Corset and Pleated shorts - Done!

Sorry for not posting pictures of my corset and my pleated shorts. I have had both done for a week or two, but with graduation and fair approaching, I have been very busy lately. I have pictures of them both, I just need to upload them.  I do have, however, a picture of my new hat I made. I did end up finding a straw hat frame I liked, so I bought three of them. I've only decorated one so far. See what you think:

I calculated the cost of it all and it came to around five dollars for this hat. Sounds good to me! I want to get one or two more to decorate. One will be covered plain black with maybe a black or muted ribbon for trim (for funerals and such), one will be white with loads of ostrich feathers, one will be straw with white tulle and either white or yellow flowers or a mix, I'm not quite sure yet.

I wore my pictured outfit out in public to church the other morning and people seemed to like it. I don't think I scared any little kids or anything. :) I also wore my outfit to Charlton Park's Old Fashioned Fourth of July, although their idea of old fashioned isn't as old as mine. ;)

Anyways, just a quick post to let you all know I'm still here. I'll try to get the pictures of my corset and pleated shorts up in the next day or so. Hope your summer is going well and Happy Independence day! 

Small waists and corsets

Recently I was online reading one of my many historical blogging sites and I happened across a comment on the very picture I used for my header.

The lovely Princess Mathilde of Bavaria

They said: 'Her waist! Unreal what women used to do to themselves. No wonder she looks ill.' Wow. Really? It made me stop and think about how the general public thinks of corsets. 

First off, a few definitions. Tight lacing is when you wear your corset tighter and tighter very gradually (months or years, not days) until you get a smaller waist.

Corset training is when you wear a corset to get a smaller waist. It is not as extreme as tight-lacing.

Coutil (or coutille) is the fabric commonly used for corsets. It's woven in a herringbone weave, which makes it very strong and unlikely to stretch.

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I'm sure the one of the first things people think of when they think of corsets is the scene from Gone With the Wind where Scarlett is holding on to the bedpost while Mammy pulls her corset tight.

"Just hold on and suck in!"

Most people who wore corsets corset-trained from a young age. I am not one hundred percent sure at what age they would start. I have seen corsets for children as young as 8-10. I think it would depend on the family as well. A farm girl would not be as concerned with wearing a corset at a young age and tightening it down as a southern belle (read Scarlett O'Hara) would be.

Scarlett, being a pampered young girl would have started wearing stays when she was young, training her waist for years until she could squeeze into a 20 inch-waisted dress. Laura Ingalls, on the other hand, a farm girl through and through, refused to wear her corset when she was growing up, preferring to run around unrestrained, much to the dismay of Ma, who had an 18 inch waist herself before she was married.

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One of the common arguments against corsets is that they distort your internal organs. Yes, they do move them around, but you can take your corset off any time you like. Child birth also distorts your internal organs and that lasts for nine months!

Corsets are also recommended today by doctors to help correct scoliosis. 

Not to mention recommended by me to correct bad posture. ;) Young ladies and also young men would wear corsets to give them good posture and poise. Yes, you read that right.

Also, corsets give a strong base on which to wear your petticoats. A drawstring cutting into your waist gets old after a while, trust me.

"But wait a minute, Veronica," you say "Aren't corsets uncomfortable to wear?"

No, not really. Corsets are skin-tight, so naturally if you are not a perfect size 10 or 14 or whatever,  and you buy one off the shelf, it won't fit right and it won't be comfortable. You have to make one or have one custom-made to your dimensions for them to work. Just like a pair of shoes - if they don't fit right, you'll be miserable in them.

There were people like Camille Clifford who laced themselves down to an 18 inch wasp waist, but the majority of people didn't. Women used a variety of ways to make their waists appear smaller. 

One of the ways women enhanced their figure and made their waist look even smaller was with bust and hip pads. I will not go into that and will instead point you to a blog post by American Duchess.  

Illusion was another way women appeared to have small waists. Common sense says that if you put something excessively big next to something of normal size, the normal-sized object will appear smaller. Big sleeves and full skirts were two ways to make your waist look smaller.

1830's dress

1860's

1890's

So next time you see someone wearing a corset or read an article about them, keep an open mind. Don't dis corsets before you've had a chance to try them. Also, take a second look at that waist. It might not be as small as you think.

Walker Tavern and Corset update

I was going to make this post and the flower-language one a single post, but it was too picture-heavy and the formatting couldn't take it, so I split it up. :) Read on for part 2!

Today I went to Walker Tavern. It's a bit of a drive, but it was a lovely day, so I didn't really mind. The weather was just perfect, just windy enough to keep the sun from being too hot without it being to chilly.

Just a reminder, you can click on the pictures to see them bigger.

The grounds

The Tavern itself!

Part of the civilian camp

Unfortunately, the Tavern was closed. I'm not sure why. Renovations maybe? Or perhaps, since it was built in the 1840's, it was simply too delicate to let large hordes of people come tramping through. I'll have to look up why. I would have liked to see inside.

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On another note a busk and the boning for my corset came in the mail Saturday! Yippee! It was so much fun to open, all wrapped up in tissue paper and a red ribbon. It was almost like a present. :) I decided to go with spiral boning all the way around except for the two 1/2" bones in back nearest the grommets, which are plain steel. Now just to get some two-piece grommets... 

I can't wait to sew on my corset again. I haven't sewn anything lately because I've been on a stand-still with my corset and with my pleated shorts I'm at the cutting out stage. Cutting out involves laying the fabric on the floor and pinning all the pieces to it before you can even think of cutting it. The aforementioned floor is one half of a much-used bedroom, which certainly doesn't help. When I get my own house someday, I'm going to have a room set aside for sewing, and sewing only. :)

Also, thank you all kindly for the 1,000 page views! Wow! I feel very honored.

Corset update

I've been very bad about sewing recently. It just hasn't interested me. This afternoon I was determined to get over that and put a good two and a half hours work into my corset. I finished fitting it (drawing all over in the process), zigzagged the edges flat, since the seam allowances in most places were too small to flat-fell, and cut some of the coutil into strips for the bone casing.

I'm happy to report that my new machine sews it wonderfully! It didn't have a problem sewing through multiple layers of coutil at all, as opposed to our old machine, which sounded like it was dying every time it sewed more than one layer of fabric. :) The old machine is in for a much-needed repair right now.

Newly fitted!

Close up of the zigzag.

Coutil strips for the bone casing.

So there you have it. Because I have a short attention span, I also stopped mid-way to iron the fabric for my next project. :) I'm going to make a pair of pleated shorts for my graduation party.

Here's the pattern:

And my fabric:

Hope you all are having a great week!

Of Birthdays, Chicks, and Sewing Machines

I am now 18! It's rather strange to think that I'm old enough to legally get married now. And get a tattoo. And join the Army. But I'm not going to do any of those things. Know why? Because I'd much rather stay at home sewing something on my new sewing machine!

Isn't she beautiful?

It's a Viking Emerald 116. A pretty basic machine, but it has everything I need to sew all sorts of amazing things. One if the coolest things about it is that it has not only an automatic button-hole setting but also a needle threader! No more poking and prodding at a tiny little needle with an even smaller hole in it. :) I haven't tried the automatic button-holer yet, but I'm thinking it'll be pretty neat. The main thing I don't like about making buttonholes is trying to get them all the same length so the button isn't too loose, or worse, too tight. That and trying to keep the long edges straight.

After a few sample runs to try out the different settings, I sewed a few seams on my corset. She certainly has a different sound than Mom's machine. Not a bad sound though. Here's what's new with my corset:

After I had to take out two of the pieces in each side because I'd sewn them in upside down (sigh), I sewed them back together with a 3/8" (I think, it was just to the edge of the foot) seam allowance because I didn't want to mess with the edges where I had cut them because of the flat felling. So now it's too big. I think. I've never made one before, so it's all trial and error. The mock-up I made fit fine, now just to get this fitting. I don't really know how big/small it should be, having never tried one on in real life. All I know comes from the internet. (Which actually kinda cool, if you think about it. If I had been born 30 years earlier, I wouldn't know a thing about sewing corsets! Or want to make one, probably, based on the common mis-conception about everyone being tight lacers. I love telling people that I'm making a corset, just to see their faces. :) )

The black is the non-fitted side, the blue is fitted, showing how much I've taken in.

Once my fitting helper (a.k.a. the ever helpful Mom) gets back, I'm going to try it again. Fitting is one time when I could use a clone! One of me to fit onto and one to be behind myself to see how it fits! And maybe one in front to help hold it. :)

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In other news, our chicks are getting bigger! They've all started getting wing, tail, and body feathers in. The two Buffs are a bit behind the others, in terms of feather growth. They all are getting to the point where you have to hold them in two hands, simply because of their size. They're growing up! I feel like a proud mother telling about her kids. :) They like to flap around the box we're keeping them in. None of them have flown to the top of the feeder yet, but I'm guessing it won't be long! The box sides are a good yard or so tall, so we don't have to worry about them getting out.

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I'm going to post a picture of my moccasins. I know I said I wasn't going to post a picture until I got the beading on both done, but I have it done on one and now I'm not sure I like it. First off, here's what they look like:

Sorry for the poor-quality picture. Mirrors aren't good photo-takers.

 They're maybe not the most flattering, but are they ever comfy! I like that you can sit on them (I sit on my feet a lot) without a big hard sole digging in.



So...do they look better with the red beading or without? Please leave a comment. I can't decide.

I do like the blue beading and it's going to stay whatever I decide on the red.

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Anyhow, I had a nice birthday. A roller-rink near us has a homeschoolers only Friday once a month which happened to fall on my birthday. We got done with school a bit early, all ready to go, but then we learned that it was closed due to flooding from all the rain we've had recently. So instead we went to the Michigan Historical Museum, which was more fun anyways. :) 

One of my favorite things they had on display was a bloomer dress. It was interesting to see one in person as opposed to pictures on the internet. It fastened with hooks and eyes, which kind of surprised me. Were I making it, I would have used buttons. I think they would stay better if you were vigorous. I wish they had had more information on it. They didn't even tell what year it was from! Ah well. I wish I had remembered to bring my camera.

They also had some of Laura Ingalls Wilder's original notebooks! She wrote down her story in them, then Rose, her daughter made them into books. Her handwriting was lovely. I also enjoyed seeing some Civil War era letters and diaries. The handwriting in them was beautiful as well. The only way I can think to describe it is 'spidery.' It's very fine and delicate.

Old, new, and our messy sewing table...

On the drive down we encountered water going across the road. After watching two smaller cars drive through, we decided to go for it as well. We made it just fine and there were no other incidents on the way there. We took a different route on the way back to avoid it but ended up driving through water once more and turning around because it looked too deep and/or fast three more times. I suppose it's better than a dry year like last. 

Let me know what you think on the beading!