Another project off my list. I worked on this off and on for several months. A majority of the construction was done over the course of a week. The actual finishing like the eyelets and binding and the busk took far longer then sewing the boning channels.
Two layers of cotton duck with the outer layer of red cotton sateen (standing in for silk, ask my cat about it). Hand sewn with black silk thread. Self made bias tape, and hand sewn eyelets with matching cotton floss.
The pattern is my usual bodice block. It is boned with cable ties, the boning diagram is rough nod to Pfaltzgrafin Dorothea Sabine von Neuberg’s corset.
It is taking me longer then usual because, in a fit of “well it isn’t that much work” I decided to sew the corset, boning channels and eyelets and so forth all by hand with silk thread.
This is not so much an exercise in insanity so much as wanting to see what I will learn from the experience, and so far I’ve learned a lot.
Like use a thimble, because your skin is not as tough as you think it is.
Take breaks so you don’t put too much stress on your wrists.
Watching David Tennant play Hamlet was kinda weird.
The cat will sit on your corset no matter what, and leave it covered with fur.
Ok, so the last two have nothing to do with sewing but I did get a lot of sewing done because of them. With the exception of the cat.
But after an hour and a half of Hamlet I did have this:
Slow going but not too bad, once you get into sewing with the back stitch there is something rather Zen about it and I managed to finish that side of the corset by the end of Hamlet.
The corset then got set aside for about a week as I worked on other projects and took care of some family concerns.
That was just long enough for my brain to wipe out all the useful hand sewing information it usually holds on to, and I found myself unable to recall how to do the back stitch.
Crazy I know.
So I decided to make myself a diagram just in case it ever happens again and I can’t find my sewing books.
After laying out the fabric I traced my pattern on to the drill and sateen then cut it out.
I left all the seam allowances in place (Which I will cut down later then I bind it.) save for the back, which I extended by an inch as I plan to fold that over as a facing rather then bind the back edges.
Flatlining the fabrics
Then I stacked the layer of sateen on top of one layer of the drill and hand basted all around it in the seam allowances.
In sewing terms this is known as flat lining it gives the sateen layer more strength then it would have on its own and will help prevent the bones from wearing through the fabric.
Next I pressed the seam allowances down on the side seams.
Then the side seam allowances were whip stitched down on the front and back pieces.
This method of construction calls for more hand sewing then if you used a machine, but the end result means you don’t have a thick bulky seam on the inside of the stays.
Pressing the seam allowancewhip stitching the seam allowanceThe inner and outer layers basted together
The outer layer done I set that aside and took the second layer of drill and pressed the side seam allowances down as well, but did not whip stitch them in place.
Then I stacked the two layers of drill together with the folded under/stitched down seam allowances facing each other.
All the layers were then basted through, going only up the side seams and the straps, leaving the bottom of the stays and the neckline open. I used a very sharp glovers needle for this, as regular hand sewing needles have some issues going through the heavy fabric.
Dorothea’s pair of bodies, line drawing by Janet Arnold
After looking through my closet, under the bed and other places that my costume end up hiding I realized I never got around to making a late Elizabethan corset or pair of bodies.
A tragedy that must be remedied.
The Tudor Tailor book has three or four patterns for late Elizabethan corsets, but as with everything in that book the patterns scale up too big for me.
Pfaltzgrafin Dorothea Sabine von Neuberg’s pair of bodies
Patterns of Fashion 1560-1620 by Janet Arnold has a pattern for Pfaltzgrafin Dorothea Sabine von Neuberg stays which she was buried in.
Those are a bit closer to my measurements but I was not looking forward to doing a mock up and fitting it.
So I decided to use my usual bodice pattern, took it in two inches, and modify the front to a mild point, as I didn’t want something quiet as extreme.
Arnold speculates that Dorothea’s bodies were made form three layers total, the top being a layer of silk satin mounted on a layer of linen, and then another layer of linen behind that. The channels for the bones were then stitched through all the layers and then each piece was over handed together before being bound around the edges.
For my pair of I am using scarlet cotton sateen and two layers of cotton drill.
