Introduction

In part 1, I reintroduced this beautiful corset by studying an original in minute detail and trying to draw conclusions about the reasons for its unique design. In this article I shall attempt to remake the design using the pattern that I took and by reproducing, as best as I can, the same methods.

 

Starting blocks

Before beginning this project the one thing that was obvious was that I was on a losing streak where authenticity is concerned. Many of the fabrics or accessories that went into making up these period garments were specially made either to order or for a run of items. As such they are not now available, unless you are lucky enough to find something on the vintage market or you happen to come across something modern that closely resembles what you need.

At least 50% of this project falls into the ‘having to substitute’ category. As there is nothing I can do about this, I set about trying to find materials that would complement the garment style whilst performing the correct function and be as close as I could get to the original.

 

Materials and Metalwork

At first glance, the materials required for this make are quite simple but, as detailed above, due to the lack of period availability the substitutions made for quite a hefty materials list!

Whilst studying the original I took along some material shade cards. Whilst there are many things I have no access to I wanted to try and match the colour of the version I was looking at. This was probably a little bit of overkill given that the lighting was half artificial and the corset itself was dirty... 109 years will do that to you! However in the interests of trying to faithfully represent the original (well, one of them), I thought this would be of benefit to all.

 

Boning was the next issue. Obviously baleen is not available (no matter how hard you search), so flat steel it would have to be! Due to the fact that I couldn’t get at all the steels in the original, I had to approximate the widths and then find the nearest available modern equivalent. I settled on 4.5mm for the narrow, 7mm for the centre back and short bones, and 14mm for the wide bones at the sides.

 

The fabric was slightly easier. Cotton drill is still around after all this time and the natural colour fitted perfectly to the lovely yellow/cream leaf pattern coutil that I decided to use. As the original was made from patterned brocade with a delicate design, I wanted to try and replicate this. The leaf pattern coutil is a little lightweight but looks perfect!

 

It would have been lovely to have a custom busk made for this project as this is the biggest obstacle to recreating this corset, but this was not an option.  I was lucky to come across an 8” busk that fitted the bill and even though there are more hooks on the modern one the length is perfect. The hook spacing on the modern busk is not ideal for this front closure design as the top hook is quite low down in comparison to the original but I hoped this would not compromise the stability of the centre front. The width of the knob side is another matter, as it cannot be substituted, but given that this creation will be to illustrate how the pattern fits together and not to actually support a person’s abdomen, I think I can get away with this!

Twill tape is also readily available in a variety of widths and colours. Again, the natural shade is perfect for the colour scheme but I had trouble matching the widths available today with the measurements on the original Sanakor. Given the age of the garment, stretching/shrinkage, cleaning and wearing - all can serve to change the dimensions of a garment. After much buying I decided to work with the closest match I had. The weave of the modern twill tape is also a lot looser than the ones on the original, but since this is not made to be worn, I shouldn’t have to worry about bones busting through the interior.

Likewise with the binding. The original does not use traditional bias binding but a kind of ribbon. Simple? No. The total width of the binding ribbon on the Sanakor is 12mm but the nearest modern equivalent I could find was 15mm. Oh well, at least it will match the centre front closure ribbon as I am using the same colour and manufacturer.

 

Thankfully 4mm eyelets are available or I think I would have cried. Finding the suspender metalwork was half easy and half a nightmare. Fortunately the correct width of sliders and hooks are still around today. Silver seems to be the go-to colour of sliders but the colour of the hooks was a headache of epic proportions! White, black and nude. That’s what you get these days and none of them really fit the colour scheme. I toyed with the idea of putting a ribbon cover over the hooks to hide the colour but then chanced across some vintage cream hooks in the right width. Saved!

 

The last big impediment to this project was the suspender elastic. Ruffled cotton elastic was common in the Edwardian era but, sad to say, not so much now. There are similar items available in a variety of colours but not the correct width so my choices were to go with either the look but not the width or change materials and keep the dimensions correct. I decided to go with the dimensions as this will also affect the suspender metalwork. I settled on the good old fashioned self covered elastic. Sacrifices must be made I guess.

 

The pattern… Again!

One of the goals of these articles is to bring the pattern back to the world. In order to further this goal I needed to get the pattern ready for sharing, so I began by tracing my original onto 1” dot-and-cross paper. I toyed briefly with whether this would work and considered using plain paper again, however, one of the problems with electronic patterns is scaling up and having an accurate scale to work with. The dot-and-cross is perfect as it is its own scale.

Once the original was traced I then went over it with a black artist’s fibre pen - this gave it depth of shade to make it stand out from the paper scale. I must add that there were some minor adjustments made as copying a copy is inherently inaccurate, so re-measuring the seams to check they still matched up was a must.

Once this was done to my satisfaction I applied the labels and notations that were required to make sense of the lines on the page and then carted the whole thing to a local CAD specialist. They applied the magic with a supersize copier and produced a beautiful PDF of the pattern all ready to attach to this article! As a finishing touch I fired up the Photoshop and added a small amount of text to the pattern… just in case I forget what it’s for!

 

Creating anew

I will never cut a paper pattern if I can help it. Luckily the lovely people at the CAD place also furnished me with a couple of photocopies to play with (see above). After tracing off the pattern (yes, I really do this) I was almost ready to begin.

The first thing was to make a toile. This helped me to check that the pattern did indeed sit together as it appeared and also to have a play with putting it together. As a single layer all round, this is a very simple pattern to sew - it doesn’t have any odd bends or strange shaped panels that require finger Olympics to hold and sew. There were a couple of minor errors in the top edge of the toile. I had already measured the pattern pieces out and determined that they were correct, so I believe these errors were due to two factors. Firstly, I think there was some bias stretch on the calico when I was stitching together and, secondly, I have a feeling that my paper might have slipped slightly when I was tracing it off. Basic errors - but then that is one of the reasons why we make toiles people, right?

 

Okay, fabric time! All the panels in this corset require fashion fabric but only panels 1, 2 and 5 require drill. Fabric was measured, ¼" seam allowances added in the required places and then the fabric was cut. This coutil is beautiful and quite stiff, but it is also thin so I cut a re-enforcing panel for the knob side of the busk to give the awl holes some stability. As I can’t say whether the original had any such re enforcing I’m not too worried about the authenticity coming back to bite me.

 

For all of this designs relative simplicity, it became clear straight away that there would have to be a very specific order of construction. Where to start? Why, the beginning of course!

The centre fronts were a terrifying prospect!  Partly because all the stitching needs to be done in that specific order and secondly because of the precision the top-stitching requires. I still managed to get ahead of myself and mess up but hey ho, it’s a learning process!
 
The hook side was straight forward and done in the same way that hook sides are inserted the world over, so I won’t go into detail here. The only thing was to make sure that the panels still lined up at the far side. Due to the tiny seam allowance there was not much room for error.

 

The knob side has the extra panel in the front for the wide busk section so that was added in first to the outer edge of the panel. The drill lining is cut to the full width and so no extra panels need adding. Here is where I got all excited and didn’t top stitch the extra panel seam before inserting the busk. I did consider redoing the whole panel (as I was annoyed with myself) but then decided to chalk it up to a lesson in not rushing. I added the top-stitch afterwards and moved on.

 

Once the busk halves were inserted I folded in the top edges and top stitched (there is a lot of that) then started to look at the decorative stitching on the front panels. The only way I could think of to do this accurately was to draw it on and hope that the marks weren’t too visible. I marked the lines on the pattern tracing I had made and then transferred them to the panel with very light pencil marks, a ruler and a French curve.  A short time later and with some very shaky hands, the top stitching was done and looked good!

 

Back to front

Attaching panel 2 to panel 1 was another vaguely terrifying prospect having only a ¼" seam allowance to work with. Because of all the top stitching and folding under of seams there is only one way that this panel can be attached. I placed the right sides of both the coutil and the drill panels together with panel 1 in a sandwich and pinned to line them up. As panel 1 has a slight curve to the edge this was a bit tricky but not insurmountable. Using that terrifying ¼" seam, I stitched through the four layers so that when the parts of panel 2 are folded back, the seam is nicely enclosed. This then allows the seam allowance on the top edge to be folded under, pressed and the whole thing to be top-stitched down using my beautiful blind hem foot.

 

Once all that was achieved, the bone channels went in. Mark off the right widths and then top to bottom quick as you like - and done! I was sure I had missed something as nothing should be that easy, but no. All was well!

 

Panel 3 was a slightly different prospect. This is the single layer section of the corset and all the seams are enclosed under the twill tape channels. Attaching panel 2 to panel 3 was done in the usual way, though a bit tricky due to all the curves. A bit of slow stitching and fabric manipulation saw that right and then there was more pressing to get the seam to lie down ready for the channel. This pressing required judicious use of the pressing ham due to the extreme curve at the waist, but it wasn’t as hard as I had feared.

 

The twill channels have an underlining of cotton tape, I assume to give stability and strength to the channel and to prevent the bones going to places they are not wanted... like through the outside layer. I managed to find a lovely fine cotton tape that seemed to closely resemble the original. The downside? It was only available in one width. Ah well, a little imagination can fix anything and fortunately it was wide enough for all but the widest of the channels. Judicious use of pins and a fair amount of good luck (as well as my blind hem foot) resulted in a top-stitched seam with a twill and cotton tape channel attached to the underside, straight down the middle! As this is a double bone channel, I then stitched down the panel 2 side of this tape to create the casing for bone 8 (see pattern for reference).

 

Now things start to get tricky. I had to hold off stitching the other side of this channel down as this requires the placement of the horizontal channel and waist tape first. This would wait a little as the horizontal tape is one of the last things to go on in this section. Next, I lined up and stitched in the channel for bone 6. This was the first of the wide bones and an easy affair, top to bottom straight stitch having marked out the placement first. The case for bones 15 and 14 was not easy. Not in many ways.

To start with this is a wider tape than all the others meaning I had to stitch two widths of the cotton tape together to fit under it. Then there was the placement. It took me a couple of attempts but I finally managed to get the angle of the channel right-ish. I stitched it down hoped for the best.

 

Panel four was now added to the mix, pressed and prepared for its bone tape. Before this channel could be applied fully I needed to insert the start of the horizontal bone channel. This was a small nightmare in itself as this channel is hand-stitched over the top of some but needs to be placed under the edges of others... and a bone inserted at some point! First I created a tube of twill and cotton tape. This was partly to allow the bone to be slipped in when needed and also to give a stitching guide for the hand sewing. I marked the placement off and pinned the channel in place, then laid the seam channel over it. Again with the top-stitching and pinning to get the channel placed just right on the seam, and much love given to the blind hem foot for its beautiful accuracy! Ta da! Much trimming back and then the other edges of channel 5 were applied.

The rear panels were a doddle in comparison. After performing yet another wonderfully easy edge stitch it was a simple case of looking at the measurements I took from the original and stitching in the channels. The bone channels are ½" wide and the eyelet channel is 1cm wide. The drill panel is not the full width of panel 5 and is only there to provide strength and support for the bones and eyelets. The inside straight stitch I did from the inside, as I didn’t want to miss the edge of the drill - not ideal, but that was the call I made. In a ridiculous fit of idiocy I completely forgot to insert the waist stay under the centre back drill panel. A short amount of unpicking and re-stitching sorted this out but I do now have small locking stitches on the outside of the centre back panels. Again, not ideal but the less said, the better.

 

Apply panel 5 to panel 4, rinse and repeat with the double bone channel (being careful not to catch the waist tape by accident) and I was almost there! Now for the fiddly bits. Before I could finish channel 8/7 I had to get some bones in. To give stability I stuck the bones into channels 14, 15 and 6 and then inserted bone 16 into its cotton tube. I was then able to put the waist tape into its correct place and stitch down the remaining side of channel 7/8! A quick hand-stitch through both sides of channel 16, only catching the tops of the bone channels that it runs over, and that was that.

 

The last impediment to the top binding was now bones 14 and 15. These were already in their channels after the placement of bone 16 and so I simply left them in place and secured the tops with a small running stitch as per the original.

 

Such a bind!

As I stated earlier, the binding on the original seems to be ribbon of some kind. Whilst not a shiny satin, it isn’t quite a matt cotton either... a sort of matt satin?! Anyway, the best I could approximate was a satin ribbon and I knew from the start that this would be no picnic to apply. To start with the curves on the corset edges would be awful for anything not cut on the bias to say nothing of the slippery nature of satin ribbon. I did the best I could. The top binding runs from the centre back to just after the bone 7/8 channel and is machine stitched straight down. Yes, well, this did occur with mine but not anywhere near as neatly as I would have liked.

 

Fortunately the bottom binding couldn’t go on till all the bones were in so I was spared having to turn the air blue again for a while.  Time for steels! I cut, filed and tipped everything in sight and then inserted everything into the relevant places to check the fit. The widths were fine but some were a little long, possibly inaccuracies in measuring the original, or in my cutting and stitching - but whatever, I needed to trim and re-tip. Twenty-four hours later they were ready. I used pins to hold the bones in the right places within the channels, and did the holding stitches at the tops of all bones and the bottoms of the wide steels as per the original.

 

To give myself a break from bones and channels (I was starting to dream about them by now), I put on the centre front ribbons. I did deviate slightly from the original here in that I stitched on the machine. I did try to do it by hand but it looked a mess and wasn’t holding right, so I amended it. Since you can’t see this from the outside I shall not mention it again in the hope that no one will notice...

 

I also measured, practised and cut the mohair panel for the inside of the centre front wide section. This material is lovely! It is Japanese silk mohair, cost a small fortune for a fat quarter but is utterly perfect for the task. I was worried about how easily it would fold and stitch but I needn’t have bothered. It sewed like a dream and also ironed without a hitch so I was able to make the folds crisp prior to stitching. As this is the last thing to go on I set it aside for now.

 

Flossing is good for your teeth...

...but really not good for my fingers! I’m not the world’s greatest hand-stitcher but this was a trial by fire! I had initially planned to floss using DMC stranded cotton and had found the perfect shade, however, when I practised the flossing I realised my mistake. The single strand was not thick enough to give the effect that the original has and using more strands just resulted in a messy floss with none of the clarity of the original.

 

As neither button hole or top-stitch thread were thick enough either, I eventually had to use a pearl cotton thread for embroidery. This was actually slightly too think but it was better than the alternatives and so it had to do. The thickness created another problem though, that of threading it onto a needle. I eventually had to get some of the easy to thread needle with the v shaped top so I could just pop the cotton into the eye as there was no way this was going through the regular eye of any needle that would be thin enough to floss with.

The other issue was that of pulling said thread through the material. Coutil is dense and coupled with drill and twill and all the other things that went in to making this... well, let’s just say that my fingers don’t like me any more. End result - I managed to get it done in the same way as the original but not nearly as neatly.

 

Finale! (and suspenders)

Into the home straight and it was time to put on the trim. On the original this was all hand stitched and so this was what I did too. At least it was easier than the flossing and I gritted my teeth and got it done. I tacked the lace to the top edge first and then covered the raw edge with the ribbon insert lace. On the original this was held on with only one stitch but I felt that running a stitch down both sides of the insert lace would give a better finish and so that is what I did. Incidentally the ribbon insert lace is actual vintage lace that I got from our lovely patron Cathy Hay! Yes it was perfect, Cathy!

 

Part two of the horrendous ribbon binding ensued and I hated it just as much as the first time round, but at least I knew what to expect. I was also rushing at this point, as I needed to get everything finished in time to take it to the Symington Collections Resource Centre (and the lovely Sarah) and photograph it alongside the original!

I have never made suspenders before. I know the theory and understand the finer points but had yet to make some. Initially I was going to cover the elastic in the same colour ribbon as was on the rest of the corset, but it soon became clear that the seams would be far too thick for this to work properly and so I had to adjust my thinking. In a fabulous flurry of next-day deliveries, I managed to find some satin bias of the right width and (what I hoped was) the right colour. 11” of inch-wide elastic and 40” of satin bias later (x4) and I had my suspenders made! Phew! Attaching them to the bottom was a doddle and then that was that.

 

I then hand-stitched the mohair panel in place behind the centre front, punched and set the 4mm eyelets, and cut and tipped the lace - and all was done bar the shouting! Myself and my (re)creation then tromped down to see Sarah and to meet the ancestors along with my Edwardian-style mannequin.

It is worth noting that until this moment I hadn’t seen the recreated Sanakor on the mannequin as I literally finished sewing, dived in the shower and set off to Leicester to see Sarah. There was a certain amount of controlled terror as I laced up the corset for the first time. Then this happened.....

 

Conclusions and Mojito

This project has been about bringing this amazing example of Edwardian ingenuity and design out of obscurity and back to the world of corsetry, but given the lack of reference materials there are only so many factual statements I can make. As to the popularity and effectiveness of this design, I cannot comment but I can say for sure that it was amazing fun to recreate and I would love to see how it fits on an actual person.

 

At the same time as being a really simple pattern to put together, the garment is made complex by the order that everything has to be done in. I didn’t have any time to really practice this before having to get on and make the full garment, and no time or spare materials to redo anything, so a lot of the order was discovered whilst working on it. With this in mind, and the fact that I would construct this very differently if I were simply making it today, I’m really pleased with the result.

Most of the errors I have made were caused by lack of concentration or rushing; the old enemies of any sewing project. I kept having to remind myself to slow down and not get cocky when I had a success, and also not to lose heart when I encountered a challenge, and I think the shift in attitude really helped. Obviously there is a lot wrong and I would never let something of this lack of quality go to a customer, but for a first pass I’m quite stunned with the result! And there was Mojito…

 

Notes on materials / technique

• The bias I used on the suspenders was okay but I made the mistake of trimming the seams back and this caused it to start fraying around the stitches. Lesson learned.
• I hate hand-sewing. This was probably a given, or I’m doing it wrong, but it’s something I need to work at as the effects are lovely when it is finished. The twill tape is far too loose a weave and would not do for a working corset so I would not use it again in this way.
• As you will no doubt spot, it is worth noting at this point that I hadn’t actually finished the insertion ribbon trim attachment when I took it to be photographed at Symington’s. I ran out of time but figured that it worked anyway and I could finish it off afterwards.
• You will also notice that this is a mix of metric and imperial measurements. This is partly due to having to work with both on this project and also an attempt to give the most accurate measurements possible.

And just in case you are wondering how it compares to the original, here they are in the same pose for your comparison!

 

Anyway just before I leave, here as promised is that all important pattern and a set of instructions to go with it just in case you feel like trying this out for yourself and please do contact me if you have any questions. Enjoy!

Sanakor Pattern and Instructions (PDF)

 

Next time

In the third instalment I shall look at adapting this pattern for a more modern fit, with less emphasis on authenticity and more on look and wear-ability. Easy? Not necessarily! Go on to Part 3

 

 

 

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