Welcome to the very first Foundations Revealed sew-along! We'll be making up the winning pattern for this year's challenge: the 1908 Transitional Corset, which first appeared on FR in Sabrina Mark's excellent article. To get started, I'll lay out the rough schedule, the materials you'll need, and we'll take a look at scaling and mocking up the pattern.

Sew-Along Schedule

The sew-along will be divided into four articles, posted one per month. There will be further encouragement, assistance, tips, and discussion on the forum.

First month:

• Gather materials,
• Draft the pattern from the boxed original,
• Modify the pattern for individual figures,
• Put together the first muslin or mockup.

Second month:

• Fit mockup,
• Mark pattern changes,
• Second mockup, if necessary,
• Design decisions (boning, cording, seam finish, binding, layers, embellishment, shape and alterations).

Third month:

• Fit, before and after,
• Start sewing the real thing.

Fourth month:

• Install busk, boning, eyelets, and binding,
• Finish up!

Throughout the whole process I'll be available on the forum to answer questions or expand on the details of specific techniques. I would also like to put the call out: Month 3 (the fit article) is going to be about YOU! (with permission, of course) I would like to use your before and after photos and pattern diagrams to demonstrate exactly what alterations were most successful for different people. If you would be interested in helping me out with that, check out this thread in the forum.

Supplies

Sounds fun? Fantastic. Let's talk about what you'll need.  

Drafting:

• Graph paper - roughly 1/4" or 5mm grid. Larger is better; I used 11" x 17" or A3 size paper. If your paper is a bit small you can always tape on a few extra inches, of course. It doesn't have to be in metric.
• Ruler - with cm and mm markings. Vital! We aren't going to convert the boxed numbers to inches, so having a ruler with the right scale is imperative. 15"/40cm or longer will be most convenient.
• Various drafting curves (recommended) - they'll make your life significantly easier, though if you have a good eye for curves you can do without.

Mockup:

• A busk - the original pattern centre front (CF) length is 11.5" (29cm); for my first mockup, I used a conical (tapered) busk 10" (25.5cm) long. Depending on how you want the corset to fit and how long your torso is, you'll need one longer or shorter. Remember, you can always cut down a too-long busk, just the same way you'd cut down white steel bones.
• A yard or so of sturdy fabric - coutil, firm canvas or twill will do.
• Boning - several yards' worth. You'll probably want white or spiral steel for the final version, but for the mockup you can use extra-large cable ties for convenience.
• Lacing strips or grommets/eyelets - lacing strips are terribly handy and very economical of time and labour in the long run.

Final version:

• Fabric - about a yard. For a simple single-layer corset, you'll just need some coutil or firm canvas. This corset, with its long diagonal seams, would be more difficult to do multi-layered, but it's certainly possible.
• A busk - probably the same one you used in the mockup (unless the length was wildly off or you want a different style).
• Boning - if you used white or spiral steel, you'll probably be able to repurpose some, if not all, of the boning from your mockup. If you plan to order specific precut lengths, it's probably best to wait on this until your mockup is closer to done.
• Eyelets or grommets - probably about two dozen.

Before we start drafting, some notes:

First and most important: do not try to simply resize the boxed images using a photocopier! They aren't to scale, not even a little. All you'll wind up with is one huge headache.

Pattern piece names: the pattern, as available from Marquise.de, gives each pattern piece a letter name. These names do not agree with the (moderately) illegible letter names given at the upper left hand 'zero' corner of each pattern piece, by the original author. We will use the Marquise.de letters.

The pattern itself has some other peculiarities. Some of the numbers are incredibly hard to read (or aren't there at all - I'm looking at you, piece F), and a few of the points aren't really in the right place. I've marked the three biggest corrections in red. I've also gone through and marked the approximate waistline in purple, including the vertical coordinate. There are several places where the pattern doesn't provide a vertical coordinate, yet the sketch clearly shows the line deviating from horizontal. In that case, just estimate based on the shape of the pieces - it will probably only be a few millimetres down or up.

The pattern measurements, straight out of the box:
Half bust: 18" (45.7cm)
Half waist: 13.5" (34.3cm)
Half hip: 19.5" (49.5cm)

So the full measurements, not allowing for a lacing gap, are approximately:
Bust: 36" (91.5cm)
Waist: 27" (68.6cm)
Hip: 39" (99cm)
Bust to waist: 4.5" (11.5cm)
Waist to hip: 6.75" (17cm)

Scaling the pattern as you draft

Almost all of you are going to want to draft the pattern up to full size, and then start making modifications from there. However, there are a few who may get lucky. If (and only if) you plan to scale the whole thing up or down by the same percentage (both width and height), you can do that during drafting. Simply multiply each point by the scaling factor you plan to use.

For example, if a point is 7cm down and 3.75cm over, and you're making the whole thing bigger by 10 percent, you'll mark the point at 7cm x 1.1 = 7.7cm down and 3.75cm x 1.1 = 4.125cm over. Do that for every single point, and when you're finished the whole pattern will be to scale, as much larger or smaller as you planned. It's probably worth doing all the math for yourself beforehand and noting what each point's new measurements should be. Otherwise (as with doubling a recipe), you're liable to miss one and throw the whole thing off. If that sounds too complicated, don't worry about it. You can always do it on a photocopier later.

Drafting from the boxed pattern

And now we get to it! You can find the originals at Marquise.de 1900s patterns, down at the very bottom, or download my annotated versions here.

Pieces A, B, C, D, E

Pieces F, G, H. Corrections in red.

Pieces I, K, L, M

Piece N

This is where your metric ruler comes in handy. You don't need to be particularly familiar with metric to successfully mark off the points as ordered and once the pattern is drawn up you can carry on in inches without any problems at all. Just remember that 1mm is 0.1cm - so 0.75cm falls between the 7th and 8th mm ticks on the ruler.

Start by squaring off the top and left sides of your box. That top-left corner is your 0 and all measurements will be away from it. Measure along the top, ticking off the horizontal points as indicated on the top edge.

Drop the right side of the box as indicated and measure down the left and right sides, marking vertical coordinates. For the tall pieces, I found it helpful to mark all vertical coordinates down both sides; it facilitated making the horizontal measurements later on. Keep track of which is which by only labelling the points that 'belong' on that side. You can do the same with the horizontal coordinates as well.

At the bottom, draw in the last side of the box and mark the horizontal coordinates. Then start marking the points. Pick a side and start working your way along it, measuring in from each horizontal or vertical edge as indicated. Make your dots clear but not too large.

Once all the points are marked, draw in the curves and lines of the pattern, using the original as reference. If you have drafting curves, this is the time to use them.

Notes, by piece:

A center front - I drew the right above-waist edge as vertical, coming in at about 4.4cm to the top edge, even though there is no measurement noted. If you wanted a little extra space in the bust, you could make A flare to 5cm wide at the top.

B bust gore - Draft B after E, the other bust piece. That way you can use a compass to transfer the exact side lengths of E to B. Mark notches on B and E so they can be sewn together correctly.

You can see the arcs where I marked the side lengths of E. The notches will help prevent mixups when sewing in E.

C hip expansion - I did not use C in my first mockup, but it's intended to sit in front of K and add extra space to the hips. C is about 1.75" (4cm) wide at the bottom, so would add 3.5" (8cm) total to the hip measure.

D suspender support - D sits at the bottom of A at center front. Probably a good idea to make matching notches so it doesn't get put on wrong.

E bust gore - Draft E before B. Notch to match B.

F side front 1 - I estimated the top edge the first time through, then corrected it after walking the seams. Note that the top as I've marked it doesn't actually go to the top of the box. I found F lined up best with A/B if the front corner is rounded over just a little.

G side front 2 - No notes, this one goes together just fine.

H side - The top front corner does not agree with the front edge. I chose to follow the front edge, moving the corner forward to 5cm, down 1.25cm.

I center back - No issues here. The vertical line at 2.25cm marks the intended edge of the center back boning and grommet platform.

K front hip and L back hip - K and L have straight edges, so if you wish you may join them in one piece.

 
You can see towards the bottom that the 17cm and 18cm marks were made on both sides of the box to facilitate measuring horizontally.

M suspender support - I put the mystery point (4.5cm across the bottom) at about 3mm up.

N side back - The top right corner is ever so slightly too tall and steep. Easiest to correct once the whole thing is together, just walk back I up from the bottom edge and smooth N off to meet it. The inside edge that drops from 15.25cm down, 4cm over is vertical, just measure 4cm along the bottom and join them up.

The top right corner got smoothed down just a hair after I walked the seams; it's pictured here as originally drafted.

Making it fit

Don't fuss with it too much before the first mockup. The goal right now should be to get the waist, bust, and hip measures close to yours. If the vertical measurements are wildly off, you could also adjust them. This corset is meant to give a low bustline, so don't go overboard raising the top, even if you think it's a bit low. In general I wouldn't plan on altering the length at all; necessary changes will be very apparent after the first mockup.

Small changes to the waist measure only: I took out ½" (12mm) from the waist in HKLN - K and L I just overlapped slightly further and smoothed the waist edge, but to preserve the shape of the pieces I carefully slashed H and N from the waist to the top and overlapped the sections a painstaking 1/4" total (6mm). I made no other changes before sewing up my first mockup.

Adding to those pieces would be relatively easy as well. You'd simply reverse the process, slashing and spreading instead of overlapping.

Adding and removing small measurements to the side waist: subtracting from H by the slash and spread method, adding to N the same way, adding between K and L

Changing all measurements: Adding to or subtracting from all measurements equally is relatively simple - mark the waistline on the piece and a waistline guide on some filler paper, slash from top to bottom and spread or overlap. Use the guide to measure how far the piece has been expanded and to ensure it does not go askew. The long diagonal pieces F and G are the only tricky ones for this method. They need to be slashed along the length, from top edge to bottom, but the method is the same.

G and F appear more complicated to alter, but the method is the same as ever. Waist guide in grey, waist in purple, slash line in dark yellow, added area in pale yellow, new top and bottom edge in teal.

Bust: Adding to the bust alone would be easiest in B and E. There are several different ways one might go about it; I have illustrated two. The first adds width only. Decide how much you wish to add and draw that angle out on two pieces of paper (grey triangle). Slash B through the center, leaving a paper hinge at the bottom, and spread it to match. Lengthen the inside lines of B to meet (Step 1). Mark or measure on the triangle where the inside lines of B crossed (small grey dashes) and slash E up the center. Match the bottom point of E with the marks and extend the sides of E to meet (Step 2). Redraw the top of E. Note that B and E will need to be walked and adjusted to match - this method does not produce perfectly matching seams.

Alteration guide in grey, slash lines in dark yellow, added area in pale yellow, new pattern lines in teal.

The second method which I have illustrated adds height as well as width. Slash B from V to point, leaving a paper hinge at both ends. Slash from that slash up to the top corners (see inset diagram of B for pattern before cutting). Spread the outer sections of B to meet the alteration guide, allowing the inside arms of B to flatten out to a new angle (Step 1). Slash E to point, adding whatever flare is desired. Using the same angle (as I have in the illustration) will not necessarily produce the best results - use the original pattern overlap between B and E (about 5/8" or 16mm) to gauge the size of your new E. Adjust top edge of E (Step 2).

Alteration guide in grey, slash lines in dark yellow, added area in pale yellow, new pattern lines in teal. Using the same angle (as I have here) will not necessarily produce the best results - use the original pattern overlap between B and E (about 5/8" or 16mm) to gauge the size of your new E.

Both of those methods leave B the same size at the top - B gains in internal area, but the bust edge is unchanged. The measurement gain at the edge is entirely in changes to E. If you want to increase the size of B's arms, slash in a Y shape and spread the outsides of B away from the center.  

Hip: Adding or subtracting from the hip can mostly be done in H, K, L, and N. Slash and spread the appropriate areas as needed.

Again, don't get too complicated. Once your pattern's measurements are reasonably close to yours, it's time to sew up a first mockup.

Prepare the pattern

Retrace all of your pattern pieces fresh (so you don't spoil the originals) and add seam allowances (½" or 1cm is fine - whatever you prefer). It might be tempting to allow lots of excess, but it will make sewing up the long diagonals a lot more difficult. Add a 1" (2.5cm) facing to the center front - for the mockup we will cut the facing on both center fronts, and slash the fold to allow the busk loops through. If you are using lacing strips, just cut the center back with no facing or allowance at all. If you will be boning it and inserting grommets, add a 1.5" (40mm) facing to the center back.

Mark grain lines. Grain should run perpendicular to the waist, so F and G will be cut roughly on the bias. I chose to put piece B's grain so that it ran from the inside point to the outside - that way both arms would have roughly the same give. I could definitely see arguments for putting the front edge of B on grain, however - that would provide a lot of give in the side of the bust.

Sewing it up

Seam finishes: I opted to press all my seams to one side, trim the lower seam allowance, and stitch them down - a sort of hasty fell. It was very fast and easy, and provided a little more stability to my fairly fray-prone fabrics. If your fabric is fairly stable you certainly don't have to do anything at all.

Press the facing over on A, then insert the busk, slashing the folded edge to let the loops through. Baste the busk in and machine stitch along the edge with a zipper foot. Trim excess facing.

Sew E into B. Match seam allowances, stitch one side in, all the way to the bottom of the V, then clip the seam allowance, turn, and sew the other side in. Or if you prefer, press B seam allowances under, layer, and topstitch.

Sew F to G, taking care not to stretch the bias edges. Sew BE to A, then FG to ABE - so triangular! Set the Front aside for now.

Sew K to L if you drafted them as separate pieces. Sew C to KL, if you're including C. Sew H to N above the waist, then sew LK in to HN. Sew the same way as BE, starting with the waist seam (the top of LK), then slash the corners, turn, and sew down one side and the other. Set the Side aside for now.

Fronts and Sides. Back I is not pictured.

If you're using lacing strips, line up the lacing strips with the finished center back edge and machine baste them down on the body edge. Trim away I underneath.

If you're not using lacing strips, press the facing over on back I, and stitch in bone casings and grommet platform. Insert grommets.

Sew I to Side, sew Side to Front. Voilà!

The bone casings are marked out on the original pattern, but I found it very helpful to lay them out on my mockup with masking tape. I did just one half, then used that half as a guide for the actual casings on the other half. Obviously, once those were on, the tape could come off and I had the first stitched half as a guide.

I used the original pattern as a guide for marking these bone casings.

You can use bias or twill tape for the bone casings. This is a mockup, so feel free to draw guides right on the fabric. Sew across all the casings about an inch (2.5cm) above the bottom. In the original drawing, the bones stop above the bottom hem for added comfort sitting and moving.

Cut your boning to length (from the stitching across the bottom to ½" (1cm) short of the top edge), or use precut boning. I used flat white steel, but you could use spiral or even heavy duty zip ties. The only place you absolutely can't use spiral bones is along the center back - spiral steels can't support lacing.

Slip the bones in to the casings and stitch across the top edge to fasten them in. You're done! Lace this puppy up and let's give it a whirl!

Putting it on

Clasp the busk and pull the laces snug but not tight. Now do a little dance. You're awesome! Also, wiggling around a bit will help get the corset settled right. Once it's settled, start to tighten it up.

It's best to shoot for an even lacing gap, even if it leaves some parts too loose. It makes it easier to diagnose and correct fitting issues.

Mockup try-on

Now head on over to the forum. We'll be breaking this article down into smaller steps, answering questions, giving advice, and generally having a good time! The sew-along will be headquartered here, on the Foundations Revealed Sew-Along board.

add