Corset

I've made a corset in the summer of 2021, which served me well, but last spring I finally managed to lost eough weight that it could be easily closed fully. Besides, even though we did those little metal cups on the bones, they stil managed to find their way out of the twill tape I used as boning channels. I sewed the holes up countless time, to have yet another bone digging into me at the next event. So I decided a new one is in order. Like a couple of days before Xmas, when else.  Little did I know, I will run into a number of problems. 

One of these was finding a busk. I mean I have busks home, I make historical clothes, I think I have enough stuff in my house to make anything I can think of... SOMEHOW. I mean, these busks would work in a pinch, however I found the shorter one, that is the good length for me is too weak, the stronger one is too long. It will be perfect for a late edwardian corset, once I convince myself I really need one. Until then I will make do with a mid-victorian. I started looking on E-bay, the German place I got them the last time simply diassapeared, not to mention that shipping would take weeks (and shipping prices went up to the sky in the last few months.

Then I remembered, that Taylor, the store that sells fabrics and notions for dancewear and wedding dresses was open even in the worst of the pandemic, a phonecall could not hurt, even though the last time I was there, they did not had the spoon busk. Now they did. So I went and bought one, and while I was there I bough a roll of boning channel tapes, that are so thightly woven, practically guaranteed that no boning gets through the. Then at home I used one of those I deemed to weak for a proper corset and made up a busk strip and a lacing strip that should help me with mock ups and fittings. 

My next problem was the pattern. When I do something I always keep the original pattern pieces, the mock ups, half of it usually all in one, the other half picked apart to make the pattern, and the final pattern. I thought it will be as simple as taking it off the shelf, and then I can easily modify according to my experience with the corset over the last year and half.  But try as I might I just could not find the package. I took out the boxes, I even cleaned half of my sewing room, I found interesting stuff, like the pattern for the previous (early victorian corset I made), but not this last one. 

I did find the original Redthreaded pattern I printed-taped cut out back then, but it wasn't much help as it was modified to fit me better. So I sat down and tried to copy the pattern off the working corset as much as I could, comparing those to the original pattern pieces and drawing up new ones. 

Made up a mock up from some old fabric I fould while I was looking for the pattern, noted the few small changes I wanted: I remembered and noted again, that my bust gores always work better if they are shorter that the original ones, however, I need to take out a cm or two of the waist, and add a bit of extra to the hip insert.

Coutil is not readily available in my country, I am not sure I could get it at all, even if I would try harder within the borders, so I used a pretty, small flovered cotton satin for fashion fabric, a white denim for the strength, and one more cotton sheet for the middle. I said white denim... right, I planned to used that as when I gout the cotton satin, I also got some pretty snow white (or "optic white") one, about which I was so happy, that I forgot to check its elasticity... and guess what it is pretty elastic cross-wise, which aint good for corsets. Thus I had to climb up the ladder (don't ask me why, but I keep my corset materials on my uppermost shelf), take down what I had there, which was denim, and white, but a but too yellowish to my taste but it had to make do. 

It is not in the instructions, but I did a couple of lines on the gores to strengthen them, and then stitched all the pieces so I could handle the triple layers as one. 

Did a few line on the hip insert as wel.

And more stitching

Finally cut the place for the gores, and set them in.

Sewn down the edges by hand.

Added the boning channels

And added the hip insert.

When the two half was done up, I finally added the spoon busk. Just so you know, it is not more difficult to sewn in a spoon busk than a regular straight one. You only have to be more careful at the rounded edge at the bottom.

Added edging to the bottom, added the bones (the spiral steel around the boobs, and straight ones to the other places) then a bit of lace and another edging to the top.

Added grommets to the back for lacing and it was done.

It looks like this at from the back. The little bit of wrinking means that I will have to add just a little bit to its sides, and maybe take out even more from the waist.

This is the thirsd time actually I make this pattern, and only now do I realize that I need one more bone to both side between the busk and the breast gores, and that would take out the wrinkling there. 

So now, this is not perfect either, but works under my Victorian clothes (who the hell will look for the slight wrinkling under three layers of clothing?), and I can retire the old one, and have it as a touchable show-piece at living history events, among the other, earlier, busk-less version. If I manage to loose more weight than I gained in the late fall and Xmas period, I will make yet another, improved one. I did packed up the pattern pieces and the mock-up pieces carefully, but in this house, you never know.