They're finished! Not a quick and dirty project by any means. But I love them! One of my goals is to invest more in the accessory side of my historical wardrobe; I designed fashion accessories for a living, so why not invest in historical accessories?
I haven't found a lot of info on how to put together these spring-loaded elasticated items (Sabine's post on her spring-elasticated Corset de Soie is the closest thing - she pointed me in the direction of the springs!) The construction is fairly straightforward, but I learned a few important things along the way.
Aren't they beauts? The plan is to get a jewelers saw and try to make some custom hooks eventually. But that is $40 down the road, and I have other things to make in the next three days. Because I am thoroughly unprepared for the Jane Austen Festival and it starts on Friday.
CONSTRUCTION
This is a semi-tutorial in a million pictures. It's a long post. Just warning you.
First, to give the garters a little softness (all the garters I looked at seemed somewhat "soft", so I estimate there was some kind of wadding in there) I layered a thick strip of wool coating that I had laying around, onto the center of the garter.
The raw edges of the embroidered outer fabric were then folded over the edge of the wool, and whipstitched down.
This part was really satisfying - it was like padstitching through super thick wool so you don't have to worry about your stitches being fine and delicate. Big ol' sloppy stitches that just fly across the length of fabric.
After whipping the wooly insides to the embroidered outsides, I stitched the flat silk extension onto one end. This is when you stitch on the springs (because otherwise it is a beast to stitch them on after you've gotten half the lining stitched down. I wouldn't know this by experience or anything, obviously, because I do everything right the first time. *ahem*)
The springs are like noodles and are a big pain, but it doesn't matter if they stick out every which way. The channels that will be stitched later will help straighten them out. Make sure these securing stitches go through all layers of fabric - they will hold a lot of tension when the garters are finished.
WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE AT THIS POINT: tied colored threads to the loose end of each spring, so that when the channels were finished I could just pull the threads to guide the springs through each channel. I deeply regret this! Do this if you make these garters or something similar!
Next, the lining is added! I used muslin - would use linen next time for extra grippiness. This is just one long strip, no seam in the middle necessary. I whipped this onto the embroidered section (only went through a couple layers of fabric, not all the way to the outside layer.)
Then I prick-stitched the remainder of the lining to the flat, non-fluffy extender piece. This did go through all layers, which helped stabilize it as this edge is part of a spring casing.
About an inch or so before the end, I had to stop the prickstitching and fold the lining back, so that I could fold down the end of the extension piece and finish it off. The springs would be stitched to that fold-over seam.
This is what it looked like on the outside at that point, with the springs sandwiched inside:
Next, the channels were stitched with a simple running stitch. Same as for the lining edges, I left off stitching an inch or so before the end to leave wiggle room to secure the springs.
Then, I started to shimmy the fabric down over the springs. This is when those theoretical threads attached to the springs I mention above would have been useful. REGRETS. It took me forever to gather all that fabric on those tiny springs. (In hindsight, I should have used way less fabric. I didn't realize that I would need to cut my springs so short, and I overestimated.) But, with the help of a couple extra fingers from Kenny, I eventually got the springs all through. It felt like a big win when they popped their little springy heads through the end of the channels.
What I would do differently next time (I always have a list of these things, and I write them down so that I actually remember next time!):
- Make the embroidered bits shorter and the springy bits longer. They just ended up feeling a bit disproportionate when compared to extant examples.
- Leave more space at one end of the embroidery for a larger hook (as I want to hand-cut more accurate metal hooks and bars for the next pair).
- Add those strings to my springs to pull them through the channels! That's a biggie.
These were originally intended for the Historical Sew Monthly "Circles, Squares, and Rectangles" challenge, so here's the nitty gritty on these bad boys:
Challenge #4; Circles, Squares, and Rectangles: all the fabric components of this are rectangular. And the springs are circles, really! Lots and lots of circles.
Fabric: silk sateen, a layer of batiste stabilizing the silk, chunky wool herringbone for the interior, and muslin for the lining. And springs. Noodly, frustrating, magnificent springs.
Pattern: None. Just eyeballed extant examples and measured my legs to fit.
Year: 1795-1810 (which is when the extant examples I found were dated by their respective museums.)
Notions: trouser hook and eye, soon(ish) to be replaced with a handmade hook and bar, hopefully.
How historically accurate is it? the shape and techniques are accurate, although the wool is not necessarily period-correct and the hook is definitely modern. I'd give it a 90%.
Hours to complete: around 100hr. I can't believe I spent 100hr sitting and stitching on these. No wonder they took a while to finish! The embroidery was therapeutic, though, and if I made them again I would probably be faster at it, now that I've more practice.
First worn: for this photoshoot! Hoping to wear it to the Louisville, KY Jane Austen Festival in a couple weeks.
Total cost: all of the fabric was scrap (it only took approx. 48 square inches of fabric), and the hook I already had, so probably just $13 for the Wilesco springs!
