J.S. Bernhardt Stays - Part 2

Monday night, I actually managed to  modify my mock-up to narrow all the gussets! (Two days of sewing in a row, this is an accomplishment for me. Then it completely stopped for the week, of course.)

I decided that I really did want to raise the bust gussets by 0.5", so I stitched up the gusset slits by 0.5" (if you peer closely at the picture on the left, below, you can see my puckery seam stitching up the bottom of the gusset.) I also raised made the gusset significantly smaller, taking out a half inch in width and even more than that at the top edge. The rounded "almond" shape helps the gusset form a nice, rounded cup shape when stitched into the stays.

 For the hip gussets, I decided to take 1.25" out of the centre of the big gusset, and 0.75" out of the little gusset. To do that, I just folded them down the center and pinned,  and then I stitched out the excess like darts. 

Then, I tried it on again. Below you can see the same pose as last pose, for a fit comparison. My breasts are definitely lifted a little better, and there is no excess fabric in the gussets. The hips fit much more snugly, although I could probably take out a smidge more, as Sabine noted that the corset will stretch a bit after being worn on a warm body - every corset does this, but a corset on the bias probably does this a little bit more. 

The slightly less interesting photo on the left, below, also provides a nice comparison to the front view in the last post.  I think my bustline is significantly raised, but I have a hard time seeing it in this picture. Mostly because my waist is short, so I just look a little stumpy overall from this angle. But the other photos clearly indicate an accurate shape, so I am going to keep the bust gussets as they are. 

In the back, you can see I am still getting some unsightly drag lines from the side-back hip gusset, and the centre-back (CB) lacing. I think that  lowering the highest point of that gusset may help with this problem - I'm just going to make that revision in my final fabric.

While I was wearing the corset, I blindly stabbed at the bottom hem with a pencil (as you can see from my indiscriminate marks below), and thereby determined some sort of shape to the bottom edge. This is probably the most flexible aspect of the corset pattern - I could make the bottom hem whatever shape I please. The red line indicates which shape I please, this time around. 

That done, I just measured out what was to be removed from the corset and chopped it off of my gusset pattern pieces. 

My pattern is ready, time to cut fabric, woohoo! 

 

HSF Challenge #4: Under It All - J.S. Bernhardt Stays, c. 1810-11

As I have reduced my aim for the HSF 2014 to cover only twelve projects (at least), instead of twenty-four, I am skipping around a little bit with the challenges, picking and choosing the ones that I like. Technically, if I am doing the odd-numbered challenges, I should be working on the #3: Pink challenge. However, I have a total of two pieces of pink fabric in my stash, and neither of them are period-accurate. Because I don't love pink, I don't particularly want to go buy pink fabric for a pink project. If something pops up when I am next fabric shopping, I might re-think this challenge. But for now, I am choosing instead to work on Challenge #4: Under It All.

My current stays are too small, and not super accurate. The lower-back gussets are not cut high enough for the lovehandles I've acquired in the past few years, so they cause a little bit of lower-back pain after wearing for a while. The bust gussets are just plain too small, and a set a little too closely together in the front for a proper silhouette. To top it off, there is zero lacing gap in the back (I would prefer a 2"- 4" gap). I made these when I was sixteen, and I still love them for the purpose they served at the time, but I need an upgrade. My body has changed shape and I have learned a bit more about this era, and it is time to reflect these changes in a new set of undergarments!

I need to make a simple pair of stays, due to time constraints for this project (my last pair took many, many hours of cording and embroidery). Perhaps eventually I will cord/embroider my new pair, but I first need to be able to whip up a wearable foundation! Frills and furbelows come after.

At first, I was torn between making short stays and long stays - the only extant short stays I have seen have been transitional stays c. 1790s (Sabine of Kleidung um 1800 addresses this in a well-researched post here, noting that the short stays we see post-Transition appear to be for certain occasions such as travel, or informal morning/evening wear). I wanted slightly later stays, and was thinking about making those short "travel" stays, because short stays are just easier to wear.

And then, lo, I came across Sabine's amazing post (should really be called an article or presentation, it is so in-depth) about J.S. Bernhardt's patterns for short stays. Apparently these stays are designed so as to healthily embrace the body, without excess of boning, and provide decent support.

~angels sing~

This is exactly what I need! Sabine already put the patterns on grids for scaling, and she advises how to measure to scale up for your own size. Check out this post and read, read, read, because it is amazing and so helpful. Thanks to Sabine for her generosity in sharing all of this information and effort with the rest of us!

Following her instructions, I took the pattern below, measured myself, and scaled.

I placed a ruler in front of my shoulder to find the correct point to measure from to get my scale multiplier. My personal measurement was 23cm from the ruler around to the centre of my back. I rounded this down to 22.75cm, so that it divided by 7 into a nice, simple 3.25cm. I then scaled up the pattern so that each square = 3.25cm. Then I printed this out in two parts on 11"x17" paper and taped the pattern together.

It is very interesting to me that this pattern is cut on the bias. I haven't yet observed an extant example that is cut on the bias, but it makes perfect sense in order to hug the figure. I decided to just cut mine on a bias fold, instead of putting a seam down the centre. I might switch that up on the final piece, because the seam probably adds a little structure to the stays.

I added an inch to the CB edge, which ended up being pretty
unnecessary. Better to cut off extra than not have enough, though!

To measure out my gussets (because the ones on the original pattern are pretty tiny and were not going to make it across my girth), I cut the slits for the gussets and then held the corset up against myself and measured across the gaps created at slit. Check out my super-scientific method for patterning gussets:

I literally drew a slice of pie with a measuring tape
across the top indicating how wide the gusset should be.

Fast-forward to the completed mock-up! I don't have any in-progress pictures because, well, there wasn't much to progress. I folded under the CB edges to create boning channels, and I hastily stitched a strip of fabric down the CF to hold my busk. Then I mentally patted myself on the back for actually including boning channels (because I HATE making boning channels on mock-ups, it always seems so pointless. It is, in reality, the opposite of pointless, but when I always end up chucking the mock-up, it seems excessive.) Finally, I pinned and stitched all six of the gussets. Voila, mock-up finished.

I had no lacing tape, so I used eyelet lace from my stash.

Time for the first try-on! The eyelet lace works in a pinch, but I will probably have to get lacing strips to get a more even back closure on future corset mock-ups. For this project, it worked, and I know what I need to do to modify the pattern before cutting final fabric.

UBER-curvy! Did not expect that. 

So... it was a bit curvalicious on me. That was unexpected, considering all the mashing and squashing my other stays have been doing. I kind of like it!

Things that are Right about this so far: 

• it is curvy - my body is curvy, so that is kind of great. I am not large, but I am short-waisted and have wide hips, which I would prefer to embrace rather than straight-jacket.
• it is short - refer to afore-mentioned short waist. No more boning digging into my thighs when I sit! 
• my breasts are shoved up and out - the ideal silhouette. I didn't think that one gusset would cut it (I am a 34D), but it sure does work out! The singular gusset actually helps with the sideways persuasion of the breasts. I might raise the gussets by 1/2" to get a smidgen more lift - should I? Or are they high enough? 
• I love where the straps are located - they are far out on each side in the front, which is excellent for those wide Regency necklines, and they meet at a perfect place on the back (I like how the straps join the back at an angle, rather than attaching to the horizontal top edge.)

Things that are Wrong about this mock-up:

• the bust gussets are a smidgen too wide at the top - I think I will round out the edges of the gussets a little bit, so they are not a perfect triangle, and thereby draw in the top corners a bit.
• I need to re-shape the bottom edge, for sure - that widest gusset curves too low. 
• both hip gussets are a bit too wide - I think I need to take 1/2"from the little one, and 1" from the big one. 
• I may need to remove a smidge off the upper back opening - I usually have problems with lacing gaps at the top, where they close up too much. That will throw off the straight-grain, though, hopefully that is not a big problem... 

My bustline seems a bit low in this image... have
to decide whether to raise the gussets!

Too much fabric going on down there. 

The hip gussets come up a little high on my back
but there are worse evils. I think I will leave them.

I think I am ready to move on to fabric! I am in love with this pattern.

The Tailcoat of Uncertain Execution

So, I looked at a LOT of pictures before beginning this tailcoat for my fine fellow. I have never really made any kind of coat for a man (beyond a jerkin for Ren Faire), and was terrified to try it. To prepare myself, I researched paintings, contemporary cutting diagrams, extant museum pieces, and fashion plates. In fact, I fastidiously avoided beginning the pattern because there was just so much research to be done. The excuses I give myself.

And then, in the end... I had to make up the coat in less than a week. Really, a few nights. And I just hoped enough research had sunk in so that whatever pattern I spit out would be moderately authentic, because I had no time to carefully deliberate over my patternmaking. 

My primary reference for drafting the pattern was Men's Garment's 1830-1900: A Guide to Pattern Cutting and Tailoring. The first tailcoat pattern draft in the book is for a coat circa 1830, but it looked like something that I could tweak slightly into a moderately accurate pattern for my desired time period (1800-1810). Another GREAT reference was an article posted on the Regency Society of America forum (post is here, actual article is via ingentaconnect), The Clothing of a Georgian Banker, Thomas Coutts: A Story of Museum Dispersal, authored by David Wilcox. There are a couple oddities about Thomas Coutts clothing, but I find those to be most interesting (sometimes, when researching reproduction clothing, I think it is easy to limit oneself to only attributes commonly found in extant clothing/research. However, clothing then, as now, was just functional - it was edited and altered to serve its purpose best.) The clothing documented in the article is mostly for an older Mr. Coutts, so it must be taken into account that he may not have been on the forefront of fashion, even if his wardrobe is dated close to 1810. 

Observe below, the differences between the 1830 (R.I. Davis) pattern, and the 1810 (Thomas Coutts) pattern.

Pattern detail from The Clothing of a Georgian Banker, Thomas Coutts.

Pattern being drafted (ignore the armhole mishap - I used 1/8 scale as a reference at one point, instead of 1/4 scale. It was fixed after a little confusion.) from R. I. Davis's Men's Garments 1830-1900.

Differences between earlier vs. later patterns: (I also compared these to a couple Norah Waugh coat patterns, one of which is too early and one of which is too late for my period - why is there nothing available for 1805-1815? I had to imagine the progression between patterns):
- fit: early patterns have a lot more straight lines, late patterns are pretty curvy. By 1830 they are starting to hug the body pretty snugly. 
- waist seam: early patterns have none (and very little shaping, although I think I could get away with a fish dart at the pocket for 1810), whereas late patterns have evolved from a slight fish dart at the pocket to a full-blown waist seam, nipping in at the waist to create a bit of a flared skirt. Maggie Waterman wrote a great article about when the waist seam on Regency coats appeared (as well as a stout defense of well-researched costuming!) on her blog Serendipitous Stitchery, (article here).
- armscye: I noticed that on some patterns (namely the Coutts and Norah Waugh patterns) the armscye is very large and round. But on the R. I. Davis pattern, it's fairly narrow and close. Observing extant garments, the armholes appear to always be pretty closely-cut to the front-shoulder and underarm, and cut 'round closer to centre-back than modern coats. Maybe the large-looking armscye is just a proportion thing that I am not understanding. Maybe the R.I. Davis pattern would look correct if I raised the underarm seam, rounding out the shape of the armscye. But I didn't worry too much about that. As long as it looked right post-fitting, I determined to not fuss. 
- length: coats around 1810 tended to be shorter (above back of knee), and around 1830 they tend to be longer (solidly mid-knee).

 I busted out (fiercely quickly) the first pattern, using Kenny's measurements. Once the pattern looked about right, I laid it flat on muslin and traced around it with red marking wax. Pins didn't enter into it. I had Kenny cut out the pieces with really wide, haphazard seam allowances, and then I stitched the pieces together by just matching the marked lines and stitching down them. My teachers would possibly have cringed. But, I was able to make a mock-up in an evening, and make all my pattern adjustments!! It worked out.  

Kenny looks like such a hobbit in this picture. His breeches are not hemmed and don't have buttons holding them in at the knee, so they are kind of flapping out and making him look squatty (need to remember this picture for future hobbit costumes!) We decided that the coat needed to a) be cutaway higher, and b) re-angled at the opening - the angle of that opening is old man angle, not a chic young gentleman angle.

My sweetie-pie! He let me drag him away from his desk multiple times to re-try things on. He still smiled at me for pictures. I surely do love him.

A couple issues here: drag lines from the side-back neck (probably needed to slash+spread the front neckline close to the shoulder seam - maybe - armholes confuse me), tight across-front chest (I did slash+spread a little bit into the lower front armhole, which, now that I think about it, addressed my patternmaking qualm about the armscye being too narrow!).  The sleeve looks weird. But I was really trying to set it as far into the body as possible, like the extant examples I've seen! I don't think it looked to weird on the end result (but I still haven't examined those pictures, so we'll see...)

These sleeves are SO long (which is pretty authentic). Now that I am looking at these pictures, I could have possible re-angled the sleeve when I set it in to help with the awkward back-bulge at the armscye. Got a couple unattractive drag lines going on there. 

No collar! Totally should have put the collar on for the fitting. I hang my head in shame. But it would have taken me another twenty minutes to draft correctly, and I did not have that kind of time. This bit me in the bum later. 

Skirts are too long. Unfortunately, I forgot to trim them when I stitched up the coat (a lot of stitching happened in the car on the way to Louisville, so that was easily overlooked.) Will have to go back and fix that!

Here you can see that I started to pull the armscye back toward the CB/shoulder. I brought it in by roughly 2". That wrinkle under his arm? Could not figure out how to get rid of it without restricting movement. I have seen this bulgy wrinkle in quite a few plates and paintings, though. I assume it is inevitable with the high, tight armscye (although... I probably should have rotated the sleeve a little bit, might have helped). Observe how I pinched in the fish dart; I totally forgot to mark and execute that in my hasty construction of the actual coat. Yet another thing to go back and fix. 

Now I really want to see pictures of the actual coat on Kenny again. Have to get those photos from my mom, and then I'll dissect them here. 

From the inside out: Shirt

Ok, I am really uncertain about how books should be cited on a blog, so I will cite the scans from my books the way I would in a paper. However, if you feel that I'm doing something incorrectly, please let me know!

First, an example of a shirt from the V&A. It is linen, hand-sewn with linen thread, constructed somewhere between the years 1750 and 1800.



The Regency Reproductions website provides a nice summary of Regency styles, including the details of shirt collars below.




I have a couple of patterns from books that I have been examining also, one from Costume Close-Up, by Linda Baumgarten, and another from The Cut of Men's Clothes:1600-1900, by Norah Waugh.


Waugh, Norah. The Cut of Men's Clothes, 1600-1900. New York : Theatre Arts Books, 1964.


Baumgarten, Linda. Costume Close-up: Clothing Construction and Pattern, 1750-1790. Williamsburg, Va. : Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, in association with Quite Specific Media Group, New York, 1999.

According to Linda Baumgarten, the shirt in her book was altered at a later date. She mentions that this is evident in part due to the length of the cuffs, so I think I will go with the narrow cuffs in Norah Waugh's pattern (minus the frills, which probably would have been detachable anyway). I haven't decided yet which pattern shapes to go with (shoulder seams or no?). I am really interested in the reenforcement at the shoulders of the Baumgarten pattern, which I could probably put in even if there is a shoulder seam. I am a little disinclined to put in that little triangular gusset at the neck without a shoulder seam...

The fabric we are using for this shirt is not perfectly authentic, it is a lightweight linen/cotton blend from Jo-Ann's, but it should do just fine. Back at the turn of the century, 100% linen would be used, but it would also have been a relatively lightweight linen, and that was just not to be found at Jo-Ann's. If I were going for complete authenticity, I would have ordered from Fabric-Store.com. They have a wide variety of linens, and specialize in fabrics for reproductions and reenactment.

I have a little bit of a dilemma to sort out before I cut into the fabric for this shirt. I want to tea-dye it (it is currently a really bright white) and I would normally just get that over with before even cutting anything, but I'm wondering if I should try dyeing it AFTER I make it up, to get a slightly aged and mottled effect... Or it could just turn out weird. Hmm.