The Importance of Silhouette

When going for a vintage look, silhouette is important. It really goes a long way towards making you look authentic vs costumey.

A while ago, I mentioned on facebook that I had bought a vintage style bra at Kohl's and I've been trying it out ever since. (You may have spied it in a few previous outfit posts.)

 The bra I choose was Playtex 18 Hour Classic Support style 20/27 wire free. The website lists them a bit odd and B&C are here and D&DD are here.

 I did have some trouble with finding the right size. One cup size was completely full, possibly too full but the next cup size up had a lot of empty space. I went with the smaller cup (which was smaller than the cup size I wear in modern bras. I'm still not sure I ended up with the correct size but the shape is definitely more 40s/50s! :D

Tasha of By Gum By Golly has an excellent post on how to find a great 40s style bra. That's what I used when shopping for my bra. Hint: You'll want to look in the old lady section.

And goodness, it sure worked! My girls are definitely NOT modern shaped. They are higher, pointier and quite separated. Check out this outfit with a modern bra here.

It looks great under sweaters (and vintage dresses) and just gives a bit extra umpf to my look. I'd definitely recommend this for you gals looking for an affordable vintage style bra.

It's pretty comfy and isn't too odd looking. I don't have quite enough guts to wear a bullet bra. This particular one gives a nice 40s/conservative 50s shape.

I'm so happy to finally have this piece of my vintage foundations down! Costuming has taught me that the correct underpinnings are so important! Do you wear vintage style undergarments or do you stick with normal ones. What's your favorite brand?

Corset Progress

I've been using the last of my Christmas break to get in some real work on my corset! I'm planning on using this piece as my Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge #3 which isn't till February but I know I'll get busy once school starts!

I got all of the boning channels in! It was a long process especially since I made the channels from the leftover coutil.

It looks so pretty! :D

I did have one issue. I must have messed up the width of the boning channels a bit because I wasn't catching the fold of the fabric so I added another row of stitching 1/8" outside the boning channel. Let's call it "decorative". ;)

I also had another undergarment mishap. I finished my bra but the bottom waist band was too small! And it ended on my ribs so I knew no amount of diet or corseting was going to fix the issue. So I added a small gusset on each side on the under arm seam. It fits now and the fix is mostly hidden.

Bloggers with feline accomplices often note how their kitties always know when expensive fabric is around! I think my birds have the same sixth sense.

They could not resist a large piece of white, freshly washed and ironed piece of coutil! So I bribed them with some fabric scraps. Hopefully, this will keep them away from the finished corset!

In which my husband helps make a corset

The goal for my Edwardian sewing is to get as much work done over Christmas break as possible done on the underpinnings. For the brassier, I'm using a free pattern by Historically dressed.

I started by making a muslin just straight from the pattern and it turned out quite big. Above is my pattern pieces after all of the changes. I did end up changing the back neckline so I have more options for evening gown styles. The original is quite high. I found a lovely extant bra from this period on pinterest that has a v neckline in the back so I felt justified in my modification.

Here is my latest muslin. I'm half way tempted to finish it and turn it into a cute retro crop top (to be worn with a regular bra underneath of course!) since the cherry plaid print is so cute! It's funny out underwear from one period is more like outerwear from another.

For the corset, I'm using a free mid 19-teens corset from Festive Attyre. (It was her pinterest board of the bras too.) The pattern is hand drawn on a grid that needs to be enlarged to 1" by 1". My husband saved the day by doing fancy graphic design magic on it to get it enlarged and to print tiled like a pdf pattern. (In his words "enlarged in photoshop, saved as a pdf, printed as a poster in adobe acrobat".) So if you don't have a talented graphic designer husband/friend/coworker/etc, you won't be able to enlarge and print the pattern on a computer. Jen of Festive Attyre said that she used a copy machine to enlarge it so you might have better luck going that route.

She also has laid out a handy dandy chart on how to grade the pattern up or down to whatever size you'd like.

I also made a set of lacing strips as suggested by Jo of Bridges on the Body in her 1911 corset sew along. Can I just say that I HATE setting grommets. For my last corset, I upgraded from whatever grommets they sell at Jo-Ann Fabrics to grommets and a grommet press (the cheap kind) from a corset website (I've forgotten which one) and it sucks. I have to hammer the dumb press until the grommet starts to bend like it needs to, then carefully remove the whole piece from the press without the back part of the grommet getting stuck on the press and the whole thing falling apart and then hammer the grommet again. Oy.

Thankfully, after the first strip (and wasting about as many grommets as I actually set in) my wonderful husband stepped in to help. It went much smoother and we only had one wonky falling apart grommet to do over on the second strip! Woot! Guess he has the magic grommet touch....or I just have the upper body strength of a small ten year old.....

Anyways, I whipped up a muslin in some red striped quilting cotton. I picked this fabric because it was an appropriate length (about 1 yd) and it was a bit thicker and so would be a bit more durable for fittings. I did not attempt any strip matching so those lovely looking chevrons are just by accident.

I used 1" seam allowance as suggested by the Bridges on the Body sew along. Now I just have to baste the lacing strips on there and wait for my bones to come in so I can use a few to fit my muslin.