Inspiration and Research

Now that I'm a mother doing first hand research of historical corsetry is a bit more of a mission. So when I find myself in need of a little top up on the inspiration front I turn to my computer.

I thought I'd share some of the ones that have really captured my imagination of late, these beautiful corsets are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and I am sharing them because they hint at what is to come in my 2012 collection:

This is just stunning to my eyes, but the most notable things for me are the really interesting seam lines,  the flossing and decorative embroidery. Amazing! This corset is dated 1876 and made by the Royal Worcester Company

Below is a fantastic example of a ribbon corset. Dated 1908 and made by J B Corset Company in America. I just love the shape and colour of this corset and the matching garters are just divine.

 

The next corset is 1904-05 and French. I love the pattern cutting on this corset so much I am tomorrow going to develop a waspie pattern based on its seamlines, flossing and decoration. I'm particularly attracted to this corset because it embodies the lightness of touch, delicacy and romance I want to be in my collection but also the strength and robust nature of the corset itself and it's ability to modify the body.

Photo archive and source: The Met

Suspender belt: A brief history

The history of the suspender belt is indeed short.

The inception of the suspender solved a problem for the Edwardian woman: how to keep her hosiery from falling down. It began with the corset, with suspenders first being attached to the corset itself and later developing into a garment entirely of it's own.

Suspenders were made possible by the invention of elastic, and first appeared on S-bend corsets of the Edwardian era. This corset is part of the Symington Collection in Leicester.
It is dated 1905.

The first suspender belts of the 1920's were still made from the strong cotton broche of their corset forebears and were designed to be equally tough and functional.

Until the development of the true suspender belt in the late 1950's the girdle had served the same function of the corset...to keep waist and bum in check and hold up stockings. I'll go into more depth about girdles in another blog, if you don't mind, to stay on subject...

In the 1950's clothes were literally revolutionised by the invention of affordable man made fabrics. Underwear benefitted in particular through more lightweight fabrics such as nylon lace, polyester and jerseys and from the 1960's onwards undies for the mass markets were now to be seen and not felt.

The suspender belt, like corsets, were rendered unneccesary by the evolution of fashion. With more women wearing mini skirts and trousers and the introduction of tights the fashionable lady no longer needed suspenders to hold up her hosiery.

The modern suspender belt is purely a provocative garment, so off I go to make some...

Titanic era corsets

Today I've been thinking about Titanic or teens era corsets as it is also known. I personally think of this era as a transition period between the true S-bend corset of the early Edwardian period and the advent of the fall of grace of corsets in the fashionable wardrobe in the 1920's.

The development of this corset style is directly influenced by a huge shift in female fashion from the body altering wasp waist to a more streamlined silhouette...but remained restricted by a modern woman's standards. This was in part to the steady lengthening of the corset over the hipline assisted by a new invention, elastic, which now meant that stockings could provide the pulling power necessary to keep the corset taught under the sleek new fashionable style.

This is Camille Clifford ( 1885-1971), who was a famous tight -lacer. She exemplifies the silhouette of this time: both bust and bum are proud, contorting the body into the infamous S-bend which renders the waist stretched between the bust and bum extremes. It must have been an uncomfortable pose indeed, although considering that women were so used to wearing corsets in those days perhaps not as much as us modern women would think?

Major design features of this period:

• extreme long line corsets
• mainly vertical seaming and boning channels
• streamlining of hips
• straight 'neckline' cutting either mid or below the bust
• usually accompanied by suspenders
• neutral colours
• little or no hand finishing
• internal boning channels

Inspiration abound...

Well, it's nearly the end of my maternity leave and I am very excited about starting work again.

I feel so inspired by my last trip to research the Symington collection last Saturday that my mind has been buzzing with new idea's. Laid out for us was about 60 corsets of varying design and era, and after an informative talk by Phillip Warren on the history of the Symington company and how the collection came to be, we were allowed to take pictures and make notes.

I was most interested in the complex seaming and longline cut of the Edwardian corsets, as this is most relevant to my next collection. Although I managed to get round all of the corsets and take reference shots of all the things I found interesing, I picked out 4 corsets for special attention to really get my head around the construction techniques particular to that era.

It's all about exaggerating the most obvious of female assets...glorious big hips, a tiny waist and a full bustline! The development of the longer line corsets of this era were a reaction to a changing silhouette in which skirts fit snuggly over the hips and the development of elasticated suspenders which had the effect of keeping the long corset wrinkle free over the hip by the tension of pulling up the hose.

Anyway, it has sparked a renewed interest in getting really into the pattern cutting of corsets, and paying attention to those extra special details that make it unique in the world of fashion.

On my long train ride to get there, between bouts of sleep, I really thought hard about what it is about corsets that I find so interesting and I came to the conclusion that what excites me is the role of the corset to physically change and conform the body to it's shape, to exert force to intimatly and modify the nature of the wearer directly. Unlike other garments which externally alter the silhouette through disguise.

But more news on my next collection later, as it's still very much early stages in the process, but I will say that my mum is knitting furiously to give me some rather interesting accessories.

Pretty Housemaid - construction notes

This corset is a labour of love, honestly...if you don't have patience this one is going to be a chore!

Being unfamiliar with this construction of corset I am constantly referring to my notes and photo's.

My initial research into construction led me to a problem with cording. I had initially used the smallest piping cord I could buy to do the cording, but after doing some sampling I realised that it is far too crude to be appear like the cording on the original corset. When I measured the width of the cording it was only about 3-4mm wide, almost half what I had been trying...and the results look less refined compared to the real thing. So - start again, this time using Russian Braid and sewing either side of it and in it's ditch...this is about right now, but still not entirely satisfactory. If I attempt to do this corset again I will be trying it with austrian blind cord which is very dense and very thin because the russian braid is making the cording look too flat. I am going to finish this corset as is and have a good look at it's shape before I think about starting the next one.

Just completed the hip section, which is the heaviest corded piece.Now I know why they had machines with  multiple rows of needles to do all this blasted cording! It is taking an age! They had special machines that did the cording all in one shot with some machines with up to 12 rows of needles all going at it. I really like the look of cording, but with only normal sewing machines it is very time consuming. I told ya....a labour of love it is!

It's starting to really come together now. The seams that contain the bones look as if they are jean seamed on top and lining fabrics so I'm now wondering if each piece was corded after being stitched to the last seam as the corset was being made. Maybe I will try that next time I give it a go also. Although on the real thing the evidence is that the boned seams are made from french seaming I will have to use casings on the inside as the corset is getting pretty difficult to manipulate with all the hessian interlining and piping to contend with. Although now historically inaccurate I feel that I am willing to accept the compromise. The good news is that it's going to be incredibly strong.

I have also decided that upon my attempt to dye cotton lace it is nigh on impossible to get a good colour match, so instead of it looking a bit off I am instead going to use black, and continue to use black as the detailing colour rather than the original blue, another deviation from the original.

The flossing now done, and cotton lace procured, albeit narrow, here are the results of the pretty housemaid...

'Pretty Housemaid' corset made by Symingtons

As part of the lecture I am giving at the Brighton Museum on June 4th I am re-creating some period pieces to demonstrate the evolution of the corset and subsequently the female ideal in society.

Today I am going for the 'Pretty Housemaid'. Seen here in a photograph from the Leicestershire Museum.

I am using Jill Salen's book 'Corsets:Historical Patterns and techniques' as the basis of the pattern and modifying it with my own first hand research from the Symington collection in Leicester. After studying her scaled pattern and my own photographs the first thing that strikes me is the proportions of the corset. It is shorter than I expected and seems very roomy at the bust. I am using 1 inch seam allowances on all except the top and bottom hems which will be bound at the end.For the most part I am in agreement with the look of the pattern pieces between Jill's drawing and my own research with only a change of grain direction in one piece which I am only making because my instinct tells me it is wrong.

My only criticism of this book really is that it lacks basic information on each corset, such as the finished bust, waist and hip measurements which would be helpful to double check against the pattern, and no technical data or instruction on how to make the corset. Luckily I know enough about it to give it a reasonable go. I have test sampled cording technique and find that the best thing is to use a zipper foot for the cording rather than use the technique used in the book which involves making a channel and pulling the cord through the channel. Doing it that way, however, presents a new problem....that the pattern piece becomes progressively smaller as each cording is made and that sewing 3 layers together with the cording can drag the fabric as it is being sewn. I must find a solution for this before going ahead.  

 

I have chosen to use this particular corset for a variety of reasons:

• it was mass produced and marketed specifically for a new emerging consumer: working women
• the use of cording is an interesting bone replacement technique I would like to practice
• I am interested in the proportioning of this corset   

The original corset, at the Symington Collection, is beautiful. I'm always marvelled by the sturdyness of the corset. This particular corset was built to last, built cheaply and quickly and designed to give the ordinary working class woman the figure of the fashionable high society lady. The Symington Company itself claimed this corset to be "strongest and cheapest corset ever made". The corset is made of sturdy stuff: an outer layer of cotton twill, a lining of coutil and an interlining of hessian. It is french seamed where the pieces are joined instead of having seperate boning casings, and is boned only at the seams with heavy cording adding further to the strength and robustness where a more expensive corset would have whalebone.

Later post will reveal the outcome...