1914 Skirt Beginnings and Research Troubles

New years hit and I've been in a bit of a sewing rut these last few weeks. I haven't had a ton of time, or energy, to put towards sewing lately so I haven't been too productive.

However, I managed to get started on the first part of my 1914 era ensemble, the skirt. I'll write up a post when it's done with more details, but for now here's where it stands.

My goal is to make a hunting suit similar to the styles seen on Donwton Abbey, however I've had a hard time finding information on women's hunting clothing from the era. So far I've only been able to find one example. Apparently hunting wasn't as common of a sport for women as Downton made it out to be...

I have been able to find a couple of original jacket patterns, however, that I'm using as a reference to draft my own. Until I can find more information I'm just doing my best to make something that looks appropriate.

Completed 1914 Corset and Chemise

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and happy new year. As promised in my last post, today I'm talking about my recently made 1910's corset. I finished both the corset and chemise just before the end of the year and it made a nice final project of 2017.

As I mentioned in my last post about this corset, the pattern is from Bridges of the Body. I really liked the pattern, particularly because it fit quite well without any modifications and was completely free.

The chemise is made from a book I've had in my library for many years and was printed in 1917. This was gifted to me by a friend of my mom when she learned that I was interested in historical sewing and I've been waiting to use it ever since.

The book is Practical Sewing and Dressmaking by Sara May Allington. It's filled with instructions on how to draft patterns for everything from skirts and blouses to jackets and night gowns. It even has some adorable children's clothing instructions in it too.

The pattern for the chemise is actually based off of the shirt waist pattern and has a modified neckline and is lengthened. So I drafted the shirtwaist pattern according to the instructions and made the alterations suggested for a chemise with a gathered neckline.

I didn't bother to pattern the chemise part, but I want to note I made it 36 inches in length, which sits right at my knee's, and that I added perhaps a little bit more fabric into the neckline than I would do in the future, but it still turned out nice.

The book

Drafting the Shirt Waist

Kitty Baby decided to keep me company and eat my supplies

What the Shirt Waist draft looks like

The examples of the two variations using the shirtwaist as a base for a chemise

I like the simplicity of the pieces and it's a very comfortable corset. Strangely enough, my dimensions are still pretty much the same as my non-corseted measurements with this, even though my body shape is altered a bit.

1914 Corset Beginnings+Inspiration

My sister and I recently started watching Downton Abbey together (this is my second time going through the series and her first time), and I've completely fallen in love with the clothing from the later war years. It's both elegant and practical at the same time, which really appeals to me.

I've been slowly coming around to the idea of working in this era, and watching Downton Abbey was the the final straw to break me. This weekend I started working on a new corset for the era.

The pattern I'm using is from Bridges of the Body, and it's been a great pattern. I had some difficulty with getting it to the right scale (as I do every time I try to scale up a pattern), but I was able to get it close enough and made a few adjustments once I had it printed out.

The mock-up came together quickly and surprisingly easily. My first attempt I was completely over thinking it and tried changing some of the dimensions because the original on the pattern were just slightly smaller than my usual corseted measurements, but that only ruined the lines and ended up being too big anyways. I ended up adding seam allowance to the original pattern and it fit perfectly, despite being printed slightly smaller than it was supposed to be. Go figure.

Corsets from this era are, to me at least, a little weird. The silhouette of the period was so long and slender, with far less emphasis on the bust and bum than was popular in the early 1900's. The corsets from this era usually sit with a low bust and extend past the hips and are *so* long. But it's slowly growing on me.

In case you're unfamiliar with the era, I thought I'd leave you off with some pretty 1910's inspiration. You can check out my Pinterest board for more WWI era goodies too.

Corset C. 1914 Via Bridges of the Body

Corset C. 1912-14 from the Kent State University Museum

Catalog C. 1916. I'm in love with each of these outfits