The corset I am sharing with you and will eventually be recreating is a transitional era piece, with features typical of corsetry from this era. The first part of this series will examine the original corset I am working from. I will begin by sharing with you my thoughts on the age of the corset, and the features that I feel dictate this. I will detail how I took a pattern from the corset as this posed more of a challenge than I initially expected. Lastly I will take a more objective look at the corset, focussing in particular on the construction methods, features of the pattern and materials used to help decide on how I will make my own replica.

My first step is to introduce those of you who are less familiar with historical corsetry with the term “transitional”. The term is used to describe corsetry from between about 1903-1909, which lies aesthetically between the ultra curvy corsetry of the late Victorian/ early Edwardian eras, and the long girdle like corsetry of the Titanic era. Transitional era corsets combine features of both of these, to varying degrees as the fashionable silhouette changed from curvy and pigeon busted to boyish and straight.

Along with the silhouette changing, seam lines vary greatly in corsetry from this era. As the evolution from late Victorian/Edwardian to Titanic Era progressed, the swooping seam lines typical in Edwardian corsetry gave way to vertical seam lines towards the 1910s. Based on this I gingerly laced my corset onto a mannequin to give an idea of silhouette, and to show the seam lines and silhouette clearly.

 

The corset has the elegant and almost diagonal seam lines of Edwardian corsetry, along with graceful curves, but it also comes down low over the hips like later corsetry. It is definitely from after 1901 due to the garters (suspenders) at the centre front as this is a feature exclusively used after 1901. It is also made by C B A La Sprite who were in existence from around 1890 until around 1930. This confirms my suspicions about a rough date, but is it possible to narrow it down any further using the techniques outlined above?

When dating antique clothing there are a number of resources which can be utilized. For this piece I used a combination of techniques to narrow the likely age of the piece down further:

• Prior knowledge - I knew it was likely a transitional era corset from having a decent familiarity with historical corsetry.
• Books - A History of Underclothes, Waisted Efforts, Corsets, Corsets and Crinolines and The Edwardian Modiste. These gave various images and line drawings of corsets from different eras to compare with my own corset.
• The internet  - in particular Corsets and Crinolines, Foundations Revealed, Wikimedia Commons and Google Images. This allowed me to look at a plethora of images when I had started to narrow the dates down further, which confirmed my idea about dates.

Having gone through the resources above I have decided on a somewhat tentative date for this corset of 1906-1909. If I had to give an exact year I would choose 1909.

The following examples of antique corsetry all date from 1909 and exhibit features present in my corset – they are longline, but still reach the midbust. Some of them show bones which extend to several inches above the bottom of the corset the way the bones are in my own corset, and they are somewhat similar stylistically in that they have swooping seam lines in some cases.

 

There were a number of other resources which pointed to the corset being from around this era.
 
Dating the corset allows me to source images or museum examples of corsetry from this era which will enable me to consider alternative materials or construction techniques which are still period correct if there is anything I dislike in the original when I come to plan my version of the corset.

But before I decide on anything in terms of construction or materials, I need a pattern to work with. And this is where I face my first problem.

I purchased this corset from an online auction site. It was £10 ($16) and it looked a bit of a state in the images. It was listed as a 1950s girdle. It was purchased from someone living in the USA, but all they said is that it had been in their attic for years. This means that I unfortunately do not have a great deal of information about the type of person who wore this.

When I first bought the corset I knew it was definitely older than the seller had guessed, but I had thought it may perhaps be a corset from the Titanic era. I was absolutely delighted when the corset arrived and had such delicious swooping seam lines. However, the seam lines, although beautiful, were more than a little problematic for me – they aren’t quite diagonal, but they certainly aren’t vertical either, and this meant that it was going to be quite complicated to take a pattern from. This meant that I was slightly petrified about the prospect of attempting a study of this piece. Surely something so complicated would forever be beyond my capabilities?

Eventually I decided I had nothing to lose by attempting to remake this piece, and it seemed a real shame to have spent countless hours looking at every inch of the piece, only for it to lie in a drawer. It was time to take a pattern so that I could remake the corset, whether I liked it or not!

Never one to overthink things, I dove in using the same technique I use for taking patterns from Victorian or contemporary corsetry. The method I  generally use is the one outlined by Jill Salen in her article for Foundations Revealed. And for the centre front and back panels, it worked no problem.

 

However, for the four panels which did not have a straight edge and points such as eyelets to use as references, I found it very difficult to try and take the pattern this way. In fact at this stage I very nearly gave up on this project, conceding that it was beyond my skill set.

Luckily, I had a cup of tea and took a ten minute break rather than throwing in the towel. I realized that the waist tape of this corset is fairly visible from the outside. This meant that I was not left without any anchor/ point of reference to work with, and although the method I usually used was not going to be feasible, I would be able to use the waist tape as a point of reference to take the pattern a different way.

As the corset is sturdy I was able to lace it on to the mannequin. For the remaining four panels I took the pattern by pinning tracing paper over the panels, tracing the seam lines off, and marking the waist tape so that I could draw this in as a balance point and to locate the grain of the fabric.

It was a rather cavalier approach, and I would not be able to take patterns from a corset which was not my own property this way, but for the purposes of this project that doesn’t matter – I was left with a pattern for my corset, and the original corset is undamaged.

 

After I had traced the panels off the corset, I cut them out and drew them out on a sheet of gridded paper. I used this because it is a good way of ensuring the grainline is clearly and accurately indicated, and it meant it would be easier for me to mark up and to digitize in a way that I could share it.

I neatened the panels up and made sure I marked the grainline (though this is indicated by the lines of the grid), waist tape (including the true waist as the waist tape is an inch wide) and any other notable points, such as the points where the suspenders/garters attach.

The result was a pattern which is nett of seam (a pattern with no seam allowance), and looks a little bit intimidating to someone who finds corsetry with non-vertical seams to be their biggest weakness. BUT it looked like other patterns from this era, and so I knew that I had most likely been successful in my endeavour to create the pattern, and when I measured the bust, waist, and hips I knew that I had somehow managed to take a successful pattern first time, which I was really very proud of.

 

Now that I have a pattern, and an idea of when the corset is from, my next task is going to be taking a very in depth look at how the corset is constructed, and deciding on how I will construct my replica and which materials I am going to use to do so.

I would like to create a corset which has an antique feel, but with some modern features. To do this I will analyse which features of the original corset need to be emulated and retained in order for my replica to feel and look antique, and which elements can be manipulated so my recreation of the pattern becomes my own take on the style.

To decide what size of seam allowance to add I needed to know how I was going to construct the corset, and so I turned to the original and put my detective hat on, examining exactly how this piece was constructed.

The basic specifications of the corset are as follows:

• 1900s era “transitional” corset.
• Made by the company CB A La Sprite.
• 4 suspenders. (2 per side)
• 12 panels. (6 panels per side)
• Straight (not conical as can be seen in corsetry in the 1910s) split busk at centre front.
• 26 bones – all flat steel. Three different widths. (13 bones per side)
• 1 layer cotton. Not herringbone weave. (perhaps an indication that the corset was cheap?)
• Coutil facings CF and CB.
• Coutil casings for bones. 
• One piece eyelets. (another indication that the corset was cheap?)

As I mentioned previously, the corset is made by the company CB A La Sprite. I know this as it has a stamp along one of the boning channels, and also its original label. The stamp is quite faded so I have used the end of a pair of tweezers to point it out on the image.

The label states “T 23”.T I believe stands for ‘taille’ (French for waist) and is the waist size of 23”. It also states “No 197” which I believe is the style number. I tried to find an advert which matched up with this, but I have so far drawn a blank.

 

I have not been able to find out too much about CB A La Sprite as a company, but the adverts I have found of their corsets date from the 1890s to the 1930s.

 

I initially though this particular corset may have been fairly low budget, though I am now not entirely sure. The reasons I thought this corset is quite a low budget one are:

• It is definitely mass produced (evidenced by the label with the style number and size.)
• The fact it only uses coutil as a facing at the centre front and back and for the boning channels.
• The main fabric is lightweight (It is a really basic cotton.)
• The corset has one piece eyelets rather than two piece (eyelet and washer.)

I will discuss the reasons I am not entirely convinced this piece is as low budget as I first thought in my conclusion.

 

The corset seems to be very no frills in terms of its construction, in some ways. The busk is inserted using the method with a facing, but rather than being slotted between gaps left in the two layers, as is generally the case today, the facing has been sewn all the way down and then the gaps for the busk have been cut.

 

The fabric around the studs is fraying which indicates it was probably not inserted with an awl, but that the holes were cut with scissors or a knife. At the studs we can see that there looks to be a layer of hessian or something similar covered by the exterior cotton and the coutil of the facing.

 

The eyelets are small – 4mm in diameter – and they appear to be one piece eyelets.

 

The corset has a waist tape and this is visible externally. The waist tape is an inch wide. It is caught in place by the boning channels internally.

 

The busk is stamped “CB” on each hook. It ends 3” before the bottom of the corset. There are the remnants of a silk bow at the top of the hook side.

 

There are two suspenders/garters per side. They are 1.5” wide and have a metal slider with a simple pattern stamped onto it and matching metal grips.

 

The bones are all flat steel. They extend to 3” above the bottom of the corset, in the same way the busk does, and the corset would have been prevented from riding up by the suspenders. However, wrinkling of the fabric beneath the bottom of the bones indicates that this part of the corset probably bunched up during wear. The bones have bent a little, below the waist. I don’t think they were pre-shaped, I think they have bent due to heavy wear, shaping to the wearer a little as flat steels do today.

 

Most of the boning channels have two narrow (6mm) bones, but there is one 15mm bone at the side, and this has started to wear through the binding at the top.

 

The binding at the bottom edge is plain, and slightly narrower than that at the top edge. The binding at the top edge has the remnants of a pattern woven into it at the back edges.

 

The corset has what may be a little of the original lace left in – this is a fine woven lace.

 

The seams of the corset are all flat felled, This produces a neat finish internally and externally, and is a great way of producing single layer corsets which do not have vertical seams, thus allowing for the boning channels to be sewn in place without having to also tape the seams.

 

After studying the corset I decided that I would gain more from making this corset the way it was originally than by making it up using my own construction techniques. I feel that by producing the corset using similar materials and seams it will retain the antique feel, and that there are other things I can do to make this piece feel more like my own work.

Next time I am going to go through how I constructed my replica, discussing my choice of materials, and a step by step guide showing how the corset was constructed, and things I found tricky about its construction. After this I will discuss how successful I feel I was in creating a piece with an antique feel but with a modern twist, as well as any changes I would make if I were to make this piece again.

 

 

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