[The following has been pasted directly from the original livejournal post]
The structural layers for my Louisbourg ensemble are finally done! This
actually includes a sort of dark lavender-grey wool petticoat, but I
don't have photos of that yet so I'll just post the photos with chemise,
hoop, and stays. I also have light blue American Duchess clocked
stockings to go with this, so all in all it will be a very blue and
white set of underwear. =D
First of all, here is a triptych:
Here are some close-up photos of the stays. They are based on the 1740s pattern in Norah Waugh's Corsets and Crinolines,
re-drafted for my body. They are entirely hand-stitched, inside and
out, and the pieces were butted and whipped together. The outer fabric
is a fine worsted wool from Burnley and Trowbridge, interlined in
factory cotton and cotton coutil (ugh...it was for class, so we were
required to use coutil. I would rather have gone with linen canvas, but
ah well). They are lined in white linen, with the tabs lined separately.
The bindings and seam covers are pigskin. Since these photos, I have
re-laced them with linen tape, also from Burnley and Trowbridge. They
are fully boned in flat steels which were individually cut for the
channels (more than 180 bones, altogether). There are horizontal bones
across the stomacher and around the ribcage as well as the vertical
bones.
You can see the horizontal bones in this photo from before they were lined:
I've
never bound tabs before. These took about 7 hours of solid work, if I
remember correctly. I was running on two nights without sleep at that
point, though. Half the tabs bound, and before the straps were on:
Here they are finally lined and ready to hand in:
And
on to the hoop! The hoop is based off of one documented by Dr. Lynn
Sorge English in a small museum in England (accession number 2008 353/1
from the Museum Resource and Learning Center, Hereford, UK). It's
similar to one in Costume Close-Up, if anyone has that book,
except that on this one the cartridge pleating extends up above the top
hoop instead of disappearing into the seam. There are four hip panels,
each of which has two quilted sections stuffed with lambswool. There are
three rows of cane (the original hoop had iron rod, but we used halved
wooden reed instead, and steamed it into shape with the tailoring
irons). Each cane is held in a separate casing which is only tacked to
the skirt itself at a few points along its length - with the exception
of the top edge of the top cane, which is whipped to the bottom of the
hip panels all the way along. Likewise, the bottom of the cartridge
pleating is sewn to the bottom edge of the hip panels all the way
around, but is only tacked at the top here and there. The middle hoop is
held into an elliptical shape with two sets of ties on the inside. The
top hoop is actually 15 cm longer than the circumference of the hip
panels, and overlaps on the inside. Thus, since the hip panels
themselves are on a drawstring at the waist, the top "wheel" of the
skirt can be made larger or smaller based on preference.
It looks
as if the padded panels of the skirt at jutting up above my waist here;
they are held down by the weight of the petticoats that go over the
hoop skirt, and eventually the lambswool will flatten.
Back:
There
is a "V" steamed into the top cane at center front, which you can see
here. It was hard to get it in there, as it goes against the grain and
curve of the wood, but it very nicely forces the front of the hoop flat
and the back of the top hood up and out, forming a lovely rump effect.
=P
You can really see how the top hoop is angled up and back from center front. You can also see the opening for the pockets here:
And here's what it all looks like together!
And
try to picture it with these stockings from American Duchess and some
lovely period shoes that I have yet to make, instead of my winter boots:
=)
Fantastic! Do you make and sell these costumes?
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