titanic era corset and pattern

This is the corset I made and wrote about for Foundations Revealed this past June, enough time has passed that I can share some of the images here. Yea. I started with an old corset in terrible condition found on ebay, and after drafting a pattern from it this is what I came up with.

Here is a picture from the auction listing.

Not pretty. In addition to the general grubbyness seen here, the garter grips were rusty, bones were poking through casings, and the steels along the center back were bent. I probably would have been disappointed if I paid more than the $20 I bid. There was no information about the corset when I purchased it, so to help date it I made a timeline that illustrates the changing silhouette from 1900-1919.

The shape of the corset is almost exactly like the silhouette from 1911 on the timeline. Based on that, on the cut and construction of the original, and allowing for the fact that the corset's owner may or may not have been on the cutting edge of new trends, I'd say the antique corset I bought was produced between 1910-14. The original was made of plain cotton drill, but I spiffed mine up a bit by using cotton mattress ticking and the prettiest cotton lace ever. Because I like to show my work, here is a view of the interior of the corset.

I was so happy with the way this corset turned out. I'd been wanting to experiment with mattress ticking for awhile and it worked quite well. Here is the pattern if anyone is interested in constructing this corset.

This pattern will fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper and is a high enough resolution that it should enlarge well without pixelling up. If you do sew a corset from this pattern I'd love to hear how the pattern worked for you. And to see other interpretations!

a carved busk?

The illustration and pattern of the 1844 corset show a busk that would have been made of wood, or ivory, or baleen. Often busks were carved and given to a lady as a token of affection. This one from the Nicholson Whaling Collection at the Providence Public Library is one of my favorites.

© Providence Public Library (identification number 008)

I love the naïve quality of the artwork. It's carved on whalebone and you can see future Sailor Jerry's tattoos on this busk. Here is an older one made of wood that was carved in 1783 and is part of the Pinto Collection at the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery.

© Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (accession number 1965T600)

Below is an even older metal busk from the 17th century belonging to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.

© Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession number 30.135.32)

Look at the detail of the tiny portrait carved in the metal. Nice.

Notice how they are all decorated? I feel like I should jazz mine up with something. To fit the mock up I can use a couple 1/2 inch wide steels, but for the finished corset wouldn't a decorated busk be nice?

two and a half napkins

The pattern pieces are traced onto the napkins with a decadent 1 inch seam allowance.

I've laid the pieces on the cross grain because the notes about constructing early nineteenth century corsets found in Appendix I in Corsets and Crinolines read, "stays are usually cut in four pieces, all of which are generally upon the cross, as this assists materially in making them set better to the figure." I'm all for things setting better to to the figure. The instructions were taken from The Workingwoman's Guide and my favorite thing about them is the author's credit, which reads, "by a Lady, 1838." Thank you anonymous Lady for taking the time to write down how you made stays.

These pieces will use 2 1/2 of the 6 linen napkins, and will become the interior layer of the corset. That will leave plenty of fabric for the exterior, and should allow me a bit of room to do some organized placement of the jacquard pattern. Yea.

Time to mock up!

go bucks

I made this corset quite a while ago.

And a view of the front.

I thought burgundy flossing and trim would really set off the anthrazite dupioni. It did. And yes, that is the way I described the colors in my mind as I was working. But once the corset was finished all I could see was The Ohio State University's scarlet and grey. So in honor of tomorrow's football game against Michigan I present what I now always think of as the Go Bucks corset.

Go Bucks!

wishbone

Wishbones are the most pleasing shape. The only thing that can improve them is glitter.

Happy Thanksgiving.