[sound clip] Oh my god. Look at her butt!
It turns out, a lot of our images of the Edwardian fashionable silhouette
are . . . not exactly realistic. And while it’s true that Camille Clifford could have been a
brand ambassador for Photoshop, the silhouette on regular human beings was still not realistic!
Hi, I’m V, I like to bust myths about old clothes, this video is sponsored by Wondrium, and if you
wonder what’s under this corset, keep watching. [record scratch] . . . not like that! Goodness,
people, this video’s monetized! Around 1900, the fashionable body shape
changed a lot, especially in corsetry.Victorian corsets encouraged an upright posture,
lifted the bust to around underarm height, and any padding and skirt supports were separate,
or sewn into your dress. Edwardian corsets instead encourage the “chest forward, hips
back” posture your chiropractor would really like you to stop, and had a low, full bust
placement with equally low and full hip shaping. So how exactly does one go from here, to here?
Literally just stuff some fancy pillows under your corset.
I’m pretty curvy for my size, but there is no way I will look like this without some extra help. So,
before I can even start making the corset, I’m going to need to sew myself a bust improver.
The pattern I’m using is based on the extant from LACMA we saw earlier.
It’s a vaguely heart-shaped base with two circular, uhm, cushions added to the front.
All the pieces are marked and cut out of white cotton muslin,
and the marks for gathering the cushions are transferred to the base piece.
All the edges are machine-overcast, because I’m lazy but I’m also afraid of sergers.
They’re also finished with cotton lace trim, because if you can’t cover turn-of-the-century
undergarments in lace, is there really any point? Gathering stitches are added to the
circular pieces, and then they’re pinned onto the base and gathered in to form the cushions.
They’re machine-sewn most of the way around,
leaving just enough of a gap to stuff them with fluffy cotton fiberfill.
Since they’re not meant to be overstuffed, I can sew up the gap by machine instead of by hand.
And finally, because the pattern said so,
I’m adding a length of beading lace across the top of the base piece.
With my new and improved bust, I can get accurate measurements to start drafting the actual corset
pattern. I’m using the IRIS pattern by Aranea Black, but that’s an underbust pattern and I
want a mid-bust corset. Thankfully, she has a wonderful tutorial on her site for how to
turn an underbust corset into a mid-bust! For my first draft, I simply followed her
tutorial to modify the top of the pattern : tracing off the pieces, extending the lines,
adjusting according to my improved bust measurement, and drawing new curves. If you’re
interested, I have a full pattern, materials, and research document available on my Patreon.
Because I am quite asymmetrical, I’m tracing a second copy of one of the back pieces and
modifying it to fit my scoliosis. I know what changes to make because I’ve fitted corsets
to my spinal curve before— look in the top right corner for a video about that process.
Mockup number one is cut out of some random cotton twill relegated to mock-ups because it has stretch
in one direction. For corsets, I mark the stitch lines instead of measuring out seam allowance.
This first mockup was far too tall in the front,
gave no compression at all in the waist, and had too much extra room in the back and sides.
The hip shaping wasn’t bad though, and it worked with and without my hip pads.
Mockup 1.5 was removing all the width added to the back pieces during the re-drafting process,
which was as simple as taking those seams in. I also cut simple facings to install a busk,
and added boning channels instead of taped-on cable ties.
Mockup 1.5 fit much better, only there was literally no lacing gap and still
hardly any compression. I straight-up can’t tightlace without my chronic pain kicking in,
but this was quite simply too big, despite the shape and general fit working well.
I was happy with the bust placement, although the top edge did need to be further lowered in
order to have the bust improver supporting my bust rather than sitting on top of it.
Mockup 2.0 was in a fabric I trusted not to stretch, with the adjusted top edge. The shape was
great, but I could still lace it closed and barely feel a squeeze, so I sized all of the pieces down
one size using the original IRIS pattern pieces as a guide. I also realized the busk was too long,
which was pushing the waistline too high on my body, so I bought a shorter one.
The outer fabric for this corset is a beautiful vintage silk corsetry brocade which I found at
Lacis last fall. It’s only one yard wide, so I’m being very creative about my layout to
conserve fabric. I don’t think this silk is sturdy enough to be a single-layer corset,
so before I cut anything, I’m applying double-sided heat-and-bond material that
will allow me to fuse it to a stronger fabric. I followed the instructions,
which say to first iron the heat-and-bond to the outer fabric, then cut your pieces out—
with paper scissors, so I don’t wreck my fabric scissors cutting through the paper backing.
Then, each individual piece is bonded to the cotton twill I use for
literally all of my interlinings. This means I can treat these pieces
as one, and put them together as a reinforced single-layer corset.
Using transfer paper, I’m marking the stitch lines on the inside of all the pieces as well.
I realized that basting everything together would be more accurate than pinning and probably not
much slower, so I am hand-basting all of the pieces but the center front together,
directly through the stitch lines for maximum accuracy.
This is finnicky, but so was pinning through the stitch lines the way I did on my previous corsets.
The last step before construction is marking and folding the self-facings
I’m going to use for the center-back boning channels, before basting those pieces on too.
I’ve now made four corsets and more mockups than I want to count, and it still shocks me
how quickly the construction phase can go. With all the seams basted, all I had to do
was run everything through the machine with short stitches and make sure to follow my stitch lines.
A few of the curves were a little tricky, but not as tricky as adding gores would have been!
Pressing those curves, though,
was tricky. Even my tailor’s ham wasn’t curved enough for the hip shaping!
I tried several types of boning channels on my mockup, from twill tape to single and double
applied fabric channels. I settled on double channels— so, two narrow bones on each seam.
They’re made out of strips of the same cotton twill, an inch and a half wide,
and then ironed into 3/4-inch wide binding which
should have enough room for two 4-millimeter-wide bones in each channel.
The seam allowances are trimmed back to fit, and then I went absolutely
nuts with the basting. It made the construction much easier, so why not?
Every channel was basted directly through the seam to secure the center so nothing went out of line.
Then, the edges are held in place with z-shaped stitches.
Then began the usual twelve miles of long, straight seams as I sewed the boning channels on—
first “in the ditch” to secure the center, then once down each outside edge to create two
side-by-side channels. It’s pretty boring, and I usually put movies on for background noise while I
do it. This corset’s considerably-more-interesting background noise was provided by Wondrium, a
streaming service for exactly the sort of curious people who watch corset history videos on Youtube.
They have a huge collection of documentaries, courses, and educational videos on just about
every topic you might wonder about, from music to philosophy to DIY home improvements.
I expected to mostly be watching history documentaries, but then I discovered they
have sewing courses. I know nothing about 20th and 21st-century pattern fitting,
so “Fitting Solo : From Measurements to Muslin” was incredibly helpful both as a solo sewist,
and for some slightly-more-modern projects I’m working on off-camera. I was absolutely shocked
to find out that many commercial patterns actually have charts for how much wearing ease they add!
I thought it was just A Mystery, but it turns out they’re hiding in the back of the big pattern
catalogue books you look through in the store. If you too are wondering about what else is in
this course or any of their other amazing videos, Wondrium has an offer for my viewers! Please visit
Wondrium.com/SnappyDragon or click the link in the description to start your free trial today.
The center back channels are made with a folded self-facing, so those I can just sew down.
I have a little scotch-tape gauge on my machine foot for different widths of channel.
I also have to sew down the folded edge of the facing from the wrong side,
before I can go in and sew the channel that will be on other side of the lacing grommets.
The self-facing trick will only work for one side of the busk; the loop side will need a
seam to stick out. So I am cutting and bonding a facing strip to sew onto one center-front edge.
The busk itself will help me mark the loop placement, and I’m sewing
forwards, backwards, and then forwards again in between for extra strength.
Everything is pressed into place, the loops are inserted into the gaps, the whole busk held in
place with clips, and it’s topstitched around with a narrow zipper foot. Now I can use those same
loops to mark the stud placement, stab holes as required with a variety of sharp and pointy awls,
and pop the studs through the fabric. More clips, and the other side of the busk is set in.
Next, I’ll need to repeat all the steps with the center front pieces. Baste them on, sew
the construction seams, more tricky pressing, and even more excessive basting of boning channels.
With all the construction and channels done,
I’m machine-basting the bottom edge shut before I add the boning itself.
I’m using synthetic whalebone; very lightweight for most of the corset and heavier only at the
center back. The edges have to be sanded smooth so they don’t break through the fabric, but you can
cut it with heavy wirecutters. Singing whaling songs while you do this is entirely optional.
From my very limited remaining silk, I’m cutting strips to turn into half-inch double-fold binding.
There are other ways to do this, but I’m just applying it to the edges,
clipping it in place, and topstitching through it in one go.
The curves at the bottom edge were a bit fussy, but doable nonetheless.
The grommet placement is marked with the help
of this amazing lacing gauge from Ampled Atelier, highly recommend.
However, my punch tool was nowhere near strong enough to get through two layers of bonded
silk and twill! I had to use an awl and small scissors to make holes for the grommets to go in.
I changed out the dies on my pliers, popped the grommets through the very stubborn holes,
and set them in place— with considerable effort, because this is a stubborn batch of grommets.
I’m adding fabric-covered garters to this corset,
which are basically elasticized tubes. Aranea Black also has a great tutorial for these.
The garter clips are actually from bedsheet holders; modern ones aren’t wide enough.
These are certainly not my cleanest work, and I may go back and fix them up later; but they have
a clip at one end and are sewn to the corset at the other, and that’s good enough for now.
I wasn’t very happy with how my old bustle and hip pads were sitting,
so I decided to draft and make a new one. I sketched out a rough shape,
then held it up to my hips and trimmed it down until it looked right.
The pad shape is cut out of the same cotton twill I interlined the corset with,
and the long curved seam is sewn up.
I’m stuffing the edges with a small amount of cotton fiberfill, and sewing three lines of
quilting for a graduated edge. Then, the rest of the pad is stuffed with the same cotton fiberfill.
In the old one I used fabric scraps, which are heavy and don’t have as much give to them;
this will be lighter and work better under the corset. The top edge is bound with twill tape,
which is fussy but makes good built-in waist ties.
To finish, I’m adding some tufting, little stitches to help keep the stuffing in place,
and off-camera, large grommets for ventilation.
Finally, the last finishing touches on the corset! I’m adding sturdy cotton
lacing through the eyelets. I’m also flossing all of the boning channels
with a decorative stitch in heavy silk thread, to help keep the boning in place.
And, I’m adding one of these gorgeous lacing hooks from Atelier Sylphe,
held on with buttonhole stitches.
Here we have it : A finished Edwardian corset,
which literally doesn’t even fit me until I add the bust improvers.
Despite the dramatic shape mostly coming from padding, I realized I can lace this corset smaller
than my others without even feeling it! Even with no padding, the hip shaping is pretty amazing.
The garters work wonderfully, and I cannot explain how excited I am to
not have my stockings slipping down below my knees. As for with the new hip pad . . .
. . . Well, I think it says a lot that even in the 1900s, an era known for the popularity
of tightlacing, you weren’t expected to have a body that naturally fit the fashionable ideal.
None of this was real, nor was it supposed to be.
So let’s add that to the list of lessons modern fashion could stand to learn from the past.
Tell me in the comments about your favorite or least favorite unrealistic fashion ideal,
leave a like while you’re there, and subscribe for more Edwardian fashion history adventures.
Next time we’re talking about the Suffragettes, so hold onto your hats . . .