Thursday, March 26, 2015

~ tightly laced ~

I've never been able to call myself a talented seamstress.  I usually stray from the pattern (or don't read the pattern and assume I can just figure it out on my own), don't take measurements, and then get frustrated when (BIG SURPRISE) it doesn't fit.  So let's just call this my justification for the heap of bragging you're about to encounter.

To no surprise at all, my fascination with corsets began right along side my fascination with period dramas and was perpetuated by ballet and theatre costumes .  I can clearly remember watching Gone With the Wind for the first time and being totally enraptured by the corsets.  Then came the BBC's Daniel Deronda and that pushed me totally over the edge.

So here I am, many years later, and I've finally gotten around to making a corset for myself.  Like a real, honest to goodness corset that's better than any push up bra I've ever owned!

The long wait was due in part to the fact that I've been under the impression that corsets were nearly impossible to sew and it would take me years and years of duds before I made a good one.  Well maybe it was beginners luck, or maybe it was the inspiration I found from scrolling though every single post from Before The Automobile and Rococo Atelier , but I finally finished an historically accurate Elizabethan corset and I couldn't be prouder of myself! (I warned you about the bragging)



The pattern came from elizabethancostume.net (definitely check it out).  

 I couldn't wait to finish one hundred percent before photographing it - so just kindly ignore the pins on the bottom.

All together it called for about a yard of fabric, 10 yards of boning, and a hell of a lot of thread.



I know people complain all the time about inserting boning, but I found it to be very easy, once I got the hang of it.  And as for the grommets (or lack thereof), they are ridiculously expensive so I did without - instead I hand stitched 9 buttonholes on each side, which only added to my deteriorating eyesight.

But I suppose in several years when my prescription has doubled in strength and my back is permanently sore from awkward sewing positions, I'll be comforted by the knowledge that my ability to replicate the most famous waistlines through the decades has been made infinitely easier.

xoxo,
Eliza

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