Thursday, January 10, 2013

More 1910's Bra Mock Up

Thanks for your encouraging words and advice on my last post! After reading several comments, I did give the chemise and corset combination a go. Now granted, I have not made a period style chemise yet (which to me look to be mostly sleeveless with either a neckline drawstring or a yoke giving fullness over the chest) but my regency chemise has a similar drawstring neckline, although it does have sleeves.

I am glad I did try it, but I don't really want to share pics of what it looked like. I have been (probably over) thinking this issue and I think this is why I really need a 1910's style bra to go with my corset: (image below from Corsetrasewing)
This is from 1912 - I love how it shows a good level of support for a rather "motherly" type figure!

1. I made my corset a little high in the waist, I think. The top edge of the corset hits right below my bust. Right where the bottom edge of my gussets are on my regency stays.

2. I have a very short waist for my figure.

3. My currently-being-nursed girls are excelling in the sag and droop department. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if I was a smaller cup size, but they are, well, to risk sounding indelicate, heavy. 

4. With my corset on the the chemise tightly pulled down over the bosom, it works for a time to keep the bosom rather "bound" to the torso. But when I have to nurse, I have to loosen the drawstring and then its fairly complicated to "rebind" the bosom when I am done nursing. In this case, a bra that can be unhooked and then rehooked is easier to deal with. Otherwise, I'd have to pull my chemise down once more firmly under the corset.

This was an interesting article about brassieres being recommended for women with larger bustlines: 1908-1910 Brassiere. The image below is from another interesting post about the styles of Edwardian corsets.


I made one more mock up of my brassiere. I shortened it a bit and I had to shorten the straps as well. I decided to raise the neckline of it a tad to give it more a V shape than the sweetheart shape it was before. I tried it on and here you can see how it looks when worn in combination with the corset. I am pretty happy with the overall shape, as the overall shape is what will give the finished outfit its distinctive silhouette.

Most of the brassieres I have been able to see look to be boned or are described as being boned. I plan to make my own brassiere out of stuff I already have on hand (since this is not a period we really "do", and this outfit will be just for fun and for modern wear, I am trying to just use up scraps from my stash instead of having to buy new fabric). I am trying to decide if I want to make it a double layer brassiere with the bones inserted between the layers or single layer with the boning slid into fabric casings. I think a single layer would be more period correct but a double layer would be easier to do. (I made my corset double layer even though the original the pattern was taken from is single layer). So, I'm still undecided.

I hope to get the real thing made today. It should be a fairly quick, simple sewing job. Tomorrow I'm going to hit up some local thrift stores and see if I can find a cotton sheet to make a chemise and some drawers from.

Love,
Sarah

1 comment:

  1. Clearly, this is an era of fashion distinguished by a rather low bust. Now we know why. Your silhouette looks "right" in the last picture (to the best of my admittedly feeble knowledge) so I think you've figured this one out. I'm looking forward to the finished results! You always make the prettiest under-things.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your lovely thoughts!