1875 corset from De Gracieuse (to match my bustle!!)

I'm so glad I finally finished this corset!! Yay!

I had such a fun little photoshoot with this. I've always wanted to do a Victorian long hair photoshoot, too, so I let my hair fly around a bit.

I used a random piece of knit fabric to cover my bookshelves for a backdrop, and had a chair and a shawl for props.

And here it is with the matching bustle!

My background dropcloth was not quite big enough to get the whole bustle in, so I took it down and did a few just in front of my books.

I made this bustle several years ago, and it was always the plan to make a corset to match. But the fabric just hung around while I waited to find the right pattern. So glad I finally did!

I know of no historical evidence showing matching corset and bustle sets from the 19th century, but I really like having a matched pair!

Here's the inner view of the bustle so you can see how the half-circle hoops are controlled by the ties.

I was too lazy to sort through too many more photos so I just pasted a bunch in, enjoy!

Sitting down in this is very comfy - the bust is low enough that I don't get that annoying "my bust is hitting my chin" feeling.

Nice for lounging, too!

Okay, onto The Details.

I made this from a pattern I enlarged from De Gracieuse magazine 1875 (links at bottom). I used my projector to enlarge the pattern:

I went through a couple of mock-ups to refine the fit:

And finally made the corset from teal green cotton twill with black cotton twill tape bone channels.

The bones are narrow German plastic, except at the lacing edge where they are 1/4" steel. This corset is very lightly boned. There were a few bones sketched into the original pattern, but it didn't seem like a complete diagram, so I just sort of made it up.

I LOVE the angled seams, both for fitting and aesthetics. You can see in the side view how I got extra curves by bending the busk (a trick I originally learned from my friend at Before The Automobile).

The Good: It's super comfy, very curvy, has a tiny waist, and I love the shape. The color is pretty and the topstitching on my boning channels came out nearly invisible. The length is great: bust is nice and low, cute short waist, and I can sit down without bust spillage.

The Bad: I like to think of this as "notes for next time" rather than fussy nitpicking.

The bust curves aren't entirely smooth. Whether this is due to my square pokey ribs or just not having enough bust tissue to fill out the bottom of the gore, I don't know. The bust gores wrinkle a bit too. Possibly cording the gores would solve both of these issues (in another version). Or, as my friend Sabrina suggested, adding some padding inside.

And the top edge is not very smooth, but a bit jagged. Trimming that edge to a smoother shape might help, but I think it's also the one bone poking up. I can see now why flossing is more than a decorative detail! It would help keep the bone in place.

Overall: I really like it. I cannot wait to start making a new dress for over it! But I also want to make another one sometime with a few changes!

Here is the website to find De Gracieuse magazine issues.

Here is the entire 1875 issue 24.

The page with image of the corset is here, and the pattern sheet is here.

Now in case those links don't stand the test of time, you can search for De Gracieuse 1875 aflevering 24; the corset illustration is on page 202 and the pattern sheet is listed as a supplement - (pagina 202/2 subbl no 24 keerzijde).

Early 1870s Crinolette

The very full-skirted shape of the early 1870s can be difficult to achieve with petticoats alone. And even if you can get the correct volume, that means layers and layers of petticoats sticking to your legs. For a summer dress, I wanted a hoop and bustle combo - a.k.a. crinolette - that would hold my skirts out, give the correct, very large shape, and be comfortable to wear.

Here's the finished crinolette.

Here it is under a petticoat.

I used this diagram from Corsets and Crinolines as a guide.

Obviously mine didn't come out exactly like this one! I couldn't figure out how to make the bustle part connect to the hoop like in the book, so I just let it float. I also lengthened the whole thing a bit; I wanted it to be short enough not to trip on, but long enough to hold my skirt out at the bottom.

The diagram is also not perfect. There are lengths written in for a few of the bustle wires, but they didn't correspond to the size of the fabric piece when scaled up. The bustle portion's waist also did not fit with the skirt portion (between X and Z) and no pleats are indicated to make it fit. So I took this as an inspiration and just fiddled with it until it worked.

I sewed the fabric structure from plain white cotton (some of it recycled from old sheets) and made the channels from white cotton twill tape. I didn't bother with seam finishes because this was an experiment and I wasn't sure if it was going to work.

The lower part was easy - just hoops! I used wide German plastic boning. This was ideal material; the hoop was supportive but very flexible, not rigid, making it easy to sit, get in the car, and move past obstacles, and keeping the look of the dress soft. The lowest hoop is about 85" in circumference.

I rounded the ends with a scissor, overlapped them by about 1", punched two holes in each end with a very small hole punch, and sewed the ends together with strong thread. Then I slid the joins into the channels, making sure to stagger them throughout the hoop.

The bustle portion was more challenging. Getting the shape just the way I wanted was tricky. Here I used plastic-covered double-steel hoop wire, and I played around with the lengths until I liked the shape.

I cut the lengths and covered the ends with tape (yeah, I know boning caps exist, but I didn't have any handy) then sewed each end through the plastic middle part of the boning (using a big strong needle and some muscle!) and the fabric and twill tape channel, to keep it from shifting.

I tied a piece of twill tape to connect the bustle portion to the hoop to prevent it riding up and shifting.

Even after I finalized the hoop lengths, the back seemed not quite right, so I sewed a small pad (which I just happened to have sitting around leftover from a different project a couple years ago - yay for re-use!) into the back waistband. The pad is a rounded shape about 8" x 11", stuffed with fiberfill into a soft, flat shape. It was stuffed more firmly when I found it, but I took some out because it made the bustle just a bit higher than I wanted.

The crinolette came out a bit funny looking, but under a dress it really works! And it's so comfortable to have your petticoats not sticking to your legs - I felt so light and cool!

I wore this under my new floral lawn 1870s dress, which you can see here!

Linen Cap and Smock

I made this linen cap and smock to go with my yellow wool kirtle.

The cap was based on the pattern in The Tudor Tailor.

I have a lot of hair, and I usually find that hats and caps either refuse to fit over it, or they end up comically large because I overdo the adjustment. To make this cap fit, here's what I did.

First I pinned my hair up in the style I'd be wearing. Two braids coiled into a wide, flat-ish bun.

I measured around my head where I wanted the band to sit. I cut the band and brim based on this measurement and sewed them together. I hemmed each piece individually and then whipped them together.

When the band and brim were all done, I tried them on for size. Looking good!

I positioned the band where I liked it, not too far forward. My hairline is very high and I didn't want to look totally bald from the front, which can happen if I don't let a little of my front hair show!

Fits around the hair! At this point I measured from the edges of the band over my hair, from side to side and then from top to bottom.

I cut a circle of linen about 4" larger than those measurements and wrapped it over my hair, then slid the band over it, tucking all the edges in.

Edges of caul/bag portion tucked in to check the fit!

I pinned it in place, took it off, then trimmed the excess fabric off the bag/circle, making sure to leave sufficient hem allowance, about 3/8".

I used a whipped gather stitch (I really feel like this should be called an overcast gather stitch since that is what you are actually doing) to finish and gather the edge of the bag. I joined it to the finished edge of the band with a whip stitch.

All done!

The hand sewing techniques are probably more 18th century than 16th century, but I thought they made for a lovely, delicate finish. And I'm not such a stickler that I care much. It's a cap, it's white, it's linen, it's the right(ish) shape, and it's hand sewn! Good enough for me!

All together this cap took me about a day to make. I really enjoyed hand sewing it and I love the way it looks. So cute! And all my hair fits inside!

The smock is the same hanky linen, cut from The Tudor Tailor's diagram. (I swear I read another book once!) I did it mostly by machine but used hand sewing in some of the parts that showed, namely, the cuffs and the neckline area.

Most of the following pictures were taken after I had worn it and washed it and shoved it, crumpled up, in a drawer a few times. And didn't iron it.

The smock is about 44" from shoulder to hem and falls to about the top of my calf. This is the perfect length for me: good coverage, but not so long that it wraps around my legs as I walk.

The neck is high with a band and a small ruffle. I have a feeling that historically, for the lower class look I was imitating, the neck would probably have been lower, a plain scoop, but I really like the neck/shoulder coverage of the high neck so I don't get so much sun exposure at Fest. I could've done a low scoop + a partlet, but this was simpler. 

All the main seams are flat-felled by machine. I love how tidy the flat-felling makes the underarm gusset!

The front slit is hand-hemmed. The very bottom is covered with buttonhole stitch and there is a buttonholed bar to strengthen the bottom of the opening.

The neckband was applied by hand in a manner shown in Janet Arnold's book. The band is cut as one piece and folded in half the long way. Both long raw edges of the band have their seam allowances folded in. The outside of the band is pinned over the neckline's raw edge and secured with a backstitch from the right side. The inside edge is folded over the seam allowances and secured with a fell stitch.

A photo of an original from Patterns of Fashion 4 showing this technique.

Janet Arnold's sketch of same (or similar).

Here is mine.

You can kinda see my little stitches! Everything you can see in this shot is sewn by hand. Backstitch on the outside (left) and fell stitch on the inside (right).

The neckline ruffle was hand-hemmed and then whip gathered to the folded edge of the finished neckband.

The cuffs were done almost the same way, but I fell-stitched both sides instead of backstitching the outside one. (I don't remember why!) The cuffs are left plain and I confess I never got around to sewing a button and loop to them. Maybe next time I wear it!