In the last year, Foundations Revealed has featured several articles on corsets made using period patents as reference and inspiration. When the chance to write my own article for a 1912-13 corset came up, I jumped at it.  While I have six years of general corset making experience, small town Alberta, Canada isn't a place with any demand for beautiful bespoke corsetry. I make them primarily because I love it. The chance to try a pattern with seamlines I've never used before is a great opportunity to learn and apply new techniques.

A Little History

From West Brookfield, Worcester County, Massachusetts, Chauncey L. Olmstead submitted multiple corset related patents from 1875-1939. Though information is sparse, it seems his focus was on innovative construction that provided maximum comfort while maintaining the appropriate shape for the time. I have found no evidence that his patents were ever put into production, but the general designs are logical and seemed to make sense. The best way to see just how practical this particular patent was, is to make it, so here goes!

I have never worked with a corset patent before. My closest experience was with a scaled corset from Jill Salen's "Corsets" book, in which everything is meant to come together properly. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it never hurts to try. I must admit to having some bad habits that have limited the quality of my finished products, but hopefully I can use what I've learned in the past few months on FR to see more beautiful results, and help newcomers avoid some of the bad habits that have held me back.

My first instinct is to make something in my size, as I've always done. I have no one else willing to model for me and have yet to "pad out" my dress form to a more human size. It's never helped either that my store bought dress form is the same size as I am to begin with...

Trick #1 for challenging yourself: make something that's different from what you usually do, be it in shape, seam line, or size. After my first attempt at adjusting the corset to fit me exactly, I decided it might suit this article better if I made it exactly as it was intended.

This is what I had to work from, the diagram from Olmstead's US Patent # 1051626   As is common with patents, there are no original sizing guidelines, and often there are pattern pieces missing. This pattern was mostly complete, missing only the vertical pieces from front and back that hold the busk and back lacing.

Scaling the Pattern Up

Once I had made sure I knew what pieces I needed to add, this project began like many others with the need to upscale the original pattern and then test for any flaws. See Sandra Stuart's Corset Pattern Scaling for a computer based method.

I have yet to get the hang of using the computer to upscale, so I simply drew a grid on the scale pattern and, after deciding how much larger I wanted the pattern to be using the waist measurement as my starting point, began filling in the larger grid to match the smaller one.

As the pattern printed out it had a 4" waist. Mine is naturally 27" so I divided my waist by the pattern's waist to get my scale ratio.

Desired waist/pattern waist = Scale ratio

27"/4"=Scale Ratio of 6.75

When it came to laying out the pieces there were no marked grainlines, but logically everything would be on the strongest vertical grain. When I went back and read the attached Patent Letter I found that the intention was to reduce the amount of fabric used, which leads me to believe that the waist piece may have been cut on the same grain as the other pieces. All that was left was the lower center back piece. I wondered if it would be better to cut it on the stiff straight of grain or on a slight bias so it had a bit of give; standing for hours on end isn't always very feasible. More about the layout later on, in round 2...

 

The Toile

My "toile" was made out of some lovely navy blue twill- it was all I had on hand that was sturdy enough for a first go round.

The busk was still on its way in the mail, and my eyelet tape had disintegrated the first time I used it so the toile was more just a general idea of the shape- I had yet to really see how it functioned and re-arranged a human form, but so far as I could tell from a non-squishable dressform, the lines seemed right, and it went together logically enough- my main purpose for this bit was really just to make sure the seams from the top and bottom pieces lined up properly so they weren't a pain when it came time to put in the boning chanels. This should have been the point where I realized that the corset should either be double boned so the seams can lay open, or that they needed to be significantly narrower to accommodate a single boning channel over the top... 

 

Corset #1

I wanted to use a lovely beige floral tablecloth that I'd found, but knew that it didn't have the strength needed for a corset. The only option I had on hand was a rose-pink satin finish cotton. I decided to use it as an underlining, a poor choice now that the corset is finished, but you live and learn, right?

 

I cut out the pieces from both fabrics once, laid them together and then treated them as one piece. The horizontal waist piece was cut out twice from each fabric as it acts as a waist stay on the inside- more on that later. I cut out the front and back busk and lacing pieces from the beige floral only, and then backed them with a woven interfacing. I cut the bone casings out of the pink cotton- bad idea number 2.

 

The suspender tabs and top and bottom edging were cut from the beige cotton only. I was able to find a perfect set of garter clips- but alas no stockings long enough for some lovely garters... on this note I also did some research trying to figure out a feasible design for the garter clips and saw both elasticized and adjustable versions. My final decision was just to make a loop for them to attach to, which gave options for down the road so I could still go either way.

During photos I was able to wear the corset for a little while. I tested my ability to sit, bend, reach, and so on... and my only note was that center front was a little long for me. When I sat, the CF boning, which extends beyond the busk, bent beyond the point where it would return to its normal shape.   

In hindsight I should have shortened the front bones on either side of the busk, or just shortened the front of the corset altogether- a complete mock-up would have alerted me to that issue. I'm 5'10 (175 cm) tall and thin to begin with, so the fact that this corset was too long even for me was a bit surprising. - factor in that women 100 years ago were on average shorter than we are now, and you end up with a corset that doesn't quite measure up.

Results for Corset #1

This first set is on a human form (me)- as you can see in the back it is definitely a few inches too large- couldn't seem to find someone the right size to model for me, but what you can see is the posture and curve it gives.

 

On various bustforms: my size 6 solid foam, and my newly created "squishable" form. There is a huge difference in the shape and it serves to prove that nothing quite beats the original purpose of a corset on a human form. 

 

Attempt #2

For my second iteration of this corset, I dug out some coutil-like cotton I found in a bargain bin, and lined it with some leftover bridal satin.

As noted earlier, I realized something interesting about the layout that I hadn't noticed the first time I'd made this corset. In the distant past, fabric was somewhat narrower than the fabric we are able to purchase now. I took this into consideration and developed a new layout that made a bit more sense when considering that C.L. Olmstead had a more efficient use of fabric in mind. It runs across the horizontal grain of a narrower width of fabric , rather than using a short-ish chunk of a wider fabric. Now my marked grainlines were all wrong, but I suppose C.L. is the only person that could really tell us how he meant for things to be in the first place. 

I re-cut the corset without any extra seam allowance, knowing that the adjustment would be just enough to make the corset fit me nicely.

I shortened the bottom edge by about 2" (5cm), which I knew would make a significant difference in my ability to sit and bend. With another busk in the mail and a boning shortage I could only make so much progress, but already the results were better than last time.

I had really struggled with the placement of the boning casings on the seams last time. I could not get the pink fabric to hold a crease; it was too "thick"' a material and it frayed to no end. This time I knew I wanted my channels to be neater, so I made sure to use a lighter material. I selected the same bridal satin as the underlining, and rather than just pressing them into bias tape that could roll and wiggle as I stitched it on, I used my lovely new hemming foot and "pre-stitched" my tape. After a few tests on how to get the straightest edge, I found that by holding my fingernail against the edge of the foot, the fabric went through straight as a pin. I kept my front finger out of the way while sewing and used my right hand to make sure that there was an ample amount of fabric being curled under as it stitched.  Had I taken the time to hand baste the channels down they would have been perfect, but as it stands they turned out far better than the last go round.

 

When my busk finally arrived in the mail I set to attaching it as I usually do, by encasing it in a separate piece. I realized when I received it that it was about an inch shorter than the busk I previously used, but I wanted to maintain the stomach control, so I set the top of the busk 1" (2.5 cm) down from the top of the corset. I marked the stud and loop holes with my wonderful disappearing ink pen, and then sliced through for the loops using my little rotary cutter. For the studs I just used my awl to spread the threads enough for them to pop through.
After stitching around the busk and attaching the panel to the CF I trimmed off the extra seam allowance on all but the top layer, which I folded under and stitched down to create the final casing that runs vertically with the busk. Note from the first try: when inserting boning in this channel make sure it is no longer than the busk- this is where it bent the first time...
For the garter loops I decided to go the elastic route. I took a ¾" (19mm) wide by 4" (10cm) long piece of elastic for each garter and then covered it with the same satin as the lining. Note: when covering the elastic make sure you cut the satin to its stretched length, this way you get the lovely ruching when the elastic isn't stretched holding onto the stockings or garter. Learn from the blonde here... From here I just folded and stitched a loop on the bottom for the garter clip to hook through, and on the top just double folded and stitched it onto the bottom edge of the corset. Some tacking stitches to hold it tight against the corset edge and some tiny white bows for a feminine touch and voila!

Having bound the top and bottom edges, I added some lace trim and a white satin bow at the CF to finish it off.

Here are the final pictures. It's much better than my first attempt, but when I finally tried it on I noticed that it still could have used another strength layer in the top and bottom portions which would have helped smooth those nasty little wrinkles. I also noted that double boning may have helped support the long narrow seams better than single bones. Now I know for next time!

 

Overall this project has opened my eyes to a new awareness of my fabric choices. The beautiful corsets I aspire to make are not merely constructed using better techniques, but also from better quality materials. There is something to be said about the divide between learning and mastering techniques on a budget and then applying them to a high-quality project.

As with any project there is much to be learned. Every time there is a new seam line, different fabric, or shape, there will be something new to discover. So put on your thinking cap, be creative, and don't be afraid to try something completely out of your comfort zone!

Sources

C.L Olmstead's US Patent # 1051626

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