A 1911 CORSET TO CARRY ME INTO A NEW ERA

June 19, 2013

I’ve been dreaming of making these dresses.

A few years ago I made one by copying a black and white afternoon gown that Emma Thompson wore in Howard’s End. But all I had was a Victorian corset that gives you an hourglass shape for full skirts and bustles instead of the smooth straight line that these gowns had.

And then there was my 1914 pink striped one that I just love and want to make another style from this pattern. I even have the fabric waiting for it to be made.

 The problem with wearing the Victorian corset with these is most of the squishy parts of you are pushed down by the corset and this would be covered by the full skirt or bustle of the earlier eras. But with the straight lines of these dresses, all it does is cause a little bulge at the bottom of the corset which can show through your skirt. For this era, a long line under-bust corset was created.

Even though these look like they would hobble you around the hips, the boning only goes down to where your leg ends at your hip. The bottom portion of the corset is just the fabric it’s made from and it bends when you sit down. But it does give you a smooth line.

I also saw this beautiful one that someone made doing strip-quilting method of creating her own fabric, and it was part of my inspiration to make one. You can see how its bending at her leg line. 

For those of us dependent on patterns, there aren’t any on the market yet unless you are teeny tiny and can fit the reproduction of ones that are only the original size it was found in. If you know how to scale up a pattern, there are ones out there you can use. But that’s way out of my intelligence quota.

Fortunately I have a friend, Cat, who had scaled one up from Corsets & Crinolines by Norah Waugh and was willing to scale it up for me. It’s labeled as 1911 on page 86 of the book. I made a muslin copy of it and with a few alterations it looked like it would fit me.

I already had white coutil for the base fabric but wanted something colorful on the outside. But when I saw a pink striped cotton twill fabric for $2 a yard in the Garment District, I knew that was it. It unravels a bit but it’s not bad.

I started sewing on this a few months ago and got all the side seams sewn and was able to purchase all the correct length of bones for it. Then other costume events came up and I had to set it aside. Last weekend I decided to take it to a sewing workshop and after spending one day having an 1830s bodice pattern fitted to me, I spent the other day working on my corset.

This was also my first chance to use my latest Singer Featherweight sewing on it. It took a few times adjusting the upper tension so it didn’t clump up on the bottom but otherwise sewed very nicely. It took me most of the day sewing all the boning in, setting in the busk and finally being able to set in the grommets with a heavy duty grommet setter. This particular corset has a LOT of grommets.

After looking at a couple extant corsets that I liked the lace trim on the top, I wanted to put some on mine and dug a couple possible ones out of my stash.

This white one from the MET has a pretty satin ruffle sewn on the top as the binding with some dainty lace under it. I totally forgot about doing my binding as a ruffle and just used a purchased satin binding for it. This pink one was very pretty too.

I pinned on my white cotton lace and basted it on. Then machine-sewed the binding on the front, and hand stitched it down on the inside.

The lace had little eyelet holes and made perfect openings for the laces to go through the grommet. The lace did block part of the busk closures in front but I trimmed off the bits of lace and used Fray Check on it. I want to add some pink bows along the top but still need to shop for some ribbon for it.

I finally finished all the hand work a couple days ago, and started lacing it onto my dress form. And then stopped to think where it would be tied off. Common sense told me at the waist like my Victorian corset but since this is more of a straight line, it made me pause. So I went looking on Pinterest and did a search for 1911 corsets. *Did you know there’s a search box in the upper left of the page? It’s becoming quite handy.* I found this one from the McCord Museum and even though it’s not quite an under bust (they went back up again) the rest of the body is the same. So at the waist it stays!

 And here it is on my dress form. Ack! I just realized I forgot to put the stay tapes inside my corset that would keep it tighter around me. I wonder if it’s too late for that now?

Now I’ve mentioned this is an under bust corset, meaning it goes under the girls. So this begs the question: What to wear under it?   I know a chemise is still worn under it as seen with mine but haven’t figured out how some ladies got any support. I’ve been told you pull your chemise very tightly over you so we’ll see how that works. Considering how sheer the chemises are, I’m wondering if they had something else under it for modesty. There’s always the corset cover or long Princess petticoat so that might work.

I questioned a couple friends who wore them today, and this was the advice I was given:

“In the day, they used the chemise to keep everything in order. I use a soft bra that I took the underwires out of, and a chemise...the bra lets them hang a bit lower. I have a lace bra that I took the wires out of, so they hang more natural... just a cheap lace bra, the kind with the super soft cups. Take the wires out. I got it at Kmart or Target or some such for cheap. Or you could sew your own. Less emphasis on the UP swing, more of a keep them tethered kind of garment.

Another suggestion was -a tight chemise/camisole with a bust improver. (If you want to make that)

Just for reference, I purchased this Barely There brand from Kohls and with my coupons, cost me just under $12.
http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-307900/barely-there-customflex-fit-lightly-lined-wire-free-bra-4085.jsp

I again dug around on Pinterest and found a bunch of ads showing these being worn, but other than the black & white photo I posted above where the ladies look like they’re wearing some kind of bandeau under their chemise, these drawings only show a lacy chemise. 

I also noticed some mentions of the 1911 corset sewing challenge called Bridges on the Body, and I know there are a few other blog posts by people who did the challenge. I’m posting the link here and you can do some of your own research. If you read something you’d like to share, or have your own experience with them, please make a comment.

BRIDGES ON THE BODY:

This link has a list of tags that can direct you to the post for specific steps in sewing them.

http://bridgesonthebody.blogspot.jp/2012/02/1911-all-steps-in-one-place.html

And now I need to make the Princess petticoat to go with it.

I decided to add this corset timeline at a later date to have a record of it and a reminder of when the shapes changed.