Diary of a Costumer

I found myself with about 45 mins of free time this afternoon, which means you all get corset pictures!

The bust gussets are wrinkly, because as I previously stated, I for some reason had lots of trouble with them - one of the problems included layers feeling too big or too small once I folded the edges to enclose in the seams. Oh well.

Overall, though, it fits great. I'm super proud of that even lacing gap, and I get a really nice waist reduction, too. In fact, unfortunately for my already finished skirt, it's way more waist reduction than I anticipated. I pleated my skirt to be 2" smaller than what my natural waist last was, but a) I have lost .5" from that natural measurement in the last couple months, and b), I get a 3.5" waist reduction with this corset! So basically, my pleats don't line up. I highly highly doubt I'll have time to fix that before the Victorian fest, but I have a feeling that will go on my todo list for before CoCo.





While I had the corset on, (despite forgetting and putting a long sleeve shirt underneath), I decided to try on some ballgown type bodices and see if any would work to use as a pattern for this one. I tried the Victorian Child first, but it was a little too big at the waist, and too high at the neckline, with no pointed waist, so I decided to try something better. I did the black silk next, which was (I thought) off the same pattern. I had the hardest time trying to figure out where the waist wanted to hit, because it was really strangely fitting me with this corset. And when I put the sleeves on, I couldn't move at all, so I gave up and moved to the next one. My green and cream ballgown bodice was very high-waisted in back, gappy over the top of the bust, and the sleeves are set too far on the shoulder. So I moved to my last option, which was my old (from 2012) black and gold ballgown bodice. I managed to mostly lace myself up in back, and it actually fit better over this corset than it possibly ever has. Success!

And wouldn't you know it, I found the pattern I had drafted for it all nicely in a ziploc, and it seems that it actually matches the existing bodice with no alterations. So scary as it feels, I think I'm ready to cut out the silk! That saves me a good chunk of playing with things on Friday morning, that's for sure, so that was a nice birthday present from the sewing gods.

Also, because that's just what you do on your birthday, I wore a tiara at work all day. :)

I finished the base skirt for the ballgown. After seeing Beauty and the Beast, I came home, messed with my pinned pleats beacuse I had pinned the skirt waist about 1.25" too big, and sewed on the waistband. Then I put it back on the form and started to mark the hem. I had been wanting to make a ruffly organdy petticoat for this dress, but I realized that by putting my Victorian child ruffled petticoat over my regular hoop petticoat (which has one ruffle around the bottom), the ruffles come fairly close to looking like one big ruffled skirt. So at least for the Victorian ball, that's what I'm going with.

Anyway, I managed to get my hem pinned and pressed before I had to leave for opening night. And then somehow backstage, I sewed like the wind, and was able to sew my entire hem! And since I consider myself a very slow hand-sewer, I'm quite surprised and proud of that. So that means that other than the hook and eyes at the waist, it's done! Or I should say, the base skirt is done. Once I get the bodice to a wearable state, I will go back and add all the lace and organza. I'm almost sad about that, because the skirt is so gleamingly turquoise as is.

Of course, since tomorrow is a two-show day, now I'm a little worried I won't have enough to do backstage. I'm going back to the corset, which needs the last 3 or so boning channels put in, about 16 bones cut to size and inserted, and the binding done. Hopefully, I'll finish that all tomorrow, though I'm not sure what that would mean for Sunday's show sewing. But it does mean that I should be able to draft out the bodice and actually be able to work on that at home next week. 

I didn't manage to get much done today. I had 30 mins at home after work, and I cut out two panels of the organdy for the skirt and pinned them in place. I'll have a little more time in between work and rehearsal tomorrow, so I hope to get the other three panels cut out then.

And then backstage at rehearsal, I made about 3/4 of the boning casings I needed for the corset, and sewed two of the six sets in place. I'm hoping to finish the rest of the casings tomorrow night, but there's definitely less time to sew now that I have costumes to change and hair to maintain. We open Friday!

I found a random embroidered pillow kit I had picked up at a garage sale or something, and brought that to work on at Thursday's rehearsal. Though naturally, I started accidentally doing the wrong stitch in the wrong place in one section, so now I have to decide if I want to redo that, or just do a chain stitch instead of a twilling stitch...

But then today, I realized that I've actually had a hand-sewing project to do all this time - my 1870s corset needs flossing! So that's what I brought today to rehearsal, and I got almost half of the bottom flosses done.

I also made the skirt for my order this morning, and shipped that off early this afternoon while running my errands. Unfortunately, my errands took so long that all I had time to do on the corset was flatline all my pieces, and pin one gusset into place. I think I'll have a little time to sew tomorrow, but I do have an audition in the afternoon, and I'm seeing Gypsy in Tacoma in the evening. At the very least, Sunday should be a good sewing day, though!

I ripped apart mockup #2 to use for my pattern pieces, but only managed to actually get two cut out. It's unlikely I'll have much time to work on it in the next few days, because T/Th I get home at 5 and leave at 6, and Wed I have an audition downtown after work, and it's very possible I'll have to go straight from there to rehearsal. But I did manage to stop at Joanns on my way home today to pick up more canvas for the lining layer, so I should have everything I need for the corset at this point.

And on the other hand, I have at least one day's work left on my pocket, so that will be good for rehearsal sewing. I finished all the embroidery today, cut out the pieces, basted my front and front interlining, and started binding the pocket slit. I have a feeling I will finish it at tomorrow night's rehearsal, though I'm not positive. So hopefully I'll at least have time to dig out the handsewn 1860s dress, since the corset is going to be nowhere near hand-sewing state until at least Friday. 

I started on my 1860s corset today. I'm making the first mockup pretty much exactly as is from the 3 pages x 3 pages blow up of the pattern pdf, except that I decreased the bust gussets by 3/8" on each side, since the ones in the pattern seemed so huge. I already cut out everything, and sewed all the pieces together, so tomorrow I just need to tape bones in and try it on. I'm still trying to figure out if I want most of the bones to stop at the waist or not, since I've seen extant corsets with both types of boning patterns. Also, my mockup looks crazy, because it's made out of three different colors of leftover canvas scraps. I just hope it winds up being a pretty close fit!

I've been twiddling around a bit with 1860s corsets, trying to find a pattern diagram, and to figure out exactly what I wanted from the corset. I found an 1868 diagram, which is a little late, and an 1863, which is a little early. I blew up the 68 and put it together on paper, but it doesn't have bust gores, and looking at all the corsets I like online, they all have bust gores. The hip is also not quite what I wanted, though it does all make up to a nice shape. Looking at the 63, I think it's a little closer, but the bodice shapes don't seem quite curvy enough,  and the hip gore still isn't perfect.

My favorite two corsets I've seen online for this era are these:


Both of them have an interesting hip gore/peplum piece that both stop at the side seam. There are no back views of the orange one, but I have to figure it's constructed quite similarly to the blue one, which is, two main bodice pieces (front and back), front peplum/gore, back hip gore, and two bust gores. I rather like the flowy top and bottom edges of the orange one (and the color!), though I do wonder if the flat top of the blue would be more practical. I also don't think I want it to be fully boned in front like the blue one - that seems a bit much.

Here's a question, though. The blue corset's boning all stops at the waistline, except for CF and CB. The orange may also have one bone that goes all the way to the hem at the side seam, though I can't tell. But can anyone who has worn a corset with boning like this tell me if it winds up digging in at the waist?

Also, does anyone have a pattern closer to this than the 1863 one I have?



And in other news, my Joanns doesn't carry idye, so I decided to try Dylon. It sucks. Like, even with two packets of dye, my fabric didn't even get that bright before rinsing. I'm going to try Pacific Fabrics tomorrow, but if it doesn't carry idye, I'm just going to forgo the sateen, and go for the kona cotton that already comes in the right color... :(

I finished the binding, so the corset is basically done, except for the eventual slow addition of flossing. I had debated about adding beading lace around the top with a ribbon, as well, but I'm kind of thinking I don't really need it.

I'm not 100% happy with how it turned out. It feels tight in the rib cage, and it is back to being very large over the stomach. By the hem, I think the corset goes out a good 2" farther than my stomach. I know in most cases this will be hidden under my skirts, but it still seems weird. The rest of the corset looks great, though, and the waist reduction is definitely more noticeable now that there's so much room in the hips. Also, while my Ravenclaw bodice (which I use for caroling) has been really tight and hard to button over my ribs/bust in my old corset-story corset, it now fits wonderfully! Which is kind of weird, since I made it to go over that corset, and it has only been fitting tightly for the last few weeks. I think it was just trying to tell me to finish my corset.

Here's some pictures. I tried to do that cool thing that jenthompson does where she wears all black and it looks like the corset is floating. But then I realized I don't have a black background and my sewing room is a mess. Oh well.


You can really see the gap here - I can fit several fingers into it...



What I really need, though, is to find a bettter option for lacing. The corset lacing I bought from Richard the Thread is unfortunately too short. I think the lacing on the first corset I made several years ago is longer, so for now I'll cannibalize that. But I also find that corset lacing does not glide smoothly enough through the grommets. I've used ribbon before, but it always seems prone to snapping. So what do you use? I need at least 8 continuous yards, if not 9.

Tomorrow I have a gig, but I still hope to at least sew together my green wool skirt panels. 

I didn't get home from running errands and such till after 7pm today, so I didn't have nearly as much time to work on the corset as I thought I would. That said. I still managed to brave the freezing garage and set all 28 of my grommets, and I got a little more than half of the boning cut and put into the channels. I'll finish the boning tomorrow and cap off all the boning channels. Hopefully I'll have time to bind it on Tuesday, but I guess I can still wear it even if it's not bound. It looks like we're going to have another gig on Wednesday, now, in addition to the Thurs one, and I want to wear this corset for them!

I know German plastic molds with heat, so I tried to steam it to the form a bit. Of course, the form is not at all the same shape I am, so I think it will mostly have to mold once I'm wearing it.