Sew Along Aftermath; Intimidation and Inspiration

The sew along of the 1911 corset has had some interesting effects on me. First off it was really good for me to do something different and challenging just for the heck of it. I cannot recommend it enough. If your life is feeling a bit stale or you are stuck in a rut, go find something to do that challenges you. Better yet, find something that is different than anything that you normally do, and try it. That thing you have always wanted to do, but have been putting off; why? Make something just for the sake of making something. It is worth the time, I promise.

Intimidation.

My fascination with corsetry of late is born out of desire for a challenge. I have to admit there is a lot to be intimidated about in the world of corsetry. So many people told me how impossible it is to make corsets, and just about every intimidating and discouraging thing about making them that could be said. You know what is impossible? Bespoke wedding gowns. I've made dozens of them. I don't know why I took it to heart that somehow corsets would be harder. They are not. They only deal with a small section of the body. They are adjustable! I haven't taken on custom clients, but I bet they won't be trying to squeeze in all the design elements of every single thing they've ever liked into it either. I have the advantage of this mysterious craft that isn't particularly mainstream or a practically familiar part of everyday existence.

Intimidation is cured by doing. If there is something you want to do, but feel intimidated by, try it! You can make it easier by not telling anyone what you are doing. Try and succeed, Yay! Try and fail, you learned something, and can try again until you get it right. It takes time to learn new skills. New skills keep your work fresh.

Inspiration.

Most of the modern corsets out there are the same basic victorian style. It made me think that that is the only way to design them. That is until I have spent some time delving into history. Oh all of the different shapes! Different shapes, different lines, different pattern pieces. Innovation. I was reminded of my designer's mind that is constantly trying to figure out the best way to do things: the best fit, the most flattering lines, where to draw the eye. This applies to corsetry too. I am really liking the edwardian style that covers & smooths the hips. I printed out the 1905 and the 1907 Savoye patents today. Let's see where this goes. This sew along has inspired me to try some new shapes. So much of what is out there is the standard victorian style, and since I hadn't worked with anything else, I didn't stray far from it.

I am starting to feel less and less inclined to make up a line, as to feel comfortable working with a variety of designs and present them as a painter would present paintings: you have to wait for the right one to come along. I am not so sure how that will work for me, but the idea of trying to choose one style doesn't feel right to me. And a big reminder not to listen to peoples' doubts about my competency as a seamstress, or straying from tradition. What tradition? We get used to things being one way without exploring why or whether they need to be that way. So onward. As my stack of in progress corsets graduates to finished pieces, I will post some of their photos.

1911 Corset Sew Along: The Finished Corset

I broke five needles flossing this corset, but it is finished. Well, almost finished. There are garters to attach to this. Garter that I had the worst time finding one piece of hardware for. But now that I have it, I am on the fence as to whether to use it or whether I want to add garters at all! Generally this type of corset doesn't have removable garters. In the sew along we were given instructions for covered garters; which I was all set to make, but now I am not so sure. Since this corset is so clean lined, I hesitate to add such a foofy thing. Plain garters are period correct too. What do you think?

Otherwise this corset is done. I decided to lace it with silver ribbon; why not? It is a little impractical, but it does the job (it holds everything in snug and sound). I invited my friend Shana over for tea, and she was kind enough to take a couple of snapshots of me in my corset in my messy turret..

I want to thank Jo at Bridges on the Body for hosting this Sew Along! It was super fun, and a bit of an escape from what I normally do. If you like to sew, this is a fun project, and all of the instructions are here in bite sized pieces. It was really fun to see what everyone else made; check them out in our flickr pool.

I haven't thought about an outfit to go over this for a Titanic reenactment. Any suggestions?

1911 Corset Sew Along Final Fitting

Once I put the whole corset together, it is time to lace it up and try it on to see if I need to trim or cut off the the top and bottom edges. By the time of the Edwardian era, corsets had become longer in their lines, and had more of a focus on smoothing lines and the S curve rather than the hourglass waist. The top of this particular style of corset rises over the chest line without covering the whole bust. The bottom covers the hips. The boning ends at the top of the hip so you can sit down.

I am pretty satisfied with the lines and the fit of this corset! The top softly hits at the bottom of the bust giving a little bit of lift. The bottom curves over the hips with a bit of a curve upward in the front and the back. The flat steel boning curves nicely along my body without stabbing anywhere, and clears the chair when I sit down. As a matter of fact, it is surprisingly comfortable. The one thing with this corset as opposed to my more victorian styled corsets, is that the long line makes it more difficult to lace up by myself. I can see why one would need a lady's maid to help get dressed and undressed.

I bound the top and bottom with plain navy satin. Traditionally, you might have lace trim at the top. I decided to forgo the lace since I like clean lines, and the stripes are busy enough already.

The last part is the flossing. This the embroidery at each end of the boning to keep it from moving around in its casing. The victorians had some very elaborate flossing, but most of the corsets in the edwardian era were more plain and simple. I used this corset as the inspiration for my flossing design. I bought both silver and navy embroidery floss to see which looked best.

Navy won out. The silver looked bad (too bad to bother taking a photo).

This corset has both 1/4" and 1/2" flat steel boning in it. I made X's over the 1/2" bones.

Next: DONE.

1911 Corset Sewing the Actual Corset

I know it's been a few weeks since I've posted about this. There was the week I couldn't stop dropping sharp objects on my feet, and then there is the part about how I am really bad about taking photos or writing blog posts. Really bad. But here I am to finish what I have started. Now that I have made a mock-up, and it fits, I have adjusted the paper pattern pieces to reflect my fitting changes; it is time to cut out the real thing and start sewing!

This corset is unlined, so I have to make it using flat felled seams. This method involves sewing the wrong sides of the fabric together, trimming folding and topstitching. and don't forget swearing, picking out stitches and doing it again when the seam line is crooked because my mind wandered off while I was sewing the long seam.

Once everything was pieced, I added the waist tape to reinforce the waist (got to hold that sucker IN), and inserted the busk (the long metal front closure that allows to get in and out of your corset by yourself).

The next part is to set the grommets. This involves stabbing an awl through the fabric and hammering the grommet and the washer together. I only stabbed myself three times doing this part!

Next: Trying on the corset for its final fit!

1911 Corset Sew Along Fitting & Altering the Mock Up

Now I am on to the boring and tedious part of the process of things. If you were ever wondering why it takes me so long to get a new design out into the world here it is in a nutshell, AND this isn't a pattern that I am developing. This is an already existing pattern that I am altering to fit myself. No working up a new design. No fitting of numerous different size bodies. Not testing of the durability of particular materials. Just saying.

So back to this lovely 1911 corset. I tried on the muslin, and the bottom half fit too loosely in the hip. Now it is my habit to make my muslins err on the side of to big, because it is easier to take in than let out (though here we have huge 1" seam allowances). It was way too dark to get a photo, but did you really want to see a photo of me in an ill fitting muslin? All of the lines of the main pieces fit in the right places, so I decided go back to the original pattern, and redraft the hip gores.

This time when I put the gores in they weren't as perfectly matched at the corners, so don't judge. The fit here is pretty good. (The back flares a bit because I attached the lacing strips underneath instead of on top of the muslin.) My next step is to re-draft the pattern to reflect all the changes. Pretty simple right? It is kind of nice to only have to do this once. In making a new design, I might have to repeat this process several times before having a final pattern.

I have been doing a bit of research, and making a photo pin board on Pinterest with some inspirations from the era. I am tempted to make a garment to wear over my new corset, because hey, wouldn't it be fun to dress up as a 1911 person, and go to the grocery store?

1911 Corset Sew Along - The Mock Up

So or those of you who hadn't seen this yet, I am doing this fun sew along project that goes along in bite sized pieces through January and February, and I should end up with a 1911 corset for the Titanic centennial. So far, I have drafted the pattern in my size and have made a mock up which is called a "muslin" which is what one does to ensure proper fit of a garment made in some sort of cheaper fabric to practice on so one doesn't ruin expensive fabric.

As I said before in a previous post, I am only posting a couple of photos of my progress on the mock-up process. You can see the entire how and why on the original blog: http://bridgesonthebody.blogspot.com/

Here is the muslin cut out. I drafted the pattern in my size, but had to add 2" to the bottom to ensure that it was long enough for my long waist. The original was designed for a quite smaller frame. I like to use striped herringbone ticking for my corset mock-ups so that you can see the grain lines, and it holds up to fitting with boning and lacing. The mock-up muslin is being sewn with a 1" seam allowance so that there is room for letting out if needed.

The front all put together.

And the back. I like the look of the stripes.

I had to post a photo of one of the hip gores, because I got all of seams at the point on all of the hip gores to match perfectly. I kind of wonder if I jinxed myself here, and will have to pick out the seams a zillion times on the actual piece.

Here is the fabric I chose. It is an Italian cotton shirting that this photo doesn't do justice. It is a beautiful woven stripe that looks like necktie silk. Not period fabric, but definitely in the spirit of 1911. Let's see if I lose my mind trying to match stripes..