S-Bend Corset

The combinations from last time weren’t actually finished yet when I started the main part of the project, an S-Bend corset. I googled for a while and then found a pattern by BlackSnailPatterns #1015 Edwardian Straight Front Corset, which I purchased from Etsy. I also got two Victorian/Edwardian skirt patterns at the same time, but you’ll hear about at least one of those later.

I set out to make a mock-up from some green canvas type stuff. Put a separating zipper in the front and used zip ties for the boning. I put on the first draft and it was very crooked. It’s unclear to me why this was the case. Options include: 1) I’m just crooked, 2) the stiffer boning channels on the one side pushed the front askew, 3) I sewed something wrong? Anyway, it stayed a little crooked in all my fittings. However, the lacing gap in the back seemed accurate enough, while the waist was a little bunchy. I made another mock-up in a size smaller but that was a Bad Idea™ and I quickly reverted to the original size. I then decided to remove half a cm from the waist and that seemed to do the trick.

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After getting hold of some coutil from the UK, I cut out the pattern and got sewing (on the treadle!). This coutil stuff is so weird, it honestly felt like handling cardboard… Anyway, this is a single layer corset with boning channels made from the same coutil and a waist stay. There are two metal bones on either side of the lacing and five synthetic whalebone bones per side. It’s finished with some white bias tape along both top and bottom and some lace along the top. The pattern indicated that the first two bones needed flossing to keep them in place. Flossing is the name for additional stitches that anchor the bone and also serve a decorative purpose – the stuff in blue below.

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Because the fabric is so very tightly woven and stiff, it’s hard to push your needle though without completely bending it. So I took a different approach and pre-punched holes with pins. In order for the flossing to stay similar along all bones, I used pins in different colours so that I was sure to go from one hole to the next correctly. From yellow to yellow, red to red etc. Depending on the slant of the bones, the flossing points in a different direction.

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You might see that the bones in the front end before the end of the boning channel. This does make sitting a lot easier and is why the flossing was required. I finished the flossing on the first two bones quite early and then got to sewing on the lace along the top. After that was hand-sewed on, I added the same blue ribbon as in the combinations. I can tie the ends into a bow and it looks very cute. If I do say so myself. The aim of this type of corset is to create a straight front and to allow the butt to stick out. This is to do with the ideal shape in the 1900’s. Mine’s not as pronounced because I’m not using any padding whereas true Edwardian people would most definitely have done so.

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This pattern is also based on more modern bodies and therefore doesn’t exaggerate the shape nearly as much as an authentic Edwardian S-Bend corset would. After finishing a mock-up of this one, I made a mock-up of an original S-Bend from Corsets and Crinolines, which was way too big at the top and way too big at the bottom. But I might finesse it to fit me without padding by taking out a whole panel and taking in the hips a little. There isn’t much space between the last of my ribs and the top of my hip bones, which also means that my body literally cannot compress as much in the waist as would sometimes seem ideal. This thing reduced my waist measurement by 4 cm compared to normal. I wished in the past that I had a more squishable middle, but I’ve given up on that and I can’t be bothered by it too much anymore.

Next up, the skirt (which is wrong, it should have been a petticoat, but that isn’t finished yet…)