Then I remembered that the metic system was big in Europe. The second attempt was much better.
Drafting the pieces was really easy. It only took me a couple hours, and that was only because my cat was interested in what I was doing and I kept misplacing my measuring tape.
( Here the pattern pieces are, all cut out )
To check and see if I was going to have to make any major changes to the pieces, I laid my 1860s corset out next to the pieces.
( Grandma Corset meet your grandbaby )
The 1860s corset is really a little bit too big -- I can almost lace it shut. I would have used it for this project, but it gives me a big bulge at the hips because there aren't any hip gussets. I think this one should fit just fine.
One criticism of the 1900s corset: I don't understand why the bust gusset is in two parts like that. It doesn't really provide an extra shaping that a single gusset wouldn't provide. Nobody has breasts shaped like that.
At this point, I have the half of the mock-up sewn up, and when I wrapped it around my body, it hit where it should. The the directions that accompany the pattern tell you to make a single-layer corset, but I don't like sewing all that bias tape down. So I'm going to make up one layer of lining fabric (firm cotton sheeting) and one of fashion fabric (dark blue satin), and stitch the boning channels in black thread, to coordinate with the dark blue/black vintage ribbon I'm going to run through some lace at the top. I knit the lace a long time ago to edge some pantalettes, but I never made the pantalettes.
