Okay, Jack, you are gonna sit down a blog, dang-it!
Well, It's March now and I met my deadline of finishing all of my Victorian undergarments by the end of February. Well sort of. All the main construction is done on most of them and really all they need are things like trims or fasteners.
The Drawers.
Well, It's March now and I met my deadline of finishing all of my Victorian undergarments by the end of February. Well sort of. All the main construction is done on most of them and really all they need are things like trims or fasteners.
The Drawers.
The Drawers are from the trusty ole Simplicity 9769. They(Like most of the underthings) are made from white cotton broadcloth purchased from Fabric.com. The Pattern is easy to follow and there's only a few pieces- but the leg pieces are HE-UGE! All that's left to do is trim the bottom of the legs with some eyelet lace and the white eyelet beading/black ribbon.
Chemise
Okay, thought I had some pictures of the actual chemise but I guess I was wrong. I'll post them as soon as I take some.
Chemise
Okay, thought I had some pictures of the actual chemise but I guess I was wrong. I'll post them as soon as I take some.
So, I had decided to make this style chemise back when I thought I was doing the Marceline dress, so it's cut more for a civil war evening gown. I used the out of print Simplicity 5729.
Now, let me explain something here. I am a pack-rat. Bordering on hoarder status. I get anxiety from cutting up patterns that are still readily available. But cutting out the pieces on an OOP pattern? Well, it kinda went like this...
The pattern is pretty simple except for the neckline. It was a bit fiddly, but I'll just chalk that up to my own stupidity.
Unfortunately, I will probably end up making another one with sleeves and fancy laces. I'll try to recycle parts from this one and if I really can't save it, I'll just use it as a nightgown or bathing suit cover.(See that pack-rat-I-can't-throw-anything-away-thing I did there?)
Bustle
Oh, my God. OOOOH, MYYYYY GOOOOOD. THIS THING IS THE GREATEST THING EVER!
Truly Victorian TV101 Wire Bustle. It took a bit of pounding my head into the instruction booklet in hopes of preforming some kind of knowledge osmosis, but again, that's because of my own direction-following difficulties. A person with a normal working brain should have A LOT less trouble.
Bustle
Oh, my God. OOOOH, MYYYYY GOOOOOD. THIS THING IS THE GREATEST THING EVER!
Truly Victorian TV101 Wire Bustle. It took a bit of pounding my head into the instruction booklet in hopes of preforming some kind of knowledge osmosis, but again, that's because of my own direction-following difficulties. A person with a normal working brain should have A LOT less trouble.
I purchased the bones from the TV website. They are sturdy and have managed to withstand a constant state of the bustle being tied. I don't recommend it- the bones being tied 24/7, that is- but the pattern allows for them to be removed and replaced, so it's all good. I have yet to make the ruffle overlay at the moment and I may replace the hook and eye front closure with a drawstring of some kind. Other than that, the bustle is pretty much complete. Which brings us to...
UGH. The Corset.
As you can guess from the lovely intro, the corset didn't go as planned.
It was all set up perfectly, I was going to use the simply marvelous black on white vine printed cotton I've been itching to use on something, All the other fabric I had already in storage and all I needed to do was buy the kit from Corsetmaking.com.
But THAT should have been the giveaway.
Things were fine at first. I finished the corset and wore it under my clothing for a few days. To get a feel for how it fit and how to move, sit, and work in it. I had read some reviews online about how the hips of this pattern were too tight and how people needed to at big ol' hip gores for it to fit. I thought I was lucky because the hips were as comfortable as could be, which is unusual due to my wide hip bones.
But then I realized that I had made the pattern too big. Commercial patterns have this issue were they give accurate proportioned measurements, but put them under the wrong number. So what was a size 16, should have been a 14 bust and waist with 16 hips.
UGH. The Corset.
As you can guess from the lovely intro, the corset didn't go as planned.
It was all set up perfectly, I was going to use the simply marvelous black on white vine printed cotton I've been itching to use on something, All the other fabric I had already in storage and all I needed to do was buy the kit from Corsetmaking.com.
But THAT should have been the giveaway.
Things were fine at first. I finished the corset and wore it under my clothing for a few days. To get a feel for how it fit and how to move, sit, and work in it. I had read some reviews online about how the hips of this pattern were too tight and how people needed to at big ol' hip gores for it to fit. I thought I was lucky because the hips were as comfortable as could be, which is unusual due to my wide hip bones.
 |
| Me, showing off my fancy new corset! |
But then I realized that I had made the pattern too big. Commercial patterns have this issue were they give accurate proportioned measurements, but put them under the wrong number. So what was a size 16, should have been a 14 bust and waist with 16 hips.
The corset was super loose around the bust- again, strange given by rather large bosoms.
So, I thought I could fix everything with the historically inaccurate use of SAFETY PINS.
But alas, It wasn't meant to be. The blasted thing kept riding up and eventually it began to hurt my lower back. Never understood why. I will have to make another one. I'm going for the Laughing Moon Dore Corset that's so popular around these parts.
 |
| The laces- completely closed- telling me my corset is too big. |
And so, with all this out of the way, I can continue making the lovely Rarity Dress and future Victorian Garb. Anyone else working on various underthings and unmentionable from throughout time? What's your favorite era to make underclothing for?
No comments:
Post a Comment