January 08, 2007
Working on Regency Corset
I finished the first mock-up of my Regency era corset yesterday night. Considering that I had to scale the pattern up by four sizes, I think it turned out pretty well. I need to shift the hip gores and the arm holes back a bit, but I think it's about the right length and size. I think it will have an even gap in the back of about two inches. I'm not sure if this is right for Regency period corsets, but I don't have a lot of image resources to work from.
I'm using the Past Patterns 1820s-1840s Corded Stay and I like the pattern so far. Unfortunately the pattern only goes up to a 33 inch waist (which I left about four years and fifty pounds ago... ;_;), but Saundra Ros Altman who runs the company (and I think drafts all the patterns) was very helpful and supportive. She even sent me some information about grading patterns so that I could get it to work for me! ^_^
I did have about twenty minutes of extreme frustration while I tried to understand the directions for sewing a gore. I was pretty sure I had done gores before, but no, I was thinking of gussets. Eventually I dragged out my fifty year old sewing manual from Coats & Clarks and it delivered me better instructions. That book is worth every penny of the $7 I paid for it.
Hopefully only one more mock-up to go for the corset and then I'll be able to work on the actual one. I'm hoping I can get to the dress I'm wearing over it some time next week. Somewhere in there I have to squeeze in making a chemise, but I'm not too worried about that part.
My goal is to have my Regency outfit done by the end of the month. That might be a bit ambitious, but I'll try anyway. I still have to make another stab at a Victorian corset that fits me for a different costume. I can't wear the improperly fitted one I bought any more. I was trying to pretend that it wasn't that bad, but I'm pretty sure that's what screwed my hip up. Bleh. Eventually I'm putting some corset reviews up in my sewing section and I will have very bad things to say about the woman who made that one.
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