Finished Edwardian corset - HSF 19

 "What might a decent Edwardian woman possibly be doing in the woods wearing only her underwear?" you may wonder. Well, her own home was a bit futuristic and not suited for the photo shoot.

After a lot of work and difficulties it is finally completed, my 1903 corset. A few weeks ago I decided that it indeed would fit within the Historical Sew Fortnightly nr 19: Wood, Metal and Bone. That really motivated me to finish it.  

 

I am very happy with how it turned out, I think it is beautiful. I had hoped that it would reduce my waist somewhat more but the measurement ended up matching my natural waist perfectly. I am starting to believe that I cant reduce my waist with flat steels and to get the look of a nipped waist I had to change the bones in the side seam to spirals. My next corset will have only spiral steels so that will be interesting to compare.

 The garters were fun to make and made the corset feel much more complete. They were put together using a very nice tutorial from Bridges on the Body.

The shoes are a pair of imperfect Gibsons from AmericanDuchess. Beautiful and comfortable.

Front view. The lace is handmade by myself.

Back view.

Side view.

 Inside. Most of the boning channels are made from strips of brocade coutil. I simply couldn't fit as many bones as the pattern called for so some of the channels are single rather than double.

Outside

Hip pad and bust pads placed to go under the corset.

The Challenge: Nr 19 - wood metal and bone

Fabric: White herringbone coutil

Pattern: TVE01

Year: 1903

Notions: ½ meter of coutil, busk, 7 m flat steel, 1 m spiral steel, 3-4 m red satin ribbon, laces,  26 grommets, 1 ½ m elastic band, 4 garter clips, cotton fabric and stuffing.

How historically accurate is it? Concerning pattern and materials, I would say very. The things I do have doubts about is the red colour, the garter clips and the lace. Mostly machine sewn with polyester thread. 85%?

Hours to complete: This is the second version of the corset, and I would estimate that I spent around 20h.

First worn: I walked with it under my coat to the forest to take the photos.

Total cost: Very hard to say, I have not been keeping tabs. Probably more than 500SEK/80USD.

Crochet trim

I have searched high and low for the perfect trim to go with my edwardian corset and not found the right thing. Sure, there are a lot of suitable lace trims on ebay but the P&P are often more costly than the item itself and the shops in my area have failed to present the perfect one. So why not make your own? After some googeling i found a free pattern (link) for a trim with a lovely antique feel and with the possibility of weaving a ribbon of contrasting colour through it.

I am in no way experienced when it comes to crocheting, my grandmother made an attempt to teach me around the age of ten but I probably lacked the patience. I did learn the basics though and instructions are easy to find online. She did also leave me with some yarn and a needle so I set about trying out the pattern which was easy to follow and turned out well. The yarn was way to coarse to produce an elegant lace though, so I went to my grandmother and was kindly given a ball of the finest yarn she had.

First try. Waay too large.

So, for the two hours following my return home I have been working with the lace trim. It is emerging in a good size and looks very elegant to me but working with it does leave me with somewhat lazy eyes. I will have to wait and see if the colour works with the coutil and if it does not I am considering tea staining the finished lace.

The result so far. My fingers are aching.

This small part of the project will most likely take a lot of time and there is no guarantee that it will cost less than buying a trim would do. But so far it is quite entertaining and  will result in something very unique.