In which I learn to Floss...

... My corset, anyways.

A few months ago I started up a dance night with a group of friends, and several of them have been trying to convince me that I need to learn to floss, which I steadfastly refuse to do. Then last week I wasn't feeling well, and instead of laying around doing nothing I decided to take that time to finally floss my corset.

When I finished, I shared pictures online toting that I had learned to "floss". Anyways, I thought it was pretty funny. But here's the end result.

This is my 1880's corset made from the Truly Victorian pattern. It's the most comfortable, though not the most technically well made, corset I've made yet. And now now it's the prettiest corset I've made.

For anyone who doesn't know, flossing is used to hold the bones in place from moving around in the boning channels. Plus it's an extra way to add some decoration to your corset. I played around with a few different styles with the help of some tutorials I found on Pinterest. There's a surprising amount on flossing info out there.

Never Before Photographed Projects

Over the last year and a half I've had a lot of projects that I never got around to photographing. Until now. If you follow me on Instagram that you know that I just got a new, processional sewing form (!!!). Today I was taking photo's/video for a review I'll be doing of the form and ended up getting pictures of some of my projects that I haven't gotten photo's of yet. I still have more to photograph, but they needed to be ironed so I'll be doing those on another day.

I'll talk more about the sewing form in my actual review post, but I just wanna say how awesome it is! Not only is it going to make my actual sewing easier, getting photo's of my projects will be a lot easier!

First off, my Victorian corset. I started this one near the end of 2015 and finished it early this year. The pattern I used was from Period Costume for the Stage and Screen by Jean Hunnisett. I used duck canvas from Joann's for the base fabric and flat lined it with this pretty blue fabric I found at a garage sale (I'm not sure what type of fabric it is).

While I really love this corset, I did make a few fitting mistakes and will have to make a new one. But I'm really hesitant because this one is soooo pretty...

Next are my Regency Half Stays. These came together really quickly, I think over the course of a day or two. I also used a pattern from Period Costume for the Stage and Screen. The pattern I used was the Regency corset pattern but I modified it by basically chopping off the bottom half to make half stays instead.

I also used duck canvas from Joann's for this with hand stitched eyelets and ribbon for the lacing.

And finally, my Sontag shawl! I posted at the end of 2015 that I was working on this and I finished it early this year but never got around to getting pictures. I found the pattern on Ravelry for free and it was a good, easy project. This would be a perfect project for a beginner/intermediate knitter.

That's all I've got for now, but I'll be posting my review and more projects that I hadn't gotten either any or any decent photo's of (such as my green Regency dress!).

The Historical Sew Monthly January Challenge | Bustle Pillow Tutorial

So I did do the first challenge of the Historical Sew Monthly in January, I just haven't gotten photo's of it yet. But, I did make a video tutorial for it. I was going to get photo's and post them at the same time I shared this tutorial, but they weather has been pretty rainy and I've been really busy lately. So I thought I would just make a quick post and share the tutorial.

Here ya go!

I'll write up the official post for it with all the info on the item after I get pictures. Which will hopefully be soon. ;)

Victorian Undergarments

I (mostly) finished my Victorian under garments. YAY! I'll probably need another petticoat and I still need to get some longer ribbons for my chemise and 2nd petticoat drawstrings. But I'm off to a good start!

So the last few weeks I've been working on a second petticoat for over my Truly Victorian bustle. I drafted my own pattern based on Truly Victorian 107, which surprisingly turned out really good since I pretty much drafted the whole thing with math (which I'm not very good at).

The chemise and drawers were drafted with a tutorial from The Sewing Academy. I ended up putting a drawstring neckline thought so I could adjust it for the Wishing Dress neckline.

I also finished my first corset! I drafted it with this tutorial. Over all I think it turned out pretty good for my first completed corset. The back has a bit of space but I think that's because I laced it myself. I could definitely get it tighter if someone else was doing the lacing.

Things are "Bustling"

Sorry, I couldn't help myself with that title. ;P

Last week I made my first bustle petticoat. YAY!

As I mention in my previous post, I went and bough the Truly Victorian 101 Wire Bustle pattern and wire. After the pattern arrived I went to Joanns to get fabric. I used a plain white cotton and ended up getting 10 yards because I had a 60% off coupon plus I want to make a chemise out of it. The pattern only needed a little over 7 yards though.

I have to say, it was the best pattern I've ever used! I've avoided patterns as much as possible, one because they're expensive, but also because commercial patterns can get kind of confusing. Well, that was not the case with this pattern! Sure, there was 1 or 2 things that I had to read a couple of times to understand what I needed to do, but other than that it went really smoothly!

Here's the bustle before I made the ruffle overlay for it.

And the finished bustle.

 

I think I may have read the pattern wrong because the ruffle overlay didn't cover the first bone. Unfortunately i didn't realize this until after I had sewn it on and hand stitched the sides down. I think I'm just going to add another ruffle to the top to cover it. It'll be an easy fix.

 

Even though the pattern says that with the ruffle overlay you don't need another petticoat, I'm still going to make at least one more petticoat to get the silhouette I want for the Wishing Dress. I still haven't decided on a pattern yet.

Bustle and Petticoat Mock Ups

A few days ago I went to work on figuring out how I wanted to do my bustle for the Wishing Dress. Becuase I'm cheap, I started out by trying a pattern from Jean Hunnisett's Period Costume for the Stage and Screen. I copied out one of her bustle petticoat patterns and put it over top of a basic pillow bustle I made a while back.

This was the end result.

I also took another pattern from the book for the mock up of the skirt. I didn't gather it in the back like it was supposed to be since I didn't know weather I would end up using that skirt pattern or the bustle underneath. So it's just kind of pinned in the back.

After much consideration I've decided to make a bigger bustle, and one with wire in the back. This was partially to get the bigger bustle but also becuase I'm afraid that after I put the weight of the skirt and the waterfall bustle it will kind of crush what silhouette I have. Having a bustle with wire will give both a bigger shape and also give it more support.

The pattern I ended up going with is the Truly Victorian 101  Wire Bustle. I also purchased the wire for the bustle from Truly Victorian, which is really convenient because it'll come already cut and to the proper size. I won't have to worry about finding wire, then cutting it, and then finishing the tips. Plus it's pretty cheap. Which is always a great thing, especially since I think I'll end up spending a lot on this costume.



I can't wait to get the fabric and for the pattern to get here so I can make it!