Category: projects

If it wouldn’t make too much of a mess, I think I’d be working on about 10 projects right now…

I did start embroidering the corset cover this morning on the train — all went well, very nice and relaxing.

But on Monday I decided to stop putting off (and start getting excited about) making a new version of my 1910s corset. It’s time to admit defeat on the first version, which was fit over my friend Bridget’s corset which we had laced WAY down, plus I thought I’d be optimistic and make it a bit smaller in case (ha!) I lost some weight. Well, it ain’t happening.

So I stuck my old corset on my dress form and started draping a new one — I’ve basically widened all the pieces through the bust and waist on all of the pieces except the side front. Then last night, in a fit of awakeness (maybe all that laziness has paid off and I’m fully rested? It could happen!) I cut out my coutil and cover fabric. The cover fabric is just fabulous, a white cotton satin with a narrow black stripe (stripedy! yay!) which was so generously donated by my friend Heather, who saved me the scraps from a wedding outfit she worked on at Dark Garden. I was originally worried there wouldn’t be enough fabric, but it turned out there some large enough pieces that I got the whole thing cut out with no problem. Yay!

Here’s some pics, just so you can see the fabric:

Thanks so much to everyone for your embroidery input (below)! Okay, two strands, and mark the pattern shape but don’t cut until after I embroider (since none of the embroidery will be near the edge, I’m going with this plan — I like the idea of having extra fabric to fit in my hoop).

But, of course, I need a fitted pattern first so off I went! The pattern went together easily, except of course I had to sew all those tucks for the mockup as they’d affect the fit. No problem, I listened to most of the commentaries on Titanic (very little costume stuff — there’s a few comments by Deborah Scott on at the cast & crew commentary, and a brief behind-the-scenes where you get to see lots of extras’ costumes in one of the easter eggs [when Jack and Rose are going in to dinner]).

The big problem with mocking this up is that lace insertion and edging make up part of the body of this garment, including all of the armholes. So I had to draw in their widths, cut holes, and loop a ribbon through in order to see the fit. Here it is on my dress form:

All I could tell was that it was too wide, so I took it in a bit at the side seams and tried it on my real body:

The only real issue was some bunching up around the armholes, so I had to redraw a lower, wider armhole.

Then, suffering from Costume ADD as I did, I was feeling too lazy to redo the pattern or mark the pattern on my fashion fabric, so instead I started on a mockup of a new 1910s corset… but more on that soon!

I’m so lazy that even attempting to write this post seems exhausting! I spent one week of vacation working on this project, and in between all the sleep and distractions this is all I managed to accomplish. Granted, I have no huge deadline and I purposefully chose a project with fancy fiddly undies, but I’m still embarassed that I’ve spent all this time working on a PETTICOAT. I mean, really!

I’m using the Folkwear Edwardian Underthings pattern for the petticoat. It’s quite a nice pattern, as it includes provision (and lots of info) for making an heirloom-type petticoat with lots of tucks, lace, and insertion. The only problem is that it’s meant to be worn mid-calf-length for modern wear (who’s making an Edwardian petticoat for modern wear?!), so I had to lengthen everything.

The main petticoat has a small dust ruffle, which ends up underneath the longer flounce. The flounce has (all optional) lace insertion, tucks, embroidery, and lace edging — I’m doing all but the embroidery (I’m sorry, I’m so not embroidering something worn at heel-level which no one will see). I’ve got the tucking and edging done, now I’m just waiting on my lace insertion I bought on ebay to show up before I can add that and then attach the flounce.

I’m so lazy, I couldn’t even put my petticoat on my dress form for pictures. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Hey, just be thankful I actually managed to take some pictures. I had to lie down for a few hours after doing so. (I’m such a waste of space right now!)

Next up will be the corset cover, which has embroidery (yay! I’m really excited about the embroidery. Me = geek), which leads me to my Really Dumb Question. Okay, so I’ve got the Reader’s Guide book to needlework, I’ve got a book on whitework, I’ve got all these books, but none will answer my Basic I Know Nothing About Embroidery question — you know when you buy embroidery floss, it’s made up of multiple strands twisted together? Is one supposed to embroider using all of those strands, or is one supposed to pull them apart and use (how many? 1? 2?) individual strands? How does one know such a thing — is it just based on how thick you want the embroidery to appear? Did I miss some embroidery-strand-gene in my genetic makeup?

The corset cover has lots of tucks so I’m not looking forward to a mockup, but I want it to fit well so I definitely will be doing so. Another question, though — do the embroidery on a big piece of fabric and then when it’s done, cut out the pattern shape? Or cut out the pattern shape and then do the embroidery?

I told ya, these were Really Dumb Questions.