The Vintage Nerd Sews

I said in an earlier post that I strongly dislike making historical undergarments. Making stays seems to have done something to my brain, because a few weeks back, I spent the weekend sewing and cording a pair of ladies' short stays, and while sewing cording channels did start to get dull toward the end (I cheated and used the sewing machine for this bit), I thoroughly enjoyed cording and assembling them.  The first portion of cording underway with the help of a circa 1900 needle. Stays front ready for cording I used Laughing Moon 115 for these, opting for the short stays option. For cording, I used cotton yarn from my stash, and salvaged zip ties from my failed half-boned stays for the couple of places boning was required. For a busk, I'm going to use a paint stirrer, as was recommended as a "cheat" by the pattern. I happened to have one lying around the house, and it fits perfectly in width! One unfortunate issue with this pattern is the cup size. I went with my rec...

The right thing to do when you begin a historical costuming project is to start with the undergarments. An unpopular opinion in the historical costuming community, but making undergarments is the part of historical costuming that I dislike the most. I dread it. So much plain white fabric and straight seams! And trying to fit corsetry with my long, narrow torso and slightly flared ribs is full of frustration. My 1910s and 1900s projects have never gotten off the ground because I hit fitting roadblocks with undergarments, and then just bundle the whole thing into the "maybe I'll return to it later" pile of lies. As frustrating as foundation garments can be, they are what make the silhouette of a historical era. Stays and corsets also help to support the often heavy layers of a gown, distributing weight onto the hips so that the whole thing doesn't pull at the shoulders and fits as it should. Using linen repurposed from a failed wrap dress project and American Duchess...