Dress Diary: Post Edwardian evening gown - the underpinnings

I've never done one of these before.

That's not entirely true. I've never completed a corset before. I tried to make an Elizabethan corset once upon a time, and then in the early aughts, I wanted a Goth corset. Yeah, no.

But now, I have need of a Victorian corset. I typically do 1890's for the Steampunk genre, and I have designs on a Worth-inspired "absinthe" evening gown. Corset required. And I'm totally out of my element.

And then comes the opportunity to make a 1910's evening gown. Corset required...

Except it's corset lite. Straight lines, made to control the hips, tummy, and derriere. Seems to be a gateway project on the way to the hard core Victorian corset. Yeah, I can do this.

We're lucky in that there are two historic pattern companies out there doing that odd period between Edwardian and the Titanic. I call it post-Edwardian. Clothing lines have doffed the pigeon-breast look, the s-curve in the spine, for a more classic and columnar silhouette.

The patterns

Reconstructing History 1057, and Truly Victorian TVE13 are both good patterns, and I have purchased both of them. However, since I'm using the RH 1910's Evening Gowns pattern, I decided to use the RH pattern for the current corset.

Comparing the patterns, the shapes are really different. TVE 13 is very curvy, while RH1057 is more angular. The mockup of RH1057 is a good fit, after a couple of modifications. I'm using TVE13 for some of the construction details. Typically, RH patterns aren't Simplicity patterns, and if you need the step-by-step, TV does a much better job of it. Kass does not provide every step and all details. The sewer must be able to do some fitting, and likely some additional research to complete the garment with a minimum of frustration.

An upside-down-view of the side top panel.

The major adjustment that I had to do was to the side top panel. If you look carefully you can see that the final shape is not parallel to the cutting lines. (And for some reason, I can't flip this photo right-side-up in Blogger.) The shape is more rectangular and not as trapezoidal. I chalk this up to being about as large in the waist as in the under bust measurement.

The other change was to the center front panel. Again, if you look carefully at the cutting lines on the outside edge, you can see the adjustment I made.

The RH directions have you folding over the center front seam to accommodate the busk, and then pushing the hole side of the busk through the fabric. This seems unnecessarily hard on the fabric. I'll use TV's directions for adding in a facing and stitching around the loops, instead.


For the body linens, I've drafted a four gore petticoat, with a wide eyelet ruffle. Here are some detailed directions. My Victorian chemise will suffice, instead of making a new camisole. It's longer than ideal for this silhouette, but the bodice is a good shape and virtually matches the RH 1057 pattern illustration.

Since this is an under-bust corset, I'll be wearing a sports bra with it. The silhouette of a sports bra is a lot closer to the 1910's bust support than our modern underwire bras.

The daily grind

9/11 - All pieces of the corset have been cut out. As mentioned in the development blog, I'm using cotton twill, instead of coutil. Kass recommended two layers of cotton twill. I spent a couple of hours just transferring the pattern markings to the fabric. Up to this point, I think I've spent at least 6 hours on taping the pattern together, making mockups and fitting and re-fitting. Hoping that the next time I do this, I can avoid some of the pitfalls I've found.

9/12 - Sewed together all of the panels, felled the seams. I couldn't figure out how to make flat-felled seams with a 1/4" seam allowance, but then realized that I don't have to turn the seam allowance under; as a matter of fact this would add additional bulk. So, I trimmed the seam allowances and zig-zagged them to prevent raveling. And then stitched them down. The pattern specifies the direction in which the original was felled. Very methodical.

Stitched in the center back self-casings for the stays, and then ripped them out because they weren't right. I've now re-folded the casings, and measured off three 1cm casings in the fold - two for 1/4" stays, and the in between cm for the lacing eyelets. I picked up an eyelet setter at JoAnns today (yay for the 50% off coupon!), so I hope that it will be relatively painless. And neat. Neatness counts.

The boning channel, pinned in

9/14 - Almost all of the sewing is done. A couple of boning channels and half of the busk left to go. I found that the twill tape that I bought for boning channels has a lot of sleeze to it. (Not happy with the poly, but it's what JoAnn's had at .75"; will order cotton next time.) I've started making the boning channels a little longer than the fabric edge because it crawls. By the way, you know to always stitch narrow goods on in the same direction, both sides, right?

I'm in love with my zipper foot - it does a surprisingly great job of getting up right next to the busk to securely stitch it in.

Speaking of the busk - I'm using the directions from the TV pattern to install the busk. This means that instead of folding over a self-casing and piercing the fabric for the holes, there's a facing applied to the center front of the corset. The seam between facing and corset is stitched intermittently to accommodate the tabs with holes. (Haven't worked through the knobs side yet.) This makes a secure placement for the busk, with a lot less fuss than cutting and finishing holes. RH says that depending on the weave, you can just push the hole tabs through the fabric without cutting, but I'm using a cotton twill - there's just not that much sleeze in the fabric, which is - I think - just what you want for a corset. Right?

We measured the pattern to get the boning lengths and then ordered pre-cut boning and the busk. Let's just say that it's not exactly a successful process. I'm finding that the boning lengths that arrived are not exactly right. This isn't really a surprise since the common wisdom is that the lengths are going to vary based on your mockup. However, I don't think that the mockup is the place where you decide on the lengths, either. I'm thinking that I need to set the busk and eyelets, get the thing on and then figure out the lengths. I've inserted what I think are workable, but I'm expecting to have to make changes.

And for this reason, I'm kind of regretting not going with buying bulk boning and cutting my own. I'm going to have to cut down some of these anyway. Perhaps bulk is my next investment. Because this isn't my last corset.

Also, we mis-counted the number of bones needed. I'm currently casting about locally for some 1/2" boning, because it's too late to order more.

9/17

Mostly done. About 2 or 3 hours today.

Finished the boning channels and have both halves of the busk in. One issue has arisen with the buttons side of the busk: making the holes. I have a grommet setter, of the pliers type. To set grommets, you're supposed to use the knob on the plier jaws to make a hole. Well, it cuts a hole. In a place where the tension on the fabric is likely to be rather constant and heavy, cutting a hole seems like a bad plan to me. Many years of eyelets in Gothic fitted dresses, I suppose. To be fair, the pattern says to use an awl, but a) I don't have one handy, and b) this looked like it would function the same way. Nope.

So I repaired the cut hole with some iron-on patching material and tried again.

I have no awl, but I do have a crochet hook, and crochet hooks have pointy heads, not to mention a flared grippy part on the handle. So I punched holed with the crochet hook, enlarged it with the grippy bit and worked the fabric around the knob. Voilà! I have to say - they look great. And the repair doesn't look too bad, either. It's going to be up under the lace on the top edge, so it will likely be totally unnoticeable.

I'm using 1/4" eyelets in the center back for lacing. I'm not convinced that they're going to be tough enough, but I can always go beefier if necessary. Using the grommet setter makes the process go fast and easy; and yes, I am cutting holes for the grommets. I can't make large enough holes with my "awl" to push the grommets through.

Annnnd - I put it on, and it's too wide on the top edge. Bugger.

9/18

Colorado Fabrics has steel boning. And the corset fits. However, that's ninety minutes out of my day. Might have been less had I not engaged in a store-wide search for garter hooks. By the way, CF does not carry them.

Feeling really insecure about the eyelets, and thinking that maybe next time, I'll use the ones that are designed for leather. These have just one side and are catching at the lacing cord.

TV102, the pattern for my Victorian chemise

9/19 - Finishing commenced. Spent some time pinning bias tape to the top and bottom of the corset, but didn't get any stitching done.

9/20 - I had a couple of hours between class and bedtime, and used it to finish the underpinnings. Stitched on the bias edging on the corset, tacked the boning into place up against the edging. Even hand-stitched on the hooks and eyes. (No garters yet, but I can do without for the weekend.)

I also got my Victorian chemise finally finished. It needed buttons and buttonholes, and a hem. I did not put the lace flounce on it (yet), because of the columnar silhouette. Eventually, I'll make a proper post-Edwardian camisole and drawers, and put the lace on the chemise. But not before this weekend.

Photos are forthcoming.