When I first looked at the diagram for the 1882 patent 271377 by Henry S. Strauss , I was incredibly intimidated. It has twenty-six pieces – thirteen per side. The garment as a whole is heavily boned; in the drawings from the patent, only six pieces are just fabric.

The panels are not the standard up-and-down pieces that most modern corset patterns are made out of (such as the Laughing Moon or Simplicity Civil War patterns), and I wanted to ensure that I was clear on how it went together before I attempted adapting it to my size 16/18 figure. Making it to the size of the patent drawing would let me see how the construction worked, and ensure that if the pieces didn't fit together, that it wasn't a result of my attempts at alteration!

This article will walk you through the considerations I had in mind while making this initial mock-up – looking at boning options, and explaining the construction techniques unique to this pattern.

Drawing of the finished corset from the patent

Diagram of the pattern pieces from Strauss' 1882 patent 271377

 

Figure 1 - The enlarged pattern

The first step was to enlarge the drawings in the patent to match a modern body. I enlarged the pattern using a copy machine at about 325%, until the centre panel measured 38cm/15", and used this pattern to cut out the mock-up (Figure 1). (See the patent link above for pieces  9 and 10, I miscopied them and they're not in this photo.)

After it was enlarged, I laid the pieces out on my table, estimating how they would sit when sewn, and drew on grainlines to put the weave of the fabric be at a right angle to the waist. This was a rough estimate, and I wanted to observe how these lines sat in the final corset.

I used fabric from my stash for the mock-up, and picked fabric that had distinctive lines so that I could very easily discern where the grainlines fell on the garment, once made up and put on a human body. I used two layers to sandwich the boning, which left raw edges inside the corset (something to think about for the final garment, but not a concern for the mock-up).

Materials

Pattern piece 11 is supposed to be cut out from "india rubber cloth, so as to be elastic and fit over the hips," according to the patent description. What would be a suitable modern substitute? Elastic? Not very pretty. A panel of stretch lace? Likely too thin, not as durable as the rest of the corset, but so pretty... Bicycle inner tubing? Possibly, but it would create quite an industrial look that would not work for many styles. This is further complicated in that the patent shows that piece 11 is edged, apparently with the same material as the rest of the corset (ie bias tape). But this material is supposed to be stretchy enough that the piece 10 above it "folds in on itself", so even with bias tape having a little bit of stretch, would following the patent create a "muffin top" or indent in the corset at that bottom? I'm going to try leaving the bias tape off piece 11, and see how it looks.

I used plain 2" wide black elastic for piece 11 on the plastic boned side; on the corded side, I used two layers of elastic lace, cut so that the patterns match and appear as one layer. I really wanted to see if elastic lace could hold up to the stress of the pull across the hips, while still retaining its elegance.

Steel Boning

I thought a lot about what I was going to be using for boning in all of the channels. I don't have access to whalebone here in Canada, so could not use the original materials likely used for this. The patent reads that "Parts 1 and 13... are provided with stays or springs somewhat stiffer than those used in the body of the corset" so although it doesn't specify whalebone, it should be something fairly sturdy. The patent indicates that none of the boning on these diagonal channels extends between pieces, so I'm looking at a lot of small, very specific measurements.

The most intuitive type of boning for this would be spiral steels, which would allow for flexing in multiple directions in the diagonal channels. However, I have zero experience cutting and capping spiral steels (I've always just bought the lengths I needed), so this was very intimidating! I also wondered if spring steel would be overkill – this would be one heavy corset!

Spiral Steels: Pros – diagonal flex, sturdy, good recovery.  Cons – extremely heavy in this quantity, and my inexperience cutting and tipping spiral steel. Also difficult to manoeuvre sewing pieces together, due to weight.

Cording

Cording is common in extant Victorian corsets, and there are a lot of references available for this – many more than I realized before I started looking! Robert Doyle's Waisted Efforts gives detailed cording placement for an 1873 corset that had corded hip panels, and also displays cording in the bust of an 1880s corset (141-143). He notes that cording aids in creating "a flexible, durable corset" that could be used for "securing and controlling" parts of the body (127-128). Jill Salen's Corsets also features many corded corsets, dating from the 1830s until the Victorian time period. She shows a "Rural Corded Corset" that has diagonal and vertical lines of boning channels, and Salen notes that "the cross-grain cording lines over the hips" gently curve and give a softer shape (35). The "Red-and-Black Lasting Corset" dates from 1860 and features only vertical cording around the corset, except for the closed front busk and back lacing panel support, so it is apparent that cording was sufficiently supportive in some extant corsets.

If you don't have access to either of these books, a quick google image search for "corded antique corsets" will give plenty of eye candy, or rather, research materials! Jema Hewitt has written several articles for Foundations Revealed, including a gorgeous "pretty housemaid" style corset that uses extensive cording. 

Cathy Hay wrote online about the Jubilee Corset from 1887, which has horizontal hip gores that are corded with string and only thin cane for vertical support – definitely not the all-encasing steel that we often think of when we consider Victorian corsetry! Hay noted the Jubilee corset as a great example of less being more, and I was interested in testing this "less is more" theory on an extant pattern. And although this corset has a very Victorian shape, it is boned almost entirely, like the Elizabethan effigy bodies, and I've seen many dress diaries over the past decade extolling the virtues of using cording for effigy-style corsets so I was curious if the cording would be substantial enough support when not just vertical.

Cording: Pros – Period technique gives great texture for flossing potential, and no precise measurements required during construction as excess can be cut off with regular scissors. Cons – very bulky seams, and the bulk may shrink the pieces and affect the fit. Cording may not be sturdy enough, and it's narrower than boning, so more channels may be required.

Plastic Boning

I've also seen some corset makers talk about using plastic boning, and there are some strongly held opinions here! When I started making corsets in 2005, I was a budget-challenged university student. I used ½" (13mm) cable ties for boning in the first dozen corsets that I made for myself, and found them to work fairly well. I used ¼" and ½" plastic cable ties in an effigy corset for myself that saw extensive SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) camping use, and it held up quite well too. As this corset has so many channels, I wanted to see if the abundance of boning would allow this lighter weight support material to be used.

Plastic : Pros – cut and edge easily with kitchen shears. They should bend around the body much like spring than steels, while providing more structure along the length of the channel than cording. Cons – Plastic can bend to match the body (although whalebone could also be shaped with steam, so this may not be a negative). ½" boning is slightly thicker than ½" spring steel, thus increasing bulk.

I'm an indecisive person sometimes, so I ended up testing all three methods over the course of two mock-ups (the second mock-up will be in a future article). I started out with plastic boning and cording, as I had those materials at hand and could thus get started right away while I waited for the spiral steel yardage to arrive. They're also the least expensive if they both flopped (literally and figuratively!), so I would be out only my time if they didn't work out. The first mock-up was definitely a franken-corset. I used jute cord from the dollar store, and regular cable ties from the hardware store.

Construction

I determined from the pattern that the seam allowance (SA) on the original patent was 1cm (3/8"), by looking closely at the corners of the pieces. Piece 7 in Figure 1 confirms this for me – each side of that narrow section measures 1cm exactly. One of my vintage zipper feet is 1cm as well, so I used it for basting the intended SA when doing the boning channels, as well as when sewing all the pieces together for easy SA marking.

I followed the lines on the patent drawing to determine whether the boning should be wide or narrow on each piece, following the general lines of the boning channels indicated in the drawing. Using the 1cm zipper foot, I basted the two pieces together at the side of the piece that the channels "flow" over. For example, on piece 5, the boning follows the bottom of the piece, so it will have shorted pieces along the top (Figure 2, marked in red lines). I also marked the 1cm line along all the edges, so that I would know where the boning should go up to and wouldn't create channels that would sit in the SA.

Then I started sewing all those channels! There are over one hundred channels on this corset, when I use boning channels of an appropriate width for what was going to be in them. I didn't mark each boning channel – I used the presser foot as a guide.

As you can see from the Figure 2 and 2a where the boning filled pieces were placed over the plastic patterns, the plastic boning in the channels wanted to straighten out the fabric more than the pattern, but when all boned and sewn together, the boning did flex some (Figure 3), but didn't seem to flex as much on the pieces with ½" boning such a piece 9 (Figure 4).

Figure 2 - 5 boning channels	Figure 2a - Shift of the pieces caused by boning
Figure 3 - Side panels sewn together	Figure 4 - Pieces boned with ½" (13mm) plastic boning

 

The construction of this corset is very similar to quilting techniques to create pieced letters in quilting, which I was doing at the same time as this corset for a friend's baby quilt. You have to sew several pieces together, then several other pieces together, and THEN combine the two mega-pieces! I missed this insight on my first go of this pattern, and sewed pieces 5-9 together, matching the vertical edges – if you look closely at Figure 3, I took that photo before realizing the mistake, and piece 7 reaches almost to the bottom of the corset at piece 8, which is incorrect. If I'd looked carefully at the drawing of the completed corset in the patent on Google, I wouldn't have made this mistake. It was easily solved with a seam ripper, it just took much more time!

So that you can learn from my error: Pieces 5-7 join at the vertical edges as we'd expect, and although the lines in the patent looked like they are mismatched at first, careful pinning and easing showed that the curves fit together perfectly. For the bottom of the torso, though, you have to sew pieces 10 and 11 together, then pieces 8 and 9 together and to piece 10/11, then sew piece 8/9/10/11 to piece 12 (see Fig. 3). Only when these have all been done can you sew pieces 5/6/7 to 8/9/10/11/12. Similarly, pieces 1, 2, and 3 have to be sewn together before 1/2/3 are joined to piece 4. I pressed the seams open as much as possible in order to minimize the bulk where the seams were sewn to another piece.

I finished the plastic side of the corset first, going to the effort of installing a busk (Figure 5, right), as that was one of only four completely vertical pieces of metal boning on each side of the entire corset, and I wanted to emulate the final garment as much as possible.
When I started sewing the channels on the corded side, I found that the fabric really wanted to shift under the feet, as I was sewing the channels with the cording in, using a zipper foot to butt up against the cording; this is the same technique that Jema Hewitt used when creating her corded 1880s corset. This used up tiny extra amounts of fabric, which added up at the edge of the panel! (Figure 6). Luckily, this was still less than the SA, so it didn't show in the final mock-up.
For the "wider" channels of cording, I braided three strands together to make them firmer, and for the "thin" channels, I used two strands of cording lying next to each other. You can see in Figure 7 (right) how the braids give a lot of texture.

Looking at Figure 8, the cording doesn't try to shift the individual pieces the same way of the plastic boned pieces. This image also shows how the pieces jig-saw together! Flipping it over, though, as show in Figure 9, the SA is quite bulky, even after very heavy pressing.

Figure 8 - Pieces 7 to 12 corded

Figure 9 - The reverse side of pieces 7 to 12 corded

 

The Mock-Up (original patent measurements)

I finished up the mock-up with a lacing panel, sewn in to measure the same amount as the pattern piece 12. The final measurements are bust: 35½" (90cm), waist 25" (65.5cm), and hips (unstretched): 39½" (100cm). I don't have any friends who have those exact measurements, so went with matching the bust and hip measurements.

Figure 10 - Back view of the mockup

Figure 11 - Front view of the mockup

Figure 12 - Side view of the mockup

 

Figure 10 shows my muscular friend in the mock-up, with a rather large gap at the waist. However, Figure 11 shows that despite this gap, the shape of this corset is quite hourglass, even with that gap! She was quite verbose with her approval of the hourglass shape that this corset gave her, and found it quite comfortable to wear around the house for a while.

In Figure 12, the lines of the upper torso panels flow over the upper back, creating a higher line back than any corset that I've made before, but it looks very flattering on my friend, while not being so high that it restricts her movement. This is the side constructed with the cable ties, and her body appear to be well supported. I am really pleased with the shape of the bust curve – I was concerned that the gusset started so low, and might allow the breast to slip down into that space, but it appears to "cup" quite well.

There is a bit of unevenness at the back waist level, at the top of piece 12, but I think that's due to the gap at the back, and will be fixed when those channels are vertical as intended. The elastic piece 11 doesn't look too stretched, either, which was a concern – I didn't want it to look strained.

However, the bottom right of Figure 12 hints at the problem highlighted in Figure 13 – the elastic allows enough "give" that the front of the corset doesn't pull in to the tummy or lie flat on it. Since I wear my corsets as outerwear, this was definitely something to rectify for the mock-up to my shape!

Figure 14 shows the left side of the corset, with the cording used as boning. Overall, I'm not pleased. I found that the cording looked "lumpy" in the channels, to my eye – this is especially visible on the busk piece 1, and piece 4, which had the braided cording to make it thicker. This might be a result of the braiding itself being a silly idea, but it just didn't give the correct level of support on my friend. Piece 4 doesn't flow smoothly over the breast and indents strangely, and makes the breast appear lumpy, too! (After I put this on my friend, I laced it onto myself, as well, to see how the bust pieces would support MY bosom. Figure 15 shows that the problem is even more pronounced on my larger chest – this confirmed unequivocally that cording was not enough for my Holy Heck H cups!).

Figure 14 - Left bust, the corded side

Figure 15 - Bust support for H cups, corded versus plastic bones

 

Along the back, in Figure 16, the cording appears to be buckling at the top of piece 12, at the waist point. Although this is partially due to the gap at the back waist shifting the piece, I think that the curve in the cording exposes a weakness in this method.

Figure 17 shows two layers of elastic lace, basted together to match the patterns while providing additional strength . Happily, the lace pattern doesn't look too distorted, so I'm going to try this again on my next mock-up.

Figure 16 - Back, corded side

Figure 17 - Elastic lace panel

 

Difficulties Encountered

 I did the first mock-up with only a regular foot for the plastic casings, and a zipper foot for the corded channels, and I definitely noticed that the cloth was creeping from the feed differential between the two layers. Even with the turn of cloth over the cording, this amount seemed excessive to me, so when I went to a local sewing expo in early March, I sought the advice of a fairly well known speaker on sewing machine feet. She advised me that I could easily have both layers feed evenly with a Teflon or rolling foot, and thus a walking foot wasn't needed. I was sceptical, but I went with her advice and used a rolling foot on the second mock-up. It was quite unsuccessful – the fabric crept even more, with up to a ½" overlay on some panels. This could be partially attributed to the second mock-up's looser weave of fabric, but I ordered a walking foot to use for the final corset just to be sure! This was a good reminder to me to trust my intuition and try techniques for myself, not just take the word of "experts."

Overall, this corset came together extremely easily, especially when I think about how daunting it was on paper. It was just very time intensive!

Next Step

The next steps are to alter this corset pattern to match my own measurements, checking the grainlines from this mock-up, and deciding what fabric to make the final corset out of! I can see so many possibilities for this design. The next article will compare plastic (the winner from this round!) with spiral steel.

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