Figure 1Figure 2When I was first asked to make the 1873 T.S.Gilbert patent # 141,134 for Foundations Revealed I was very excited and quite nervous, I’ve never tackled a patent before and was unsure what lay ahead. I had been hoping to find the time to give a patent a try for a few months though so the challenge presented the perfect opportunity for me to dive right in and have a go!

My first task was to look over the information provided in the patent. Figures 1 and 2 show a diagram of the finished corset. Figures 3-8 are the pattern pieces.

Figure 3

Along with the diagrams there was just over a page of written text that explained who patented the pattern, what set the pattern apart from others, and a short description of how the pattern would be made up.

Three points specify what is different about this pattern compared to others. The first is “a mode of re-enforcing corset-springs without increasing the thickness thereof, and so as to employ the common single steels and to add the supplemental springs in the manufacture of the corset. This improvement consists in metallic strips or wires held by pockets in the corset near the back edges of the main steels and parallel thereto." I believe this refers to the five channels on the back of the corset set at an angle to the centre back.

The second point says, “the introduction of straight strips, with parallel edges, between the first and third sections of the corset, to give superior form and beauty to the bust-fullnesses.” This clearly refers to panel number two, which is a straight strip with absolutely no shaping.

And finally, “The third part of the invention relates to a superior method of producing hip-fullnesses. Near the middle of the back, and consists in forming each back piece of two parts, united at the top by a diagonal seam extending inward to the middle of the back at or below the waist. The inner or eyelet piece is thus made very narrow at its lower end. The adjoining lower end of the outer piece is so shaped as to produce the proper amount of fullness.”

This refers to panels 5 and 6, 6 being the centre back piece. (Please note that piece number 5 is shown upside down in the patent diagram.)

After looking through the information provided with the T.S.Gilbert patent I was very excited to give it a go, just from the drawings in figures 1 and 2 I could tell it would have a beautiful silhouette. The pattern pieces (shown in figure 3) are also shaped so differently from any corset i have previously constructed. I was looking forward to seeing whether this would bring any new challenges, and to finding out what kind of changes these new shapes brought to the final silhouette that the corset could give to its wearer. I have experimented with altering my pattern shapes before, but not like this; my previous alterations have usually been to just cut my panels into more pieces rather than to completely alter their shapes.

I am also looking forward to seeing how the different seam lines look, as I have always been interested in the way just moving a few lines can give a corset a whole different appearance. Even if they serve no purpose in changing the overall shape of the garment, I think they can give a pattern a completely different look. I think the beauty of many corsets is more than just the silhouette they create. The seam lines and the way the stitched lines flow can create a beauty all of their own.  

My next step was to increase the size of the pattern pieces, and as my computer skills aren’t amazing, I had to take a bit of a stab in the dark and thus printed the pattern off at 400%. My pattern pieces came out at a reasonable size (see figure 4) so I continued on and made my toile.

Figure 4

As my toile started to come together I realised that I would need to enlarge the pattern further. My toile at 400% ended up with a waist size of 16” and a 13” long centre front. I photographed it on my mannequin to show the shape of the smaller pattern. You can see in figure 6 that the bust sits far too low, and in figure 8 you can see how high the hip jut sits.

Figure 5Figure 6

Figure 7Figure 8

After a little experimenting, I ended up printing the pattern off at 511% which I had figured out would give me an 18” waist and a 15” long centre front. Figure 9 shows the pattern printed out and placed in order. Figure 10 shows one of the pieces after I taped it together. Each of the panels had ended up spread over several pages, and I had to go through and carefully sellotape them all together.

Figure 9Figure 10

Once I had taped all my panels together, I cut them out and arranged them on my fabric. With no grain line shown on the pattern, I had to place them based on where I assumed the grain line would be placed, with the centre front line and centre back line placed parallel to the grain line and the other panels following suit, as shown in figure 11.

Figure 11

At this stage I should have cut out two sets to make a two layered corset, as made clear in the text supplied with the patent:
“These sections may be of any preferred material, and of one or more thicknesses; but the sections are preferably made of two thicknesses, as in the illustration.”

However I forgot to do this and stitched the whole thing together and then, when i remembered, made a second and sandwiched them together. If I had remembered first off and done it correctly I would have treated the two layers of each panel as one and stitched all of my channels into the panels separately before I joined the panels together, something I will definitely remember for my proper corset later on. Trying to stitch the channels into the two sandwiched layers was not an easy task as they came out very messy and untidy.

I started by drawing on the lines for my channel placement so I could follow them while stitching. Figure 12 shows the lines drawn on. Figure 13 shows the stitched channels.

Figure 12Figure 13

Once all of my channels were finally stitched in, I boned the whole toile and tried it on. This corset wouldn’t reduce my waist by as much as I am used to; it became painful when laced in by anything over a couple of inches. However, it still gave a very dramatic silhouette. As I couldn’t reduce by as much as usual, the corset was left with quite a bad fit. The hips were too big, the waist too small and the chest area was all over too small but needed some space taking out of the actual cups. Figures 14-16 show the corset before I made any alterations.

Figure 14Figure 15Figure 16

I started my fitting by pinning out the excess fabric in the bust; I took 4cm (1½") from the seam on the front bust. I then pinned some spare calico to the top of the corset and drew in a new top line, since the original one dips very low at the side and results in a rather unattractive side boob. Next I pinned out the hips to take them in by 4cm (1½") per side, spread over the panels. I then transferred these changes to my paper pattern. Figures 17-19 show the pinned toile.

Figure 17Figure 18Figure 19

As you can see in Figure 19, the back had far more than a 5cm (2”) gap. I knew I needed to add to my pattern to rectify this. My only issue was how to do this. Since the hips and bust were already sitting in the right places, I was concerned that adding a bit to each panel to spread out the increase would result in the hips being too far around to the back and this would cause even more alterations. In the end I decided the only way I could correct the overly large gap in the back would be to widen my back panels, so I added 3.5cm (1 3/8") onto my pattern's centre back.

With all my changes and alterations moved over to my paper pattern, I decided it was time for toile number 3, to check all my changes worked and to make sure there weren’t any more changes required.

I cut out two layers so that I could use the same construction methods that I plan on using for my proper version. Once both layers were cut out, I worked my way through all of my panels drawing in the channel placements.  On my proper version I will use carbon paper to do this so that all my marks disappear afterwards, but for this toile I just used a pen. I then stitched all of my channels into each individual panel before sewing all of my panels together.

Figure 20: Cutting out my final toile.Figure 21: Drawing channel placement onto panels

Figure 22: Stitching in all the channels

After inserting all of my bones into the final corset toile I did the final fitting. Although the shape now looked slightly less dramatic, the corset was a lot more comfortable. The earlier version was painful to wear even long enough to take photos and check fit, but this time I wandered around the house in it and was as comfortable in it as I was out of it. I also wasn’t left with deep grooves in my skin where the bones had been sitting.

Figure 23Figure 24Figure 25

As you can see from figure 23 the waist is not quite as dramatic as it had been, but with time I think I will be able to make it slightly smaller, since I wasn’t yet able to close the back of the corset at the waist, as you can see from figure 25. I had meant during my fittings for the corset to end up with a 2” gap in the back, but after careful deliberation I have decided not to change this as I am making the corset in the next stage to be a bridal sample and I think the closed back will help the corset and my current skirt idea work better together. Any other time I would have gone back to my pattern and taken 1” off the centre back panel where I had previously added it, as this would then have given me my 2” gap.

Before I decided for certain that no more changes were required, I decided that I would have a second fitting on another day, just to see if I could close the waist.

Figure 26Figure 27Figure 28

Almost! It will be easier on my coutil version as the back panels on this toile are nothing more than calico and were starting to show strain. With this considered, I don’t think any more changes are needed now. I am also very pleased that, as you can also see from figure 26, closing that small gap has cinched the waist in to give back some of the dramatic silhouette that seemed lost in the previous fitting.

Now that I am happy with the fit, I can steam ahead with getting my coutil version all cut out. Read all about it in part 2!