My Chemise and Split Drawers! (And a Dress form)

If you have a Civil War dress, you also need all the correct undergarments to go with it. When I first made my dress, I had no clue about the correct 1860's silhouette, so recently I've been filling where I missed. A chemise and a pair of split drawers were the final pieces to complete my outfit.

I happened across a pattern for an 1850's - 1870's chemise in the Chapman Historical Museum that Cassidy from A Most Beguiling Accomplishment drew up. I thought it looked fairly simple, giving that it was all one piece (except for the gussets), so I decided to give it a go. I bought a plain white sheet. I thought it was cotton, but then I saw the tag said muslin. It feels thicker than most cottons to me.

Here's her sketch:

It took me a while to figure out how big to enlarge the thing. I ended up around 27" wide and while it isn't uncomfortable to wear, I think next time I'll make it a few inches wider. I was going to model it for you myself, along with my drawers and corset, but lately it has been quite chilly and I didn't really feel like walking around in my undergarments. :) My new dress form will model it for you instead. (Read more about her below)

There is some excess fabric below the arm, because of the way the pattern is, but it really doesn't bother me. 

The gussets

I used a self-drafted pattern for my split drawers, found at Auntie Maude's Compendium. They were fairly easy to make up and are very comfy! You can somewhat see them on my dress form, but they don't look very nice because she doesn't have legs to fill them out. :)

On to my dress form! I had been wanting one for some time now, but I waited until I made my corset so I could fit my historical dresses onto the correct silhouette. I started out with an old t-shirt and, with Mom's help, started slathering. You pretty much have to have someone help you, otherwise you can't get your shoulders correct. 

Taping...

Taping...

Taped!

Once I had a solid base, I cut it carefully off and taped it over a wooden frame made with Dad's help. Newspaper inside and more duct tape up the cut finished her up. Then I used my newest flower duct tape to cover her with. 

I think she turned out quite nice. I've named her Mabel. I haven't used her a whole lot yet, mainly just for modeling.

Hope your summer is going well!

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.

---- ------- ----

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.

---- ------- ----

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.

Petticoat - Finished!

I finally finished my first petticoat last night! I've been working on it for a few weeks. I found a pattern online (can't remember where now), which is basically triangles sewn together with a ruffle on the bottom. It was very easy, and the lady who drafted it did a step-by-step tutorial on her website. I'll have to see if I can find it.

When I first started making historical clothing, I doubted how much of a different a petticoat would make. After all, we don't wear them very often - if ever! - nowadays. As I read again and again how important it was to make the correct undergarments to complete your outfit, I started looking around and finally found a free pattern that didn't look too hard. The original petticoat was made from 6 yards of a cheap cotton, but I repurposed an old sheet (two, really) for the job. It's a bright pink, purple, and green Mexican-ish looking print, but both my Bustle dress skirt and my Civil War dress skirt are dark, so it showing through shouldn't ever be a problem.

There is one long ruffle around the bottom. I think it measured 150 inches, post-ruffling. My hoops are 120 inches at the bottom hoop, so it fits nicely over them.

I originally planned on making ruffles all the way up it, to smooth my Civil War skirt out over my hoops, but when I saw how much it took to make one ruffle around the bottom (four lengths of sheet - the long way!), I gave up on that idea pretty fast. I still have parts of one sheet and another sheet (though in a different print), so I'll see if my dress really needs it. Otherwise, I may just cut the extra sheet up for another plain petticoat.

I tried my petticoat on last night over my hoops with my Civil War dress on over it all and was pleasantly surprised how it got rid of my "lampshade hoop." Yay! :) Now I want to go take lots of pictures in my dress. Too bad it's so snowy out.

As lovely as this lady's dress is, it could benefit from a petticoat or two!

I'd like to have my petticoat the right length so I can wear it with my bustle dress skirt too, but right now it's way too long. If I put the waistband lower (pulling the whole petticoat up), it will be too short for my hoops... Hmm. What to do. I might try making a second waistband so I can put the drawstring into whichever one I want, thus making the petticoat two different lengths and just fold down the excess fabric. It does wonders for my bustle dress skirt as well, plus it's just so fun to wear! I'm always watching in movies now to see if I can tell how many petticoats the actresses are wearing, if any! Yes, I'm a bit obsessed. :) I'll try to get some pictures of it to show you all.

If you ever get the chance to wear a petticoat, try it! It might do more than you think.

*On another note, I turned anonymous comments on, so now anyone should be able to post a reply.