In my last article, I drafted a shouldered corset torso block; merging my basic bodice block with a standard corset pattern for a tailored style that fits my standard sleeve. In this piece I'm going to mock it up, fit it, and then pattern and sew a stylish variation which I have dubbed the Shirtwaist Corset.

 

 

 

For my mockup, I added the following seam allowance to my draft:

• Center Front ½” (13mm)
• Vertical body seams ½” (13mm)
• CB 0”
• Armhole 3/8” (10mm)
• Neckline 0"

Next, I trace my basic sleeve block, add 3/8” (10mm) around the armhole, ½” (13mm) down the sides, and a 1” (25mm) hem. To give my hem enough ease for the foldover, I line up my grid ruler with the width straight on the fold line, then line up the long edge with the seam at 1”(25mm) up (see photo). I make a dash on my hem cut line, then connect the dots! Don't forget the sleeve cap notches; one in front, two in back, and the one at top of the cap.

Sewing the mockup is pretty straightforward; I stitch the center front (CF) closed and use the seam allowance (SA) all around as bone casings. I don't use very many pins, but I'll align my waist notches, pin in right on the stitch line, then rotate to make the edges align. I also align the tops of each panel at the stitch line. After sewing all the body seams, I press the seam allowance towards center back (CB) (with the help of a tailor's ham), then fold the CB in ½” - so I'm using part of the body as seam allowance, which will result in a finished waist of 21” with a 1” (25mm) gap, giving me more flexibility in my lacing when I fit it.

Then it's time to sew the shoulder seams. To help the princess seams at the shoulder meet as cleanly as possible, I pin straight through the seam allowance on both pieces, making sure the stitch line is within the pinned zone. This is how I also pin crotch seams, yoke facings, etc.

 

The sleeve in my mockup is constructed as a set-in sleeve, meaning that I sew the sleeve's long seam first, then pin it to the armhole and sew in the round. I also basted my cap (between the front and back notches) and gathered the ease before pinning it in place.

 

Mockup fitting time! 

I had a friend, who works with corsets but isn't a corsetmaker, lace me in. We took notes on the gap and I jotted down my thoughts on what should change in my little Pop Antique production notebook (notes which were revised or occasionally ignored as I went through my corrections). Overall it was a pretty good start, but there were several adjustments clearly in order. Interestingly, my scoliosis was mostly apparent in my hips and less noticeable in my shoulders.

Gap:

• 0” at top, but pulling the front neck forward
• 1” (25mm) at underbust level
• 1¼” (31mm) at lower ribs
• 1½” (38mm) at waist
• 3¼” (81mm) at hip

The waist felt like it needed to drop a solid half inch; I marked on the mockup with a fine-point Sharpie where it felt it should be. Dropping the waist will probably get me the waist and rib ease I need. I already knew my hips would be too big for the standard size, so I'll fix that mostly in the paper draft - not on my tagboard block. However, the back hip looked a little flat and strained, and the side seam at hip is wandering pretty far towards the back. The armhole is very, very tight, and the bust is really flat. The pitch of the shoulder seam needs to scoot forward at the shoulder point. Aesthetically, I want to change the front seam lines slightly.

To document the fitting, we take photographs in 45º rotational increments – front, ¾ view, side, side with arms lifted, back ¾ view, center back, all the way around the figure. I have an an unusual fitting/sketching process to correct my style lines at this point; I pull a fitting photo into Illustrator and trace the style lines as I would like to see them. If you have a sharp eye for proportion, you can easily see how much change this translates to; for example, by comparing the shift in lines to the width of your bone channel stitching. I can also use this as a template for creating proportionately accurate style sketches.

Pattern Changes

The one place I clearly went wrong in my original draft was when I reduced the shoulder length ½” (13mm) and with it, the armscye and top of the side seam. Hindsight is 20/20; I actually took out a whole 2” (50mm) from my circumference. Adding that back in will give me a comfortable level of ease through the armhole and help with the bust flatness. I'm also adding another ¼” (6mm) on each side of the bust apex to give it some additional fullness.

With my wandering side seam, rather than shifting the hip curve from the front to the back of the seam seam line, I take out ½” (13mm) from the front and distribute it (plus another 1/8” (3mm) for good measure) amongst the back hip seams.

To drop the waist, I do a 'slash and open'. From scrap, I prepare strips of paper with parallel lines ¾” apart, plus room to cut between them and overlap on my patterns. I cut my draft in half at the waist, making sure both halves of each piece are labelled. Then I add the pre-measured paper strips in between the halves, trying to keep them well aligned by using guidelines parallel to the grain, and finally re-blending my curves.

Each time I've redrawn a line, I attempt to clarify which is the correct line by crossing out the old line and literally circling the new one, albeit with rather small circles.

The aesthetic changes of the bottom edge shaping and front style lines will probably be easier to adjust on manila, where I don't have all those old lines and the ghosts thereof to confuse me.

Copying to Tag Paper

I cut out my paper draft on the stitch line and trace them onto a piece of manila, onto which I have drafted parallel lines to indicate my waist line, low rib, underbust, and and bust. I sketch my remaining adjustments, the changes to the front seams and the curvier hip shape. Then I go over the new and original traced lines with a ruler or curve to solidify and neaten them. I true my top and bottom edges by first cutting off one pattern piece at a time, and only cutting its vertical seams. I notch the waist so I can 'walk' the seamlines from either side of the manila, then true the horizontal style lines or shoulder seam. In the instance of the hip, I actually delicately scotch tape several pieces together to draw my longline shaping across them. I'll also use one curved seam as a guide for its facing seam (particularly the side seam) before cutting the second piece out, to ensure that they sew together cleanly.

Drafting the 'Shirtwaist Corset'

So I'm going with my original inclination and drafting a collared-shirt style corset. It will have a horizontal seam across the apex of the bust, a keyhole cutout, cuffed short sleeves, and little tails at the back hip.

First, I trace my newly-created block, leaving plenty of room for seam allowance between the pieces. Then I sketch my style changes: shortening the front by an inch, adding fullness to the hips, changing the back to tails, marking a horizontal across my bust apex level, and making a keyhole cutout at the front. I measure down the seamlines for the top of the front and correct so each side of the seam is the same length (which is why, in the photo, it seems that I've cut across in a zig-zag pattern). Then I cut across the horizontal and tape the pieces together at the vertical seams, and tape on extra paper along the horizontal seam onto which I draw the seam allowance. I can make sure my new bottom edge shaping lines-up relatively well by squaring a level from bottom of the stitch line of one piece to the stitch line of the adjacent piece, then continuing my line. As I'm cutting out my pieces, I still tape them together to finalize the line of the bottom edge: first, aligning the waist, then pivoting to meet at the bottom of the stitch line, then pivoting on that meeting point so the stitch lines overlay, then truing the style line and finally, cutting across all the pieces at the bottom with the vertical seams still taped.

My other pattern pieces are fairly simple. I shorten the sleeve to 6” (15cm) below the underarm level, notching the bottom (in addition to the top) of the grainline that indicates my front/back balance. The cuff is on the fold, wider at the top (which is the fold line), with an extension so it will stand out in a mimicry of a french cuff (again, notches are important!) My collar pattern is pretty basic in structure, but the proportion and shaping is a little different. The collar band extension for the front closure will also cover the part of the neckline removed by my keyhole (3/8” or 10mm), but blends in a straight line to the collar attachment point (rather than the typical rounded extension). The collar and stand are both extra tall.

Construction of the Shirtwaist Corset

I chose a faux pinstripe cotton with screen printed type texture for my final fabrication and used the stripes as the grain, with the center front pattern matched. The rest of the pattern is so irregular as to not require matching. The lining is a simple cotton canvas, with the waistline squared to the grainline. Corset body, cuffs, and collar are backed with fusible interfacing, but the front yoke and sleeves are un-interfaced.

The body is constructed using the common 'welt' method, with additional reinforcement at the back grommets. At the center front panel, I stitched the angled keyhole edge and then continued down to the center front/busk insertion line (fashion fabric and strength layer right sides together), thus creating a faced edge at the bottom of the keyhole. When the first three pieces are seamed together, I attach the front yoke, then topstitch the seam allowance flipped-up. Then I complete my main body seaming and grommet reinforcement.

After attaching the shoulder seams, I construct, separately, the collar, collar band, sleeve and cuff. Construction wise, sometimes the easier answer actually is the right one: I had originally planned to hide the cuff attachment seam allowance inside the cuff, but then the non-printed side of my fabric showed a bit where the cuff folds up. Instead I attached it with a plain seam (except at the extension), which I then understitched to keep it from flipping down.

Before attaching collar and cuffs, I grommeted the corset, thinking it'd be more awkward to do so once the collar was holding the two halves together at the top of center back. I stitched the collar on first, minding the extension, but in hindsight I wish I'd done the sleeves first because stitching in the round was incredibly awkward with the two tall corset halves flopping around. Since my buttonhole foot is currently MIA, I settled for a hook and eye closure on the collar for now.

 

The biggest construction challenge was probably fighting with the size of the corset, so much taller (and, with its barely-there top attachment, more awkward) than others. Even inserting the bones was more challenging as a result – I manage to stab my thumb with pliers, drawing blood at one point!

The Final Fit...

...was pretty good! The dropped waist felt perfect and it was comfortable enough that I could lace myself in easily (despite the ultra-tall back). The sleeves and cuffs looked spot-on. My one major issue was that the shoulder seam and underarm seemed about half an inch too tall, which I believe caused some buckling (visible at the side seam and back, but disappears when the shoulders are stretched upwards). For someone with a slightly longer torso (above the bust), it probably would have been fine. Overall it did feel as if it were perhaps half an size too big for me; the waist closed easily and I actually added a bit too much at the hips (though the shaping turned out beautifully). I also tried it on my friend who had helped lace me into the mockup before, as she is slightly larger and taller than me. As it turns out, her torso is also on the short side and we had the same issue with the shoulder (her height is in her legs), but the waist and hip curve fit very nicely, with an easy 5” (12.5cm) or more reduction. In the photos, she's the blonde, and I am the redhead.

 

Look out for future articles where we develop this idea even further...

 

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