In January or February of 2020 I made it my goal to create Dicken’s Fair outfits for myself, my daughter, her friend and her friend’s mother. We all LOVE going to the Great Dicken’s Christmas Fair together every year and I was determined to go in costume with each of them in costume as well. It’s just so much more fun, in costume. Who knew at the time, that our plans would be derailed by a certain global pandemic.

So, of course, I started with the underpinnings. What one wears beneath the clothing helps create the silhouette and make the look more authentic. I had previously made myself victorian drawers and a shift, that I wore under my 1830’s costume, so the next thing would be a corset.

For Christmas the prior year, I had asked for and received a pattern and kit from Red Threaded, that included everything I needed to make my corset - Coutil, boning, boning casings and a busk. I was ready to go!

I decided to use a pretty striped oxford for the fashion fabric and backed each piece with the cotton coutil. The bust gusset seams were marked on the back side and stay stitched before cutting.

I was a little terrified to cut into the fabric and fold back before stitching in the bust gussets. It was actually not hard or painful at all and I even managed putting in the busk without tears, go figure.

All the boning casings needed to be pinned and sewn in place as well as the waist stay which is connected at the front and back in the seams. The only ribbon, I had on hand for the waist stay was a pretty navy and white petersham. I actually really ended up liking the contrast and was so glad that’s what I had on hand.

The eyelets were sewn by hand, and a white cotton binding finished the bottom and top edges of the corset. It was now “Technically” finished, but I thought it could use some embellishment. Some navy gimp trim and blue flossing, perhaps?

Here I am in my almost finished corset. I’m super happy with the fit. It’s kind of fun to wear around with my breton stripes but not easy to get in and out of on my own.

I really enjoyed adding both the flossing and the gimp trim but it was REALLY time consuming. Not sure if I can manage that with the other corsets.

In the meantime, a customer dropped off a donation of fabric to the shop. In this donation was a partially assembled corset and along with the corresponding Simplicity 7215 pattern. As it just dropped into my lap, and was the right size for Emma’s friend I decided to finish it for her. There was also plenty of fabric to create a matching one for her mom.

By the time I finished my corset, we were already on lockdown. With great hope that it would all be over before Christmas, I decided to go ahead and just do it. Do both corsets and I could get to Emma’s corset later.

The fabric was this pretty purple and gray upholstery fabric. I had some white denim on hand for the lining/base. I also had to use some plastic boning, which I had already, in addition to some steel boning because so much more was needed. Additionally, I did have to purchase more busks, lacing and boning casing which I found easily at Making It Yourself on Etsy.

The construction for this corset (which is standing on it’s own in the photo) went together in a similar way to the Red Threaded corset, however this Simplicity corset had hip gussets like the bust gussets instead of the hip panel.

I did finish both corsets with hand sewn eyelets but without flossing. As they were finished I learned, with sadness, that The Great Dicken’s Christmas faire was cancelled for 2020. The silver lining? - It just means I have more time to make the other parts of the costumes for either this year or next. Ha! Next up - Shifts and Petticoats for all and a corset for Emma.

If you are interested in learning how to make your own corset with hands-on experience, our resident costume design expert and draper, Sophie Hood, will be teaching a workshop on corset making, in March. You can register for that class here. The class will be in person with 3 hour classes over 4 weeks. Plenty of time to get the fit right, learn a ton of techniques and have some hands-on fun. Sophie will be using the Laughing Moon #100 Victorian corset pattern for her class. There will be a 3 student limit with social distancing.

I hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed making these corsets!

Until Next Time, Happy Sewing!

xo Jennifer