First was the mock-up of the corset for the Victorian ball. I had originally planned to use Mantua Maker MM18701, but something rather strange happened.
For my ball chemise I bought a simplicity pattern (Simplicity 2890) because I wanted a chemise that looked like that, and with short sleeves instead of the puffed ones I made on last year's that stuck out of the bodice sleeve.
I don't know if you can see the corset all that well, but it has hip and bust gussets, and looks pretty darn similar to the Mantua Maker one. Yes, Simplicity patterns are for "costumers" rather than "historically correct re-enactors", but I've always walked that thin line, so why stop now? Simplicity patterns are also notoriously easier to make, and I hate making corsets.
I was making the chemise and the drawers, so why leave the corset out just because it may not be "historically correct"? No reason. It also saved me the money of having to buy a new pattern (so far, may end up buying it if this all goes horribly wrong).
I bought some muslin during the week specially for the mock up, and began it on Saturday. What had surprised me when tracing and cutting out the pattern was that there was only 2 main body pieces, and the rest were the gussets. In other corset patterns of this era there have been a strip for every possible place on your torso; side front, side back, front, back, side, etc. It was a nice change not to have to cut out all those pieces, and it'll be a God send with the coutil which always makes my fingers hurt gripping the scissors.
I have concluded that I have quite a weird body shape for my size. I won't detail my measurements here, but with every garment I make for myself I'm always taking in the shoulders (if there are any), and the bust. This mock-up was no different. It didn't need that much taking in to be fair, but I find muslin a bit flimsy, especially for a corset mock-up. If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll already know I hate mock-ups because it just feels like such a waste. I try to make my mock-ups an item that can be worn, like petticoats are the mock-up for the outer-layer skirt. You can use cotton for the corset mock-up, and then double it as a lining, but I make so many mistakes and alterations to patterns that the cotton would be nearly unusable by the time I'd finished with it. So muslin it is.
I did have the inclination to buy some white muslin and make an embroidered regency dress (more on that later), and handling the material once more reminded me how well suited it is for the flowing regency style. Not so much for mock-ups of corsets.
As expected, it had to come in at the waist, and bust. But those gussets, I have only once been able to get gussets into one corset and that was on my very first corset that I've never worn, how the heck I managed better as a beginner than I do now I've actually made more corsets is beyond me. Beginner's luck? Needless to say the gussets on the mock-up are atrocious, like genuinely awful. I somehow managed to get the tiny bust gussets into my regency stays, an I figured out why on Sunday.
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| Awful gussets; didn't cut the slash deep enough |
So, I cheated with the back. I'll re-iterate; I hate mock-ups, and I hate the waste, especially monetary wise. Muslin isn't the problem, it's cheap, but grommets are a wee bit more expensive, and it takes ages to put them in, and makes my hand hurt. Or you can skip the whining and just say I was lazy, because I am. I did used to put holes in the mock-up where the eyelets would go, but I may have found a better way.
I like a bit of a gap at the back on my corsets (the first one I ever made had no gap). I like a certain width, and so what if I just pinned the back of the corset to the mannequin with the size of gap I wanted and fiddled with the seams? I am aware corsets are never straight like that when laced, but a larger or smaller gap than that would also be acceptable to me. When I make the real one we'll see if this is a good idea or not. Unsurprisingly the bust had to come in, the gaping was awful. I haven't made up my mind about the waist yet. It did need to come in a fraction, but considering the mannequin doesn't have the chemise on, and the fact that the back gap was straight, I may take it in a little bit at the waist and then fit it on myself before making any more alterations.
Sunday! I don't have much to write because Sunday was literally tracing pattern pieces and cutting out fabric. This took me 4 hours! I traced the pattern for the short regency stays by Nehelenia (the ones I used the last time), except with tabs (yes, I'm going there). Next was tracing the Laughing Moon one with the cording, which included the cording pattern and all other markings. Cut all out.
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| The coutil carnage |
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| The Victorian corset |
Then the coutil was dug out and the regency short corset cut out, as was Saturday's ball corset. I do have this really nice beige coutil with flowers on it, but I decided considering how amateur I am at corset making I would save it for another day. White coutil corsets it is. I didn't even get to cut out the mock-up of the Laughing moon stays. I'm also now wondering whether to just do the full length one of that considering the cording, and eventually I'll probably need one, but that busk, so long. It's what I don't like about the long stays, they're too long.
I managed to get the regency short stays started, including getting the gussets in. This is what might solve my problem with the Victorian gussets. The Muslin was quite flimsy, but coutil is as stiff as, so it actually made it easier to put in the gussets, hopefully this same logic will work with the Victorian stuff. We'll see next week.
As a preview, next weekend will be dedicated to....undergarments! I know, technically this weekend was as well, but next week it'll just be the Victorian ball undergarments, bloomers included!
