1830s Corset

 The last installment of the 1830s underpinnings!  Now I can finally start working on dresses.

I made my mock up of this pattern last year in December 2019.  I machine stitched it because I always knew it would be replaced by a better version eventually.  I didn't like how the bust fit, nor the tie on shoulder straps, not to mention I had to take a few big tucks in at the back to make it fit me and those were rather annoying.  Thankfully, this, my final version, has none of these issues.

I made this corset almost entirely out of scraps and bits left over from other projects so it didn't cost much at all!  I used white cotton sateen for the fabric, copious amounts of sugar'n cream yarn for the cording, lots of German plastic whalebone boning, a bit of metal boning for the center back, some metal grommets, and some silk ribbon.  The only things I had to purchase were a wooden busk and some lacing string.

My base is the Laughing Moon romantic corset pattern, view A.  The pattern itself fits me very well with very little alteration, although I did have to go down a few sizes to keep my corset from meeting in the back.  After cutting out the basic pattern, it was time to go back to originals to see how I could improve on the basic Laughing Moon pattern.

To make the bust fit better than the mock up (which falls down constantly despite the extra boning put in), I decided to cord the entire gusset area just like this original from the MET.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1830-1839

Another way I combatted the falling bust issue is to lengthen the boning and add a bit more.  This original shows a more heavily boned corset, especially throughout the bust.  I like how the boning goes down to the waist.  I didn't add quite so much, but I did lengthen the boning pieces from the pattern's suggestion.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1833

Most originals do show the entire set of stays backstitched, but there are originals that show the exterior stitching being done with a running stitch.  I copied those originals purely for my sanity throughout this project.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1815-1825

For decoration, I knew it needed to be fancy.  Sarah, after all, would be able to afford the best.  I considered heavy embroidery but decided against it-again citing my own sanity.  I did find a rather simple embroidery design using a herringbone stitch pattern that I decided to use instead. I, however, opted for a feather stitch instead of the herringbone pattern.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1830s

Instead, my eventual design outside of embroidery came out to be a rather hodge-podge of originals.  The top front (basically to the end of the gussets) is based on this original.  I only added cording to help support the bust.

Unknown collection

Lots of boning going down to the waist, very little embroidery (although I added some around the gussets as in the previous original).

From gussets down, I copied this original.

V&A Museum, 1825-1835

And another view of the same corset, this time from the side.  Look at all that boning!  This will be a very supportive corset!

The only thing I really changed was to do the embroidery seen above instead of the wavy thing going on in this corset.  I also added embroidery to the hip gussets to match the bust gussets.  The bones also received a fair bit of flossing on the top and bottom to hold them in place.

This corset closes with a spiral lacing as opposed to my typical 'bunny ears' style.  I considered fan lacing but decided to leave that for another day.

With all the fitting issues fixed and the added support in the back and bust, I think this corset turned out lovely!  Now we can start working on dresses.

Enjoy!