January 20, 2012

1911 - fabric decided


We're already three weeks into the sew along! I hope everyone is enjoying it as much as I am. I'll post this weekend about dealing with some of the common fitting issues. In the meantime, I thought I'd share the fabric I'll be using for my corset. I had so much trouble deciding. I thought of dying coutil, or maybe using brocade coutil, and the stiped ticking kept pulling at me. I needed something festive. The white of the 1844 corset languishing by the sewing machine, and the beige of the 1650 bodice I'll be working on once the former is complete, are a big expanse of solid, no nonsense, pale. Then, while digging through my stash in accordance with the sewing rule, I found this.


Remember the Liberty of London's line for Target? This is a large cotton scarf from that collection. It's very thin, but I can flatline it with coutil. Maybe with red accents?


It's bold, cheerful, and I can just fit all the pattern pieces on the scarf. Is there anyone out there like me, waiting until the last minute to finalize the fabric and trim?

12 comments:

  1. I'm the opposite! I bought tan/putty colored ticking from Vogue Fabrics before doing anything else. (It's not as heavy as I thought it'd be, but it's very tightly woven and has no stretch, so.) I'm probably going to use unbleached twill tape to bind it, too. I figure at some point in the future when I'm a bit better (and have a job), I'll go all out and do something pretty and blue and white.

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    1. This one can still be pretty! Just in varying shades of tan.

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  2. I thought I'd keep mine really simple, since I'm learning, but I can't decide if I want to trim it in color or keep everything white. I'm thinking I might trim it in a very pale green, if I can find some pretty lace that matches. :)

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    1. Ooh, pale green on white sounds so fresh, perfect for Springtime.

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  3. Yep, 'fraid so. I was going to use striped ticking I had on hand, but then I got the piece out and I don't think it's big enough. Definitely not big enough to cut facings, though maybe I could use something else since they're on the inside. I have some unbleached coutil that looks pretty good with the trimmings I got for the top edge. Maybe I'll go that way if I can't figure out how to get the ticking to work.

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  4. I wanted simple. Ordered white coutil. But, oh no! My package got lost in the mail. So I went out yesterday and scored myself a nice cream canvassy-fabric and some awesome ...cotton something, that was stuffed in a faraway back corner in the fabric store. No-one knew what it was, but is was off-white, no stretch and very, very soft. I bought it. I came home. Found my missing parcel in the mail, with excusez from the mail company.

    Now I have to choose between white, off white and cream. With red details. *sigh* (--> But! Now I HAVE to make more corsets. Can I sign up for the next sew-along already?)

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  5. So pretty; and I bet it was much cheaper than the BTY fabric on Liberty of London's website!

    I bet that would look awesome with a few random flower parts colored in with fabric markers....


    I have my fabric already picked out (when in doubt, go black IMO), but I'm still deciding on how much red accents I want; I'm definitely doing red lacing, but I think maybe it needs something more.

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  6. Multi: they sell red garter parts at Vena Cava designs :)

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  7. Like you I was planning on just dying my coutil and maybe dying the lace and the boning casings at the same time to get similar shades of the same color. But after reading one of the period corset fitting articles that you posted, the swirling pattern on one of the corsets in the photos caught my eye and I decided pattern was the way to go. I've been recently obsessed with an Anna Marie Horner print from her innocent crush series. The only problem is that the colorway that I wanted seems to only be available as a cotton velveteen not the sateen. Although the velveteen would be very "pettable" I worry about my slip or skirt getting caught up on it.

    Needless to say, I'm still thinking about it.

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  8. So pretty! I wanted to thank you for doing this sew along. I'm unfortunately unable to participate in this one, but just following along had given me so many awesome tips! I hope there may be more of these in the future!

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  9. I have fallen far behind, but am still with you! I got the white coutil from King&Co. and was very happy for the discount! I'm planning to use some vintage and semi-vintage trims from my stash, which are bone/ivory, on it. Maybe a peach satin bow. Subtle and feminine.

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  10. I was planning on using a peach dyed coutil with white trim and lacing, but now I'm wondering if I should go for a pattern. I absolutely love the combo of black, white, and red. Over the holidays I started making a pinwheel patterned quilt for my sister out of a combination of six different patterned fabrics each with that color scheme and so far it's looking great - very graphic and elegant, which aren't words usually associated with quilting. Hearing everyone's fabric choices is getting me excited to see all the finished corsets.

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