I decided to try out a pattern from de Gracieuse, which has an absolutely fantastic on-line resource for patterns for Victorian clothes and underwear. I downloaded some pages of the magazine with corset images and patterns, imported the pattern page into photoshop, started removing lines I didn't need but soon tired of it and decided to just persuade my partner (who has an A2 printer in his office) to print out the pattern page for me at 'human' size and trace off that.
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| The complex pattern page of de Gracieuse on A4 (and this is quite a simple one!) |
On an A4 copy of the pattern page I colour coded the pattern pieces using the type on the illustrated page as a guide. The cover page has some illustrations showing some construction instructions too. The instructions are in Dutch but the illustrations are good enough for this non-Dutch speaker to be able to get a fair amount of information from them (for use when making a 'real' corset).
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| Human-sized pattern on four sheets of A2 taped together |
I repeated my colour coding onto my 'human' size pattern page, chose a pattern I wanted to try (the one in yellow/green – yellow pen didn't show so well) and traced it using a light box onto some wallpaper lining paper I had sitting about. In my previous existence I was a book designer so have access to light boxes, metal type rules, scalpels and the like – it certainly makes life easier.
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| Traced half pattern on lining paper (spot the mistake?) |
Then I cut it out, made a second copy and started with the masking tape.
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| All cut out here with the gores in the right places (only at this point did I realise I'd missed out a gore!) |
The patterns don't have any seam allowances so sticking them together is pretty straight forward once you get started. A little tricky to ease in paper but I found my knee made a handy curve to shape the curve around (a tailor's ham would work too).
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| The hip gore nearest centre back in place and already showing the enormous hip spring this corset will have |
Three million (no exaggeration, honest!) pieces of masking tape later I attached the paper to my Atelier Sylphe victorian mannequin and had a good look at the shape. It didn't fit the mannequin properly but it was enough to let me see what a busty girl this corset is and how extreme the hip spring is.
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| Some very attractive curves are created by the gores and pattern shaping at the lower edge of the front |
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| In profile the size of the bust is more obvious as is the definite backward slope to the side seams |
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| I transferred the boning guides onto one half of the paper corset. It also makes clearer where the pieces start and finish |
Size
Centre front: 14"
Waist to lower edge: 6"
Waist: 23"
UB: 25"
Hip: 40"
Total of hip gores (along lower edge): 10" per side
Total of bust gores (along top edge): 6 1/2" per side
The instructions on the pattern page of de Gracieuse are so tiny that they're illegible but I do wonder if there is something in there suggesting the patterned gores are a maximum size and are really only a guide. It seems to me that it should be easier to reduce the size of the gores than to enlarge them and retain the intended shape, so the gores are supplied at the maximum size. Not sure but it's a starting point for resizing.
I will definitely be progressing this with more realistic gore sizes. The length and waist sizes make it fairly reasonable to work with, it's just the gores needing work.
While making this was good fun and kept me busy while watching the rugby (we lost, boo!), I think it is actually easier to test patterns in fabric!
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| Just a few of the three million pieces of masking tape |
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