Monday 20 September 2010

Beginning to brave the 18th century

I have been researching 18th century clothing for ages now, and it was about time I actually did something about it. So when Denise found a free corset pattern on the internet from the 1700s I thought I would give it a go.
We had to alter the boning channels slightly because the only boning to hand was some 5mm artificial whale bone. The pattern was meant for reeds which are quite a bit thinner.
I used 2 layers of heavy black canvas. It always looks so neat at this stage, almost makes me not ant to touch it.
I sewed and boned the channels for each piece first before sewing it together. Not sure whether it was tiredness or me being generally haphazard, but this was a definitely not a get it right first time project. I managed to seal up 3 channels on one piece before putting the bones in, and they weren't even complicated channels.
Also I reeeeally need to service my poor sewing machine, its making a noise that almost makes me cringe to use it, far more clunks going on there than there should be.
Also my boning ran out before I finished so its lightly uneven, must remember next time that if I'm not sure if I have enough boning I need to add it evenly to each side, so it doesn't end up lopsided. There was enough for toile purposes though.

Didn't make it round to the back however, and I don't have an awl so it wan't laced up. It fitted pretty well however all things considered, just a little bit on the large side.

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