TVE 01 Truly Victorian Edwardian Corset

 Have been making up a mock corset from the TVE01 Edwardian Corset pattern from Truly Victorian. Excuse the scribbles, when I'm making a mock up I just transfer all of the pattern markings to the fabric in their entirety so that I can keep an eye on which way the grainlines are meant to go and that the waistline sits where it's meant to. It's probably an unnecessary process but I have found it helpful. My handy dummy 'Dot' is sporting a regency chemise and an Edwardian hip pad (booty padding) to help with the silhouette that I'm going for.

I used the busk intended for the final corset so I will have to rip that back out. This was my first time inserting one so I'm happy that I understand how that's supposed to work now. 

You can see from the side how the popular 's-bend' shape from that era is forming. The padding underneath the corset fills out the hips and will fill out the bust once I have made some padding (this is a period thing!). To help with the gap around the bust I am going down a gore size on the pattern as well. Between those two things the gaping should not be an issue. 

On the back I laced it properly (with waist ties as well)by just using an awl to make some holes. The only thing that keeps drawing my eye is that the hips don't seem to come out sideways very much? Although I suppose that once there are petticoats it might not bother me so much.

Overall this has been a very successful mock up. It has allowed me to have a play with all of the corsetry hardware as I've never used it before. The size is fine other than around the top of the bust which I am sure will be fixed with padding and the gore adjustment.  

The bad news is that the lace that I ordered for this project got lost in the post amongst all the strikes and Christmas limbo. So for now the actual corset will just have to be simply bound along the top because it took me ages to source the right look for the lace - lace is not just lace it seems. 

Most modern lace just doesn't look period. Machine made lace was a thing in the Edwardian times as hand made lace was prohibitively expensive and reserved for the wealthy so the fact that its all machined is not an issue. What is an issue is how close to a plastic bag it looks, or like it was woven from sack cloth, but I digress. The actual problem is that my perfect lace is gone. I know I wanted to make lace this year but I don't think I'm going to be able to make it in great quantities!

2023 Plans - It's still January right?

There are two major projects that I want to tackle in 2023. Firstly, I want to learn a new textiles based skill. 

Secondly, as I find that I'm getting more interested in historical costume - I am giving myself a project that shall hereto be known as 'The Big Edwardian Outfit' which I plan to make to fit me so that I can wear it out and about (with others in costume, not at Tesco).

So since the Edwardians love lace, I want to make lace making the new skill of 2023. I recently found out that the Lace Guild is local to me, so I have access to lots of expertise and inspiration. The quality of hand made lace is phenomenal and I look forward to learning more about it as I go.

I talked myself out of tackling shoe-making this year!

So those are the two main things, textile-wise. I will still work on my dolls house and I still have a couple of sewing projects that I want to get finished that were left over from last year as I don't want to be drowning in WIP's. One of those being my handsewn regency stays (which are almost done!). I also want to make a new shirtdress, which I already have a nice viscose twill for. 

And I promised myself I would spin more this year as last year was pretty sparse.

The 2023 'DEFINITELY MAKING' list currently looks like -

    

        - Edwardian Corset

        - Regency stays (Only need to bind them now, almost done)

        - Cotton Petticoat, ideally two of them

        - Corset Cover

        - Edwardian day dress (TBC) (I expect this to be the major project this year, but I'm completely undecided on what to actually make)

        - Viscose twill shirtdress (modern)

        - Edwardian toque hat

Once the Regency stays are done, my major handsewn project is all over which will give me some time to work on lace making.

The 2023 'I WANT TO MAKE (but i'll struggle to find the time to)' list is -

 

        - A wrap style blouse, have pattern but no fabric (buy fabric)

        - A 1940's/50's giant, floor-length quilted house coat because being cold sucks.

It's been so long!

 WOW a bit of a catch up incoming!

The last 2 posts were sitting in my drafts from TWO years ago. Basically life got overrun with... well, life and university work. Good and bad times that I just wasn't documenting as I wanted to. So here's some pics of stuff I made.

Firstly, my nieces bunny. From 2 years ago...

Really enjoyed making her. That was from the Luna Lapin set of pattern books but I think I drafted the coat myself - the one in the book was cut from felt and this one was brushed cotton and need hems and lining.. I did probably use the pattern from the book as a starting point but I honestly don't remember. So that was Christmas 2020!

Sneaky photo bomb above from a set of hand sewn regency stays and a chemise from a Laughing Moon pattern (Historical sewing funsies - yay!) still unfinished at the moment. 

2021 -

Won an Armies on Parade at Games Workshop with my ghostly army. Bucket list stuff, was proper chuffed. All the little crypts had glowing LED's in them.

Dolls house got built and moved into the sewing room.

2022-

Firstly, was awarded a distinction on my Law stuff, I decided not to finish the whole degree as time constraints were getting too tight. Maybe I'll pick it up again in the future but I don't really see that happening at this time.

Started designing and making 3D prints for the dolls house, like this little log burner. Then started selling those on Etsy.

Treated myself to Patterns of Fashion, so I see more historical sewing in the future.

Tried my hand at silversmithing. 

The sad news is that I no longer really have a sewing room. My husband and daughter now both work from home and my little space is basically an office now! Though I do use it too, to be fair. So all my stuff is stored in there but there's not actually room to do anything anymore. Good thing I have a decent size kitchen table.

Ah well, life changes eh?

This weeks dyeing

Low immersion again. Merino/Bamboo blend and Corriedale in the bath this week. 

This weeks nominal experiment was to use thinner stripes of colour to influence shorter runs of solid colour in the final spin.

Slight hiatus and Christmas sewing

 Wow I've been really busy with uni stuff, I really hope it pays off one day because it takes up basically all of my free time!

The only Christmas sewing that I've committed to this year is a Luna Lapin for my niece.

Luna Lapin is a sweet wool felt bunny invented by Sarah Peel. She's vintage in feel and is perfect for an heirloom style gift. I'm not sure that it would be suitable for rough play but my niece prides herself on being very careful with her toys so I'm hoping it will be OK. If not, I can make her another! The pattern to make Luna and some clothes for her are in Sarah's book 'Making Luna Lapin.'

I have made Luna before, mine is imaginatively called 'Bunny' and doesn't have any part of the magnificent wardrobe from the book. When I finished her, I found the proportions a little strange for the kind of wardrobe I wanted to build for her so I sort of shelved the project while I worked on a couple of other dolls (but honestly none of them came out so well as Bunny).   I apparently only took this WIP picture at the time, so I will add a present day Bunny. I did make cotton versions for my young boys at the time too (also named Bunny and Bunny - lol) which required some messing around with the pattern, I had to add a bunch of seams, but they turned out well and amazingly, are still intact despite indulging in a lot of rough play.

The set I want to make for my niece will definitely have a few outfits and hopefully some shoes. I like to take inspiration from real life little girls outfits and have a Pinterest board stuffed with ones I like. I have picked a few out that I'm hoping I can tweak some of the patterns in the book to make.

Cornwall

 

How I love thee. We managed to steal a week away to our favourite place with the kids. We usually have a big family affair there as much of my husbands family live around about but the new rules meant we could not. We stayed so busy that I only managed about another 4 threads into the quilt, so still not done. I usually get so much done when we are away! Bit disappointed about that to be honest, but it's so much more important to spend proper time together without the stresses of home at the minute.

Tidying up, bits and bobs, not really made anything...

My new Uni year will be kicking off soon and I have no where to study. So I want to tidy up in my sewing room so that I can have a little study shelf or something. I study Law part-time so I do generate a lot of paperwork and it will have to go somewhere. More generally, the sewing room could definitely use a sort out, then i'll have more room for new stuff! 

I have just sold a lot of larger pieces of quilting cotton that I would literally never use because I don't like them very much (inherited) that were taking up a ton of room. Luckily they were really good quality and have had no problem moving them along on eBay. Stash-wise I think that's all I'm prepared to get rid of at this time but I am left with the problem of how to fix whats left.

I could do with a trip to Ikea and buy them out of all the things like paper boxes and magazine files but it's no easy thing to take your young kids shopping at the moment, so that may be on hold. I can't bring myself to buy them on eBay, they are literally double the price(!) and I don't live too far from Ikea.

I did get rid of a lot of rubbish, and I'm not done yet. There's a box of needle felting supplies that I kind of want to chuck, I don't think it's good enough to sell but one of the children showed an interest for like 20 minutes one time so I feel guilty, ha!

Have also been messing around with the idea of switching my blog to a vlog. Purely because I can chat a little easier than I can type. But there are tech limitations around this it seems. I don't have a decent camera and I don't want to put my name to potato quality youtube! So not sure what will happen there right now. I have a project that I want to talk about there but not sure whether to just get on with said project, and write about or delay til I can show the internet properly.

I did take up the curtains that are in here so they no longer have to be stuffed behind the desk to open or close them but, I'm not sure I like it - they are quite voluminous now that they aren't being held back by anything and taking over the actual work area of the desk...

I replaced the very tired, gross looking ironing board cover with a DIY one, it looks way better now and was a lot easier to do that I had originally thought.

I find myself wondering if I could fit a cutting table in here somehow. It was always the plan to have something like that but I have been slowly taking up the floor space with other stuff and I'm not sure that one would fit in here anymore and I don't think I will be happy with something small... I would at least want to be able to cut a full length dress on it (luckily, I am short!). Hmmm, probably best off to continue to use the kitchen table lol.

Lastly, I had a burst of productivity on ye olde quilt, so named because it is the project that has lasted forever and ever. I have finished the 2nd side of scallops - so I'm officially halfway around that border now! 

Once this border is done, I only need to bind the quilt. I'm almost there!