I made a corset!

I'm taking a pattern and drafting class at school, and today I completed my first corset.  I drafted up and modified an 1892 corset from the book Waisted Efforts by Robert Doyle.  Of course it fits me better than my dress form.

Undergarments

Here are a few undergarments I've made for my historic costumes

Laughing Moon Bustles and Hoops pattern:

 

 Truly Victorian #208, plain with ruffles for a petticoat

 

 Laughing Moon Bustles and Hoops pattern:

 

 1830's corded petticoat, no pattern -just help from internet friends

 

Regency bodiced petticoat, altered the Butterick 6630

   

Half stays and chemise from the Simplicity 4052 Regency undergarments pattern:

 

Butterick B4254 This was a first try, so be kind!!  I KNOW it's laced wrong. (Panniers commissioned via Ebay, but it's been so long I forget who made them).

 

Late 18th c. rump pad, Wingeo #216 (worn with 18th. polonaise)

 TV 170, view 1 bustle petticoat  Ugh, what an awful photo.  Sorry!

 

I've also made an early steel bustle with attached petticoat (TV 108) and a late steel bustle with attached petticoat (TV 101), but I don't have photos of them.

You'll also note a sad lack of corsets.  I'm currently taking a pattern drafting class and am making my first corset now.

misc accessories

I've made a few things to compliment my outfits:

Bustle coat

My regular winter coat does not fit over my bustle dresses, so I was forced to make one that would.   This was before Truly Victorian came out with her fabulous bustle coat pattern. 

Made of velvet, interlined with cotton quilting, lined with moire bengaline

Here's the inspiration.  It was a free pattern online.  It wasn't to scale and needed major tweaking!

 

Chemise a la reine

Koshka the Cat got a bunch of us all hot and bothered to make a late 18th c. chemise a la reine.  It is a gown made popular by Marie Antoinette as an alternative to the constrictive, formal court gowns required by ladies of her status.  Though it was considered shocking at the time - it seemed as though the queen was compromising her dignity as Queen of France by appearing in her undergarments (chemise), it quickly caught on, as evidenced by portraits of the day.

Marie Antoinette

 Princess Louise Augusta

 

 Lady Elizabeth Foster

 

And now here's my version.  I used the Wingeo pattern, which I admit I didn't love.  There were actual pieces missing from the pattern and the sleeve wasn't right (wayyyyyyy too big) :(  Thanks to Koshka's advice, I got it finished.

 

And here I am with Koshka, without whom this gown would not exist.

 

And here are the undergarments to go with:

Chemise and short stays (though I should wear regular, long stays with this)

Then the cotton petticoat

 I also made a small bum pad to keep the back of the dress from collapsing above my rear

Buccaneers dress

This dress has two sources of inspiration: the movie The Buccaneers (set in the 1870s) and a gown painted several times by Tissot in the 1870s.

 

And now here's my humble cotton version complete with hat (hat pattern designed by Lazy K - thank you!)

Trained pinned up:

 

Train down:

Hats and bonnets

Well, one of the things I like to do is make hats, so here is a sampling I haven't shown already

Photo courtesy of Creations l'Escarpolette:

 

Photo courtesy of Gemma:

 

Photo courtesy of Tattermallion Designs:

 

 

Design idea courtesy of Gypsy Lady Designs:

 

 

Titanic "Jump" Dress

I really love all the costumes from Titanic.  I hope to do a version of several.  For a trip to stay on the Queen Mary in California, I decided to make the "Jump" dress.  It is NOT movie correct, so if you're a purist, don't get mad.

The top part is the Simplicity 8399 and the skirt part is from Laughing Moon #104 view B because the skirt of the Simplicity is much more Regency than Edwardian (and their Regency is more Edwardian in cut!  So weird.)