All posts tagged: corsets

Where are the 1850s corsets?

I’ve been assembling an informal catalogue of extent undergarments for my reference, and I have noticed something odd. I can’t find a single representation of an 1850s corset in a reputable online collection! OK, that’s not entirely true. There is one. At the Met. But it looks like this: What the heck is that!?!? It doesn’t look like any other corset, anywhere, of any period. It’s got some 1830s-40s elements (the bust insets), but otherwise it looks like a weird variant of a 1790s corset, with some stuff never seen on any other corset before or after, like the folk embroidery. It’s interesting, for sure, but definitely a fashion anomaly. So where are the 1850s corsets? You know, the ones normal people wore? The ones advertised in fashion magazines? The ones made by professional corset makers? The ones that (presumably), would transition between the longer, straped, corsets of the 1830s/40s, and the strapless, short corsets of the 1860s. Is there some odd reason that no 1850s corsets survived? Or have museum’s dated their corsets …

Corset making is hard work

Published by The Dreamstress

It’s not that it’s so tricky – it’s just long, and tedious, and surprisingly physically demanding. First you cut out tons of little pieces – my favourite corset pattern has 10, and you need at least a front and a back of each, though I often use as many as four layers of the same piece. The corset I’m currently working on is 4 layers – a fashion fabric, two layers of ultra-fine coutil (I find that two layers of fine makes a nicer corset than one heavy layer), and a lining fabric. When working with four layers, you have to flat line every single piece, so that one layer of coutil and the fashion fabric become one, and one layer of the coutil and the lining fabric become one. Then there is the fitting in of the busk, which isn’t easy, especially if you do the proper way (which I do) without punching any holes for your busk buttons. After the busk goes in, there is the pinning – so many pieces to pin …

A simple corset with a steampunk twist

Published by The Dreamstress

Because I am being good and practical and doing mending instead of exciting historical sewing, I’ll show you more of Madame Ornata’s excellently interesting sewing. She is making a classic Victorian corset, but the gorgeous striped chocolate brown fabric gives it a bit of a steampunk twist. It’s lined with chocolate brown linen. Her sewing machine has beautiful finishing stitches, so she has used them on both back and front. Now I just have to convince her to ornament it with leather belting and big buckles! Or bright pink piping… Either is good. She used Buttericks stays/corset pattern It fits beautifully, but after closely inspecting some historical examples, and the corset as it fits, I helped her lay out an alternative boning pattern. We are basing it on this corset: The curving lines of bones should fit beautifully around the waist. Unlike the Butterick’s pattern AND the 1866 C&C corset, this one doesn’t have a front busk. That was a purely practical decision on Madame O’s part – she didn’t have a busk and wanted …