1881 T. S. Gilbert Patent Corset, US249335 Pt 1

I saw this wonderfully quirky patent ‘advertised’ on the Foundations Revealed Facebook page and immediately fell in love. I like a challenge and find recreating patents to be a great way to expand my corsetry repertoire by picking up new methods of patterning and construction.

Patent Summary

This patent - US 249335 - was filed by Thomas S Gilbert in May 1881, granted in November 1881 and assigned to the Bassett Corset Company of Birmingham, Connecticut. The main aim of the patent is to show how ‘thin or open-wove’ material can be used to make portions of a corset without failing under strain. It achieves this by using a ‘zone-like stay at the waistline of the corset’ that extends from the bust around to the centre back.

An additional feature of the patent is the cut of pattern pieces around the bust to give the ‘best possible shape with greatest comfort’. It is a big claim that I am looking forward to testing.

My approach

From reading patent articles on Foundations Revealed, along with my own experience, it is clear that patents are not patterns. The sketches that accompany the patent clearly show the pattern pieces that make up the corset. However, the proportions and dimensions are not necessarily accurate and some clear discrepancies can be seen in this patent when the pattern is pieced together in the next section.

This is not surprising given that a maker would not want to publically share accurate patterns with competitors. The purpose of the illustrations is just that, to illustrate that a patent is unique and therefore valid.

It does make things much more interesting for those of us who 130 years later are hoping to recreate a wonderful and unusual corset.

My plan is to first analyse the pattern so I understand the components and how they fit together using the pattern pieces illustrated in Figure 2. This will highlight any discrepancies between the individual pieces and how they are illustrated as a complete corset in Figure 1 and also allow me to get to know the pattern.

Figure 2 from the patent shows the individual pattern pieces.

I will use this analysis to then flat draft the pattern and make up a calico toile to check basic fit and that the proportions of the pattern pieces are balanced and true to the original illustration. Any adjustments can then be made to the pattern before it is made up in coutil for the second toile.

Analysis of the pattern

The pattern pieces shown in Figure 2 have been enlarged by 400% using a basic photocopier. Mirror copies of bust pieces b and d have been made as only one side of the bust section is illustrated. The mesh pieces are shown as shaded.

Main body (pieces A+B+D+E)

Figures 3 and 4 show how the main body and bust pieces fit together.

These pieces form the main body of the corset. Figure 1 shows that a lacing panel will need to be added to the back seam of piece D in the same fabric type as piece A which forms the centre front and will hold the busk.

The main body pattern pieces taped together.

The pieces fit together easily and the main things I will consider when drafting are;

Piece E may need to be slightly longer to extend around the hip along the side seam. I may also draft this piece considerably thinner; close examination of Figure 1 shows piece E as the same width as the boning channels (labelled L).
The spaces left for the hip panels are uneven either side of piece E, the rear curve begins lower than at the front. This difference is also visible in Figure 4, albeit less obvious than in the taped pattern. I will keep a subtle difference in the draft to see how it fits.

Bust (b+C +d)

The bust pieces taped together, they do not want to be friends!

These pieces form the bust shaping and they do not want to be taped together! Piece C actually fits nicely into the gap left in the front between pieces A and B leaving two gussets to be fitted with pieces b and d. There is distinct asymmetry to the point at the top of piece C, I am unsure as to whether this is a definite design feature or just a product of squeezing it on the illustration (Figure 2). This asymmetry is not visible in Figure 3 which shows how the bust pieces are assembled together.

The main things I will consider when drafting are;

Piece C may need to extend further up over the breast.
Use piece C as a divider between two gussets, draft the d pieces to fit around the curve of the breast and drape the b pieces to fit last.

Hips (F+F)

The hip pieces taped to the main body of the corset.

The hip panels fit nicely into the spaces left between pieces B, E and D. The main thing I will consider when drafting is;

True up the seams of the hip panels to ensure they extend to and not beyond the lower edge of the corset.

Waist overlay (G+H)

The waist overlay relative to the corset is too big.

Pieces G and H are clearly too big to fit over the taped pattern and are wider along the waist than shown in Figure 1. The patent text mentions the option of using piece H to extend to the centre back to form the lacing panels.

I plan to drape this section once the coutil toile is fitted as it’s functionality and form depend on the size and shape of the corset underneath. I will explore the option to use one continuous piece rather than a two-part overlay, as I would rather avoid a bulky seam at the waist.

Drafting the pattern

I will be making this pattern to my measurements as it’s the easiest way for me to check the fit. I will draft the pattern to my actual hip and bust measurements with compression at the waist only, typically a 10cm/4” reduction. I will also add some ease around the back top edge to reduce bulging.

I use dot and cross paper to draft patterns and start by marking out the centre front (CF) and centre back (CB) lines. I then add horizontal lines for the bust, underbust, waist, high hip and low hip based on my measurements. I also add a marker for the lap measurement as I plan to be able to sit in the final corset. Finally, I add another vertical line to mark the side seam.

Dot and cross paper marked out with a framework ready to begin drafting.

Flat drafting an unusual pattern like this can be daunting. My best advice is to just go for it. Confidently draft the things you know, tentatively draft those you are unsure of and have a good guess at those elements that are a mystery. I find it’s best to just get it drafted, cut a toile and work from there. What’s the worst that can happen?

Main body (pieces A+B+C+E)

I first draft what I call ‘anchor’ pieces; I know where I need them to be and can judge the proportions needed based on the patent illustrations.

Piece A is at the centre front and holds the busk. It is roughly three times wider than the busk and extends from the lap to just beyond the bust line.

Pattern piece A.

The lacing panel is not included in the patent, so I drafted a piece a similar width to piece A to keep the corset balanced and also allow me to draft the two large ‘thin or open-wove’ panels B and D in proportion with each other.

Piece E is the final anchor to this pattern and should sit along the side seam. I plan to use boning channels (pieces L) of approximately 2cm width. However, 2cm looks too dainty for this piece when scaled up to my measurements so I make it 3cm wide.

Pattern pieces E, B and D

Pieces B and D are the large ‘thin or open-wove’ panels and were tricky to draft. I calculated their required widths by subtracting the measurements of the anchor pieces from the total for the half corset along each of the horizontal lines (bust, underbust, waist, etc.). I then eyeballed drawing them as close to the illustration as possible whilst matching broadly the required size.

Bust (b+C+d)

Piece C fits between front pieces A and B to form two gussets for the small bust pieces b and d. I drafted it to fit in the space per the illustrations, made it 3cm wide to match piece E and long enough to cover over the curve of the breast.

Pattern pieces C and d.

Piece d forms the top of the bust support. I drafted it to fit around half of the volume of the breast and made it 3cm wide at the widest point again to give some visual consistency with other pattern pieces.

The final piece that completes the bust section is piece b which I plan to drape at the toile stage. It is likely there will be some asymmetry to this piece either side of the breast.

Hips (F+F)

Hip panel pieces are typically a rounded triangular shape as shown in the patent illustrations. I find them incredibly tricky to draft accurately so have drafted two basic hip pieces with generous sizing to allow more accurate fitting at toile stage.

One of the hip panel pieces (F).

Waist overlay (G+H)

I will drape this section once I am happy with the corset fit.

Calico Toile

Construction

I first transfer the pattern onto baking paper by tracing in pencil, taking care to mark the fabric grain and the waist.

Tracing the pattern.

This toile is made in medium weight calico and allows me to check the basic fit of the pattern. The pattern is cut with generous seam allowances to allow fit adjustments to be made easily. I will be looking for a neat fit around the top and bottom edges with no bulging in the back or pinching around the hips.

I find this to be a useful stage when flat drafting any new pattern as it helps to eliminate any major issues before time and expense is taken with a coutil toile. It also gives me the opportunity to check the proportions of the pattern; are the pattern pieces balanced with none too clunky or so small they lose their visual impact? This is an unusual pattern that will use fine mesh in combination with coutil so it’s essential that all the elements that make the pattern unique are clearly visible.

I will drape stay pieces G and H on the coutil toile as there is too much stretch in the calico and the pattern will firm up once constructed in coutil for the second toile.

Fitting

The first fit of this calico toile was relatively successful. There are some obvious adjustments to be made which I will cover below along with the fitting of the bust section. However, the general appearance is similar to the patent and I am happy with the proportions.

The front of the calico toile showing the bust is much too large.

The side view of the calico toile. The back view of the calico toile.

As you can see from the pictures the corset is much too large around the bustline and it gapes under the arm. I will take the volume out from the side seams of panels B and D.

I fitted the bust section predominantly by draping on my body. Piece C was already attached to the corset leaving two gussets to be filled with pieces d and b. I attached the d pieces first to fit around the top of the breast whilst also holding piece C smooth and taut. This provided a framework for the b pieces to be fitted by pinning fabric to fit the gaps.

The adjusted bust section with the b pieces draped and pinned. The bust pieces marked and ready for the next stage.

Coutil Toile

I marked the adjustments made above on the calico toile and then used one half of it as my pattern for the coutil toile.

The front of the coutil toile.

The side of the coutil toile. The back of the coutil toile.

The main issues I need to address are wrinkling around the waist down to the front hip, the position of piece E and the fit of the hip panels.

Wrinkling along the front hip

There is a deep wrinkle running from the waist down to the lower hip in piece B. I think that much of it will go when the corset is boned. However, this panel will be in the ‘thin or fine-wove’ fabric which will be far less forgiving than coutil so I will try to address some of it with patterning.

I have used one of Jenni Hampshire’s techniques she discussed in her article on hip wrinkles and added a crescent of fabric to the section of panel B that curves around the hip panel.

Adding a crescent of fabric along the hip.

The right side of the corset showing how this has helped to reduce the wrinkling along the hip.

I then added some external boning channels with 7mm spiral steels before working on the rest of the fit.

Position of piece E

Piece E forms essentially the side seam of the corset. The curves I have drafted into pieces B and D to reduce the waist are uneven which has forced piece E to skew between them.

This is one of those annoying things that seems obvious to me with the benefit of hindsight and I am determined to correct it. I first repositioned piece E so that it sat vertically and that most of the skew was eliminated. Unfortunately this also eliminated most of the cinch at the waist and resulted in a rather straight silhouette. I added some of that cinch back by making mirrored adjustments to the side seams of B and D to keep piece E as straight as possible.

Straightening pattern piece E lost some of the cinch.

Added some cinch back by making mirrored adjustments to pattern pieces B and D along the side seam.

Hip panels

The front hip panel fitted quite nicely but there was too much volume in the back. I simply unpicked panel E and repositioned it along the rear hip panel to achieve a more snug fit.

To finish the coutil toile fitting I marked the top and bottom edges ready for the final corset.

Waist stay overlay

Now I am happy with the overall fit of the toile I will work on the final piece of the puzzle; namely pieces G and H which form an external waist stay and should stop the ‘fine or open-wove’ fabric panels from being damaged under strain.

I would like to draft this as a single pattern piece rather than the two shown in the patent. My main reason is that I don’t have the most hourglass figure and also don’t reduce my waist massively so adding bulk at the waist side seam would distract from any cinch I’ve actually managed to achieve.

Initially I draw the outline of the overlay onto one side of the toile. I then start at the front of panel B and draw this seamline on some dressmaking ‘paper’. It’s the drapey soft stuff rather than dot and cross paper. I then pin this along the front of panel B and then around the style lines I have drawn right around to the centre back. I can then trace the outline of the overlay onto the pattern paper.

The waist overlay drawn on the toile then traced onto pattern paper.