1911 corset

I'm working on a new project! (not like the bots that hit up my blog care, but I do have two whole followers and no one else to talk to about these things)

Facts:

1. It's August, so it's boiling hot.
2. I live in sundresses. I have lots of them. I have sundresses for the dog park, I have sundresses for slumming around the house, I have sundresses for weekends, I have sundresses for work.
3. I am so sick of half of them that I wouldn't even wear them to the DOG PARK, so I'm thinning out my collection. 
4. I have yards and yards of super cute fabric from thrift stores, that I bought to make myself more sundresses to replace the ones that are going to Goodwill.
5. I have a super cute dress pattern that would also make me confront my fear of setting zippers, enabling me to add a key skill to my repertoire. 

So can you guess what I'm making?

An Edwardian corset, of course! (practicality is not one of my strong points)

This is actually a continuation of Project... 2? I think? The one for the corset sew-along that Jo from Bridges on the Body did a while back. I want to up my sewing game and for that I need to start sewing more complicated things. My sewing friend (who I admire and adore) from the Internet gave me this advice:

"You need the Patterns of Fashion books. Google them and then look at images. Museum garments. Pick one and do it from scratch, from drafting the pattern to fitting a muslin to embroidery and you will be an expert. The books are worth the price."

And THEN she sent me a gift card so I could buy one! Those books have been on my wish list for years but I've always been too intimidated to try anything from them. But no one ever accomplished anything by avoiding challenges so I'm going to try my very best to make my friend (and me) proud.

Since I already have everything I need for the corset, I decided to get Patterns of Fashion 2 so I can make an Edwardian outfit to go along with it.

I finished sewing the corset panels together last night. Here they are, beautifully displayed on the top of my dog's crate:

Left and right side laid flat...

This would be the front...

And this would be the back...

For the dress, I think I'm going to make this one. It's kind of boring, but looks pretty straightforward. Maybe I can jazz it up.

It was originally made of linen, and I have about 5 yds of tan linen that I got at Savers. The weave might be too coarse compared to the original, but I wouldn't know. Not like I have anywhere to wear it anyway, unless I throw a Halloween party. And if I do ever find an event where I can wear a 1908 summer day dress, well, real historical costumers love having farbs like me to laugh at, so it would have some entertainment value at least.

EDIT: While choosing labels for this post, it came to my attention that the 1911 corset is a POST-Edwardian corset. But it would still work for this dress, right? Right??