First fitting of the corset

1911 corset sew-a-long

I'm really, really disappointed.

If you have been reading my posts, you know I was really sad about needing to add 2 1/2 inches to every pattern piece, because I'm twice as thick as the woman the pattern was made for.

Now I have sewn the mock-up.

It's way too big.
I need to take in EVERY SEAM for at least 1/2 inch and it was like a skirt on the hips. The lacing edges were together.

Again, I look at the images of the "adding/removing fabric", and it's just a minor adjustment. I need to... do the whole f-ing thing again,

Yeah, sure, I'm not quite as fat as I thought I was. But...
Oh, and I know I should have measured the hip on the pattern and not widened it quite the 2 1/2 inches, because I know I'm an apple and most patterns are made for pears. Pears with long waist and small boobs. Like the individual this pretty pink thing was made for.

So... I'm scared that the long bones are too long for me.

I also noticed that I had read wrong the list, and I don't have any 1/2 inch wide bones.

I'm so not happy right now.


I have been procrastinating sewing the mock-up, because I'm so uncertain, so afraid, and it would have been nice to have some confirmation and encouragement, but... I just feel like a complete failure.

Sure, I'm sewing myself a corset. Yay, me. :´(

Diary of a corset maker... (procrastinating...)

Monday 1st of October:
I have finished the pattern, and try to gather courage to sew the fitting sample. But, I haven't received my package from UK yet, so I have no bones and no busk... so...
Yes, I know. Excuses, excuses. *sigh*

Wednesday 3rd of October:
My package arrived and I fetched it.

Thursday 4th of October:
I washed my denim.

Friday 5th of October:
I hanged my denim to dry.

Saturday 6th of October:
I ironed my denim. I can't make my mock of that. The fabric is too nice.

After a couple of hours procrastinating I decided to use some old sheets.

I hate cutting. Or not hate, I'm scared of it. I really, really dislike doing it, because it scares me. It doesn't matter that it's the mock copy, and the fabric is not worth much. Doesn't matter. I'm sure I have made some grave mistakes, and the mock copy will be nasty and twisted and I won't be able to transfer the corrections to the pattern and my corset will be awful and it's all waste of time, money and effort, and I'm going to hell for being a bad seamstress. With all my education and all.

Now I have cut the mock copy and I need to sew it. I'm scared. I don't want to... I'm going to do something wrong and everything will go wrong and it will be awful and... God will strike me down with a fiery hammer for not being good at sewing corsets.

Yes, it's my first one, what's your point?

I'm a bad, bad person and I'll go to hell.

2 1/2 inches...

Now I have found the tape measure.

Now I don't dare to take my measures. I'm fat. I won't be near 22 inches around my waist. I will be more like twice that... Which means that I kind of need to double that pattern...

But - I have a husband, and it needs to be done, so... My sweet, darling husband took the measurements. He's really doing more than duty calls - but he just shrugs and says "that's part of paying the 18 cows". He married a woman who sews. 

18 cows... Ok. There was a village, full of beautiful women, and there was a poor man with a daughter in the village. The girl walked around hunched, afraid and ashamed, because she was poor. They had nothing.
One day a young, rich man comes to the village, in search of a wife. All the other girls were trying to charm him, but he didn't seem to even see them. He saw the poor girl. He said he wanted to marry her. 
Year later the girl came back to her home village to greet her father, and when the villagers saw the girl, they didn't recognize her. She walked with pride and joy, carrying her head up high with a radiant smile. She was like a queen.
What had happened?
The rich man had not paid the usual 5 cows, or 9 which was paid for a rich man's daughter. No. He paid 18 cows for his wife.
Why?
To get a wife worth 18 cows, you pay 18 cows...

And it's 44 inches.
Dang, I'm fat. :-(

Well... the official measurements - taken exactly against the given orders, that is, in the evening, straight after dinner.
waist 44 inches
hips 49-49.5 inches
So - let's remove three inches from the waist and get 41. That divided in two is 20.5, which is exactly twice the 10 1/4 of the CC pattern.
so that divided with 4 is 2 9/16
That doesn't look TOO bad. Actually.
*sigh*

"that's roughly 3/8 per pattern piece..." Compare that to 2 and half inches.
I'm fat. :-(

Bah. Comparison is the kill of joy. Back to work.

I really like that ribbon embellishment on top of this corset from 1909

Now I have done it.
I have added 2 1/2 inches to every piece of the pattern, and boy, was it rough! Emotionally it was almost too much to bear.
I kept thinking about how fat I am, I'm fat, fat, fatty fat.

Then I thought that "I just need to do this job. Add 2 1/2 inches to each pattern piece, nothing else. Don't think what it means. Just do it. It's easy. It's not tough. It's not hard. It's easy. Just add 2 1/2 inches to each piece. Only six pieces... Easy peasy."

And then "fat, fat, fat..."


And then I thought about Mae West.

And I thought about words like rubenesque, voluptuous, baroque, opulent... I love stuff like that.

Mae West was magnificent. She wasn't a skinny bitch. I can't think of one skinny bitch who's magnificent. You have to be big to be magnificent. Like Mae West and Miss Piggy. Magnificent.

I'm magnificent. And voluptuous, baroque, opulent and rubenesque. I'm not fat. I'm magnificent.

Any way, now it's done.
It's day 7 of the Corset Project, and I have slashed and spread and drafted and the pattern should be ok for the next phase.
I need to check the hips, put notches in pattern, add length and mark the bones in the pattern.

Supportive husbands are worth their weight in gold

My husband is the best husband in the whole world :-)

I am scared to death to use money... I am not certain of which tools to use, what I'm going to need, what will I do if the bones are too long, money, money, money...

He told me that I shouldn't be thinking about money, that he thinks it's great I'm sewing myself a corset and that I should take what ever I need to do so. And he's not only saying it, because he finds corsets and Edwardian underwear extremely sexy, but because he thinks it does good for me. I feel better when I do something, something I have been wanting to do for a very long time and not taken myself the time, money and efford. I feel better when I achieve something and I feel better when I wear things I find beautiful and feminine and sexy and me :-)

So I went to the British site and ordered my steel bones, busk and bone casing, and things for garters, and used some 300 kronas. And I'm terrified and very pleased :-D

I'm going to go to the fabric shop with my sisters this weekend, and buy the rest. :-)

I'm really, really terrified and excited :-D

P.S. I also need a brassiere. Here's a pattern for that.
I could also take an ordinary bra, cover the elastics with satin and the bra with lace...

Day 1 of Corset Project

Supplies needed:

Pattern.
I got myself both patterns,  "Corsets and Crinolines" 1911 corset, and the "Titanic era corset". I'm a magpie. I think I'll go with the "Corsets and Crinolines", as I like the hip pieces. It's a little bit more tailored, and to me the corsets this time looked highly tailored.

"...busk, ¼ inch wide flat steel bones, lace or broderie anglaise, twill tape, 2 inch wide bias, 3/4 inch wide bone casing, elastic and garter slides and grips for garters, grommets, lacing..."
Uh. What are all these things and what are they called in Swedish and how do I get them, living in Stockholm?

Sigh. Sigh, sigh, double sigh. 
I have found a Swedish internet shop selling corset making materials, and a British one, that I can pay with Paypal. So - that problem solved. 
But they don't have 2 inch wide bias. Now... I know how to make bias. I just don't like making it. *sigh*

I have to go to fabric shop. *sigh*

Perhaps my sisters will go with me next weekend. 

:-(
Uh.  

But now I know "wide flat steel bones" are called "krinolinstål", and the Swedish shop sells it by meters... I wonder how they'd send 6 3/4 meters of flat 1/4 inch wide steel. 
Never mind. I'm going to buy my bones from Vena Cava. 

Husk is "planchette". They sell different models of husks. *sigh* Which one to get? I'm kind of tempted to get the tapered one, because they say that one was often used 1910 and about, and that's the one they use in "Corsets and Crinolines" pattern.

And I'm not at all sure we can afford buying all that stuff I need right now... so I might need to push this project in some distant future that never comes. Again. *sigh*

What ever. I'll think about that a little later.

Fabric and thread. And I may not forget the cheap cotton for mock copy. 
As far as I can see, most of the corset of this time were white - or ecru, creme, something like that, so that's what I'll do. I plan using it as underwear for a period costume, so it doesn't need to be fancy. 
(And I need to start thinking about "combinations" and "slips" and "stockings" and other such things... isn't it interesting that they'd wear the corset over the underpants and stockings fastened to the corset... so there's be quite a lot of bulk... Hmm... No wonder they had nice, fuller hips :-D


So - what's next?

Scaling up the pattern - done

Sizing the pattern to fit my measurements... 
*sigh*

I can't find my tape measure.

But - I have a week to adjust the pattern to my size, and I've done that several times before, so I don't think it will be a problem.

I need to finish my model and find the tape measure. I suppose it would be nice if I could prepare the sewing room, too.


Oh, and I need to get some "extra paper, a ruler, tape, scissors or and x-acto knife, and a pencil."
I think I'd like some tougher, brown paper for the pattern pieces when they are done. 
xacto knife... Hmm...
I would need one of those long, curved rulers, (hip curve?) and a one meter ruler, straight... those cost a fortune. :´(

But one thing - I'm going to adjust both patterns to me. :-) That looks like fun, and one learns a lot doing that. :-)

But I need to order my bones and husks for the mock up... I do hope they will be the right length. *sigh*

We'll see again next week, when I'll be ready with the patterns :-)

P.S. Here's more patterns:
Corset for a slim woman 1910
1910's corset pattern and instructions
Edwardian diagonal seam corset from Corsets and Crinolines - that's earlier one, a bit like the image above - 1905? 

What's my excuse?

Those darling buds you who have read this blog have probably heard me yapping about sewing the corset.
I'm just yapping. Talk talk talk.

Today I saw "1911 corset sew-a-long"

Oh, yay! Maybe I'll finally manage to dare to enter the corset sewing ladies' community!

Ok... so I looked at what the lady says about herself: "I'm sewing my way through every corset pattern in Norah Waugh's book, Corsets and Crinolines. When I complete this challenge I hope to be able to say, "yeah, I can sew," and "yeah, I know a bit about corsets." Here's how the project began, and here are the ground rules."

Oh, nice idea! Hmm... maybe I should do so too... You see, there's this gentleman who taught himself tailoring - from a JAPANESE book - because he couldn't find a winter coat he wanted.
Yes - from zero skills and knowledge to tailoring men's clothing!
If HE can do that, so should *I* be able to, too! I'm no "zero skills and knowledge" either!

Then I read "bridges" description about how she entered the world of corset making.
"I was disappointed when my made-to-measurements corset arrived, because it wasn't good, so I decided to sew one myself. At that point I had sewn only one skirt, and someone else put in the zipper. I bought a book, decided on a pattern, ordered materials and went to work - just the pattern, materials, no directions, and a lot of attitude..." and she made it. 
"There were plenty of issues with that first piece..." but I've made a couple more after that - the last 4 years - and I'm getting better with each..."

WHAT?

Oh...

Uh.

What's my excuse, again?