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It was originally made of linen, and I have about 5 yds of tan linen that I got at Savers.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??

Old letters: Lizzie writes to her mother, 1890

In this edition of special posts, Lizzie writes to her mother. She refers to a preacher coming from New Market, but I don't know where that is, and of a funeral in Stringtown, which was in Hays County between San Marcos and New Braunfels.

In the letter, Lizzie refers to an Eva, and also a Mrs. Mercer. My previous old letter post (letter dated August 1912) was from Mrs. D. Mashias to Mrs. Eva Mercer, and Mrs. D. Mashias refers to Eva as "sister" in that letter. Is Lizzie Mrs. D. Mashias? Did Eva marry Mrs. Mercer's son?

I like Lizzie. I get the impression that she was a bit sassy and opinionated and fun to be around.

I just noticed the imprint of the fist holding lightening bolts at the top left corner of the first page. I wonder what that means?

Since there aren't any paragraph breaks in the letter, I split it up below according to the pages of the letter to make it easier to read.

[FROM: Lizzie TO: Mother / October 26, 1890]

Oct. 26th 1890
Sabbath-eve at home

Dear Mother,

When you get this you will have Eva's letter which she wrote yesterday telling you how anxious we are to hear from you so it would be jolly to repeat. We were out to Sabbath School had an attendance of 66. Mr. George preached his last sermon last S_____ and we are to have another man. There was one from New Market here last Tuesday night. He is trying to form a new circuit and have our class belong to that. His name was Mr. Garry. I don't think he will suit us at all, for he dident act nor talk like

any of the Methodist preachers I ever saw. I move that they stop some where else for it gets to be an old time. He came here about the middle of the afternoon & did not come in the house till about dark. I did not know who he was thought he must be some peddler or a grub [?], but nevertheless he turned out to be a preacher. I did not make any extra fuss just let him take what the rest of us did. He went away the next morning, and I was most awful glad of it for I did not want to stay at home and get dinner, as I was going to Mr. Baker's funeral. Mrs. Mercer, Kate, Dora, Eva, Fay & I went in the buggy. Mr. Baker died Monday night between 9 & 10 o'clock 

was buried at Stringtown. I guess she was left in destitute circumstances. Mr. Barr took sick Saturday about noon with congestion of the kidneys. Got so bad that they sent for Jennie and McCluney, but they said today he was getting better so he was able to walk around. Ella said that Winfields intend to go home in about two weeks if he can not get any work before that time. Mr. Woods is here now came last wk. some time. I should think John would want them to quit coming for they had about all they could accommodate before. Well I begin to feel sleepy but know you won't wonder much when I tell you I was out three nights last week 

Tuesday to Straits to a party Thursday to Mercers for a party and Friday to Singing School, but did not stay late any night. Don't know of any party this week that I will go to so I can stay at home this week and make up for last week. Jake wants us to have one but I told him I could not for you was gone. I am going to make my dress this week or that is the calculation now. Got a good color of it I think. Now mother as this is the third or fourth letter to your one I will stop and give you a chance. Write immediately. Love to all from your forgotten daughter Lizzie.

Sewing from a pattern

Hey look, I made a dress! An actual, real dress that I can actually wear in everyday life! I made it from a pattern! It wasn't that hard! In fact, it wasn't hard at all! I read the instructions and followed them step-by-step and I made a dress that turned out pretty good!

There's a tie-belt that goes with this dress that I forgot to put on. And I have to try to ignore that the design is off-center on the bodice, otherwise I get twitchy.

Can we please ignore the massive scowl on my face? I was actually in the middle of a fit of rage while taking these pics. Why, you ask? Well, keep reading...

This shows the fit of the bodice a little better.

It's not perfect but it's an actual dress that I made from an actual pattern, which means I can make soooo many dresses from this pattern and the next one will be better than the first because I will have already had practice with this pattern!

SO WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS???

WHAT.

Same exact pattern, but this time it's about 2 sizes too big. The biggest problem is the bodice, which is too long, and too big. Also, the top edge of the front and back pieces didn't match up like they did on the first dress I made. I don't know how that happened. The only thing I did different was to line the dress, which made it too bulky--but that wouldn't have made it two sizes too big.

To fix it, I'll remove the bodice from the skirt and cut out the lining as much as possible (I don't want to completely dismantle the damn thing) and take it in at the sides, and then attach the skirt a couple of inches higher, and see if that fixes things.


The pattern is Simplicity 9909, which I picked up for a dollar at a local thrift store.

Renaissance fest costume for friend

I finished this a couple of weeks ago and finally have time to post pictures.

My friend, Melissa, wanted a Renaissance fest costume. I wanted to get experience sewing for other people, so I offered to make her a costume for just the cost of materials. I don't think I got a whole lot of experience in sewing for other people since she fits into my other corsets perfectly, but hey! I was sewing for someone else, which involves dealing with a different kind of pressure & performance anxiety, and I was able to follow through on the project without feeling like I had a burden on my shoulders. That's something that I've always worried about--how I would deal with the responsibility of sewing for others.

On to the fun costume stuff! Melissa's favorite colors are pink and green. I happened to have that pink and green fabric remnant I'd originally bought for the Titanic corset (a project that I still haven't attempted to pick back up). I decided to use that for her corset, since I already had the binding and ribbon for lacing to go with it.

I used heavy duty nylon duct ties for it, and I don't know if I was just really inconsistent in sewing my boning channels or if the ties were slightly wider than the cable ties I normally use, but many of them were a very tight fit. I had to be creative and stuff some of the channels with the weed whacker cable I bought earlier this year as experimental boning material that just didn't work out. I'm glad that wasn't a complete waste of money! Also used four hacksaw blades wrapped in duct tape for the front of the corset where a wooden busk would normally be, for extra-strong tummy-sucking in ability.

I made the skirt out of 4 yds of green linen-rayon blend fabric I bought at Joanne's. I had a 50% off coupon, so it was very reasonably priced. This is the first time I've bought fabric by the yard for a project, and it felt very decadent! Normally I use thrift-store linens (and love them).

I made the chemise out of that sheer poly-cotton curtain panel I bought at Goodwill about a month ago using this tutorial, which is the best thing ever.

The petticoat is made out of a cotton-something synthetic blend curtain also from Goodwill. I detailed the petticoat in a previous post. I ended up loving that petticoat so much. I saw a few other identical curtains at another Goodwill, but can't remember which one, and wish I had gotten them now, but at the time I still hadn't finished that petticoat so I didn't realize how much I would end up loving them.

LOOK WHAT I MADE!!

The Challenge: Make my friend a Ren fest costume

Fabric: Chemise: A cotton-poly blend curtain from Goodwill; Corset: fabric remnant of unknown fabric content (probably rayon or cotton-rayon) from Joanne's; Skirt: linen-rayon blend from Joanne's; Petticoat: cotton-something synthetic blend curtain from Goodwill; cotton double-fold bias tape and quilt binding for petticoat waistband & hem, corset binding, and waistband for skirt

Pattern: 18th-century style petticoat for petticoat and skirt; Elizabethan corset pattern generator for corset; thingsofcloth peasant blouse tutorial for chemise

Notions: Gutermann brand white thread for petticoat & green thread for corset boning channels and skirt; heavy-duty nylon duct ties & heavy-duty weed whacker cable for corset boning; size 0 grommets for corset lacing; double-fold bias tape & quilt binding for petticoat waistband and hem, skirt waistband, and corset binding; cotton twill tape for waist ties on petticoat and skirt; satin ribbon for corset lacing and shoulder straps; four 32 TPI 12" hacksaw blades for front of corset/busk

How historically accurate is it? Petticoat and skirt: the pattern for the petticoat and skirt is very historically accurate, but the fabric is not. I think the hem depth is accurate (I can't remember where I read hems of 18th century skirts were rarely more than 1-inch deep). I think using bias tape to enclose the raw edge of the hem might have been done sometimes, but I don't know. I think the waistband finishing isn't very accurate, but the waist ties are. Corset: the pattern is historical-ish, the boning pattern is probably just fine historically because from what I've read, there were no hard and fast rules for corset boning patterns in 18th-century and earlier corsets. The boning materials are not accurate. I don't think the grommets are historically accurate either, but I can't remember when corsets started to use grommets instead of hand-bound eyelets. Anyway, the grommets should be size 00 but all I could find when I first started sewing was a size 0 grommet punching kit. Chemise: not historically accurate--I don't think historical chemises had drawstring necklines, and I think sleeves were set differently (like with underarm gussets).

Hours to complete: I really need to start keeping track of time spent on my projects, but having to check the clock every time I take a break is annoying. So the project took about 2 weeks to complete from start to finish. It took several days to finally figure out how to make the chemise due to making mockups of other patterns that didn't work out. When I finally found the thingsofcloth tutorial, it took about four hours to make the chemise because I had to finish the seams with a zigzag stitch to keep them from unraveling. That sheer poly-cotton fabric was awful to work with. The corset took about 10 days. The skirt took a few days of working on it after I got home from work.


First worn: We're going to the Sherwood Forest Festival together on March 31!

Total cost: Petticoat: $4.99 for the fabric, $1.50 for 1st package of quilt binding, $1.79 for 2nd package of quilt binding, I already had the thread and the cotton twill tape. So $8.96 total (including tax). Skirt: about $20 for the fabric, $1.79 for the quilt binding for the waistband, and I already had the twill tape for waist ties. So about $21.79 total. Chemise: $2.99 plus tax for the fabric. $0.99 for the ribbon for drawstring. Corset: about $3.50 for the fabric remnant, $8 for the satin ribbon, $3.29 for binding, about $7 for boning, and I already had the grommets. So approx. $21.79. Hmm... I'm forgetting something. I added up my receipts and it came to about $68 for the whole costume, which includes two shirts I purchased for Melissa's sons from Salvation Army for about $7 total. Oh well.

Old letters: Mrs. D. Mashias (?) writes to Mrs. Eva Mercer, 1912

I have loved reading about the pioneers all my life. I found an old letter in an antique store this weekend from a lady in Iowa to her sister in Kansas, talking about their difficulties in homesteading. I'd like to share it here. The letter is transcribed below the pictures, and I've kept the original punctuation and spelling.

[FROM: Mrs. D. Mashias (?), Lenox, Iowa TO: Mrs. Eva Mercer, Baldwin, Kansas / Aug 3 1912]

Tuesday

Dear Sister & Family,

I guess I had better write. I think our letters crossed again. We kinda have a hunch to write the same time at any rate we hear from each other . I guess we each have plenty to write about and thats the weather. To start in with, it will soon be 2 months since we have had any rain to speak of. have had only 6 in of rain fall since Jan. 1 [?] so you can form some idea how vegatation looks. Our pie plant we set out in the spring is gone. And we watered garden & everything till one well went dry. And concluded not to haul water. Wheat was not very good crop from 2 1/2 bo [?] to 16 on valley land. Oats were the same way. I think we have enough hay up to carry our few head of stock through. We have no grain for feed. Have about 400 chickens, after we cull out the roosters. We want 200 pullets. Have hopes that they will go laying before we exoust o[u]r feed money supply. And with our 3 young cows we can live. It sure gives a person a feeling they want to live in an irrigated country.

We had a fine prospect for crop till this set in and it nearly brings tears. Yet where I read there is 16 other states that have drought sections larger than Kans or more families in need, we should not complain I guess. Our potatoes done fine as to the amt of ground we had in. Would have put more in if we had been extablished and knew our land better. Sold around $50.00 worth [$1171.42 today] and by the looks we will have to be content as that is the sum total of our crop sale. Now its up to the cows and hens to feed us. Every one is worried not blue. What the end may be. This heat is driving us wild today I had to stop and come to the house. And let the outside work go on. It may look crazy or lazy but what do I care. It beats being sick. I just don't know which way to turn. Seems like I have reached the end after 4 yrs of failure. Having the children give us money to live on when we are able bodied. And work is crushing. Roland seems to think we ought to be content with a roof over our head, where its furnished. Yet when you plant and have everthing dry up just before our eyes. And no work to do. for no person has enough money to pay for anything only food.

I don't mean to complain yet these are fact of which I can't controll. Not finding fault with our Maker or cursing the Country or Govm't. Yet we can't support ourselves I know I have written about the same trend of thought in the last 4 yrs. I hope you will forgive where we work with hope we would like to reap.

We wet the ground so the chickens will keep cool. and they sure look fine. Have 2 fresh cows. I ought to have some cottonseed meal to keep them up, the dry feed is not sufficient. Have been letting the calves get their supply of feed from their mothers. So they are fat, and will sell them soon.

I hope you are well & Florence has been able to go back on her work before this. How I wish I could help you. I know Florence will say another blue letter. Why don't they move to a better state. We may.

As ever Charlie

Thurman wrote Mrs B - would like to have us back on her place

Sewing rage and whatnot

Well, I learned how to make a peasant blouse!

I made a T-tunic first, and didn't like how the fabric bunched under the arms. So I cut the arms off and adjusted the pattern and made underarm gussets. I was already feeling irritable for some reason when I was doing this, and my inner voice was telling me not to worry about the tunic for now, but I ignored it, as usual.

Let me say a word about my cutting board. This is what I had:

The thing is cut so that there are three strips on either side of the center and is folded up like origami to get it into the square configuration. When unfolding it, the three strips on either side of the center flop around and land in awkward positions so that you have to do a lot of tweaking to get everything to lay flat. I have a tiny sewing room. The board takes up half of it, so I don't have a lot of room to maneuver.

And it's impossible to fold it up into a square again. There is a diagram showing how to do it, but who has the time or patience for that? (hint: not me) Whenever I use the cutting board, I just dread having to fold it up again because it's the kind of thing that tends to send me sliding headlong into a cold rage, but I've been using it as an exercise in patience and tolerance. I just take a breath when I start getting mad at how much I have to struggle to get the thing into a somewhat flat configuration so I can shove it behind my wicker cabinet, and I say to myself, "It's not worth getting mad about."

That worked really well until I had to redo my peasant tunic. I cut out the new paper pattern using my cutting board as the smooth, flat surface I needed. I laid out my fabric and cut two squares for the underarm gussets. I folded the fabric neatly when I was done and put it back out in the garage where I store my stash. I then proceeded to try and fold up my cutting board. It didn't work. I flopped it back down on the ground so I could try again with all the pieces in order. The pieces landed every which way but flat. I tried it again. And again. Finally, I snapped, and yelled out loud, "I HATE THIS!!!" and tore the cutting board up in a fit of rage and stuffed it in the recycling.

That felt good. It felt really, really awesome. I was trying not to spend any more money than I had to, so of course I had to get a new cutting board (which folds normally THANK GOODNESS), but it was worth the $12.99 I spent on the new one to rip up that old one.


I couldn't post a picture of my final peasant blouse, because it's made out of that very sheer voile and I didn't want anyone to see my undies. But here's the tutorial! It's the best peasant blouse tutorial I've ever seen! Try it, you'll like it!

http://www.thingsofcloth.com/documents/Adult-size_Peasant_Blouse_Tutorial.pdf

Fabric addiction & new petticoat

Um... I need to stop buying fabric.

I only buy fabric from thrift stores, but still, it adds up. And there's no point in Buying Fabric With A Purpose (to make costumes) if I'm not actually DOING anything with it (yet).

But then, I find things like my most recent weekend finds:

$1.99 - for 7 yds of poly-cotton fabric from Goodwill. I can use this for mockups and practicing new things. For instance, yesterday I used it to practice making a chemise, which I've never done before. I've bought yardage from Saver's in the past and used it to learn how to make men's shirts.

$.50 - for three panels of red cotton velveteen from Salvation Army. I'll measure them when I get home. I'll save one to make a corset to go with the Christmas ren fest costume I've been planning (I found 4-5 yards of a red and green plaid at Saver's about a year ago and have been saving it for this).

(I haven't washed the fabric yet in this pic.)

$2.50 - for 6 yds of what I think is silk damask! I can't remember the yardage, and it's not a full width (only one of the selvedges is intact). It measures about 26 inches wide. It was hemmed using some kind of glue, but the glue is old enough to have lost its "grip" so I can unfold the hemmed edges easily. I haven't washed this yet either. I don't know what I'll do with it. It's so beautiful. I may have to just sell it and let someone more talented use it.

Pictures will follow later for the following:

$2.99 - for a long poly-cotton voile curtain that I'm going to use for a chemise for my friend's costume.

$1.99 - for 3 yds of retro fabric in perfect condition.

$6.02 - for 4 yd white linen curtain swag to use in a chemise for myself, a queen-sized 100% cotton sheet to use for a petticoat, and a vintage embroidered tablecloth from the Goodwill Outlet where everything is sold by the pound.

In fact, maybe I'll post pictures of everything in my stash. I spent only a fraction of the cost on the yardage and household linens that I will be turning into costume pieces that I would have spent buying from Joanne's, but I still feel kind of overwhelmed by it all. :-)

Oh, I almost forgot! I finished my friend's petticoat last night.

LOOK WHAT I MADE!

Me modeling the petticoat. I need to lose weight. :-(

Detail of fabric and hem.

I'm going to steal the Dreamstress's format for reporting on projects for her Historical Sew Fortnightly, even though I'm not participating in it (yet). It's a wonderful way to summarize projects.

The Challenge: Make a petticoat for my friend's Ren fest costume
Fabric: A cotton-something synthetic blend curtain from Goodwill
Pattern: 18th-century style petticoat
Notions: White thread, grey double-fold bias tape/quilt binding for waistband and hem, cotton twill tape for waist ties 
How historically accurate is it? The pattern is very historically accurate, but the fabric is not. I think the hem depth is accurate (I can't remember where I read hems of 18th century skirts were rarely more than 1-inch deep). I think using bias tape to enclose the raw edge of the hem might have been done sometimes, but I don't know. I think the waistband finishing isn't very accurate, but the waist ties are. 
Hours to complete: I didn't keep track, but will try to from now on. I think about 4-5 hours? Took longer than usual because of having to pick out the seams and learn how to do a French seam 
First worn: TBD 
Total cost: $4.99 for the fabric, $1.50 for 1st package of quilt binding, $1.79 for 2nd package of quilt binding, I already had the thread and the cotton twill tape. So $8.96 total (including tax).


This petticoat is about 90 inches circumference. I'm so happy with it now, but it was so frustrating to work on because I had to tear out all the seams, the edges were very easy to fray, the fabric is thick so I had to use a French seam on the sides, which looks sloppy, and I had to use bias tape quilt binding on the hem because it was too thick to hem normally with those massive side seams. BUT--that fabric makes a beautiful petticoat, the bias tape on the hem is a nice touch, and the thick side seams helps the petticoat to stand out more.

Now I wish I'd bought more of these curtains to use in the future. Maybe I'll be making a run to Goodwill after work. :-) If only I knew how well these would sell. But I think, if they're cheap enough, they'll probably sell okay.