Stays and Corsets Volume 2

Historical Patterns Translated for the Modern Body

Mandy Barrington

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351668460
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Theatre

In this second volume of Stays and Corsets, Mandy Barrington continues to create historical patterns for a modern body shape. This book contains all new corset patterns with a range of silhouettes that span over 300 years, from the late 16th century to the early 20th century. The corset patterns are generated from an original historical garment and have been designed for a wide range of female figures and sizes. The technique of flat pattern drafting your stays or corset will enable you to change the shape of the wearer to create an authentic historic silhouette.

All calculations have been worked out for the reader and are provided in easy-to-read tables, which avoids extremely difficult, time-consuming and inaccurate re-sizing of historical patterns. Some prior knowledge of pattern drafting is helpful; however, each pattern has step-by-step instructions supported by clear diagrams that will take you through each stage of the pattern drafting process. The final result is an accurate period stays or corset pattern for your model.

1 How to use this book

How to use this book

 

Guidance on the pattern drafting process

Flat pattern drafting has a long history; it can be challenging but it can also be extremely satisfying, and is one of the most accurate ways of creating a pattern for a garment. This book follows a logical sequence that begins with taking accurate measurements for your intended wearer and drafting the female basic block, and continues through to creating a new historical pattern. It is important that you read each section carefully and follow the pattern drafting process precisely. There is a glossary at the back of the book for you to refer to if there are terms that you do not understand.

Begin by collecting the equipment you need to draft your patterns; most of this is regular drawing materials, but there are some specialist items that will make the process simpler. A list is provided within the chapter on ‘Pattern drafting tools’. Specialist haberdashers will stock individual items as well as pattern drafting paper.

It is extremely important that you take accurate measurements of the person for whom you will be drafting the pattern – throughout this book they will be referred to as the ‘model’. The measurement guide in Chapter 3 provides information on the measurements you will need to produce all of the patterns in this book. Key information is included to support the measuring process, as well as a chart of standard measurements that you can refer to as a guide. If you are waist trained or have experience of wearing a corset you may want to be pulled in more around the waist; if this is the case I suggest that you reduce the waist measurement further and use the revised measurement for the pattern you are drafting.

All historical patterns are plotted onto a female basic block that has been drafted for your model. Once you have drafted your basic block pattern, the instructions in Chapter 5 explain how to prepare your female basic block before drafting your new historical pattern; this process is exactly the same for all patterns in the book. Once you have traced and expanded the basic block you are ready to draft a new historical stays or corset pattern.

Remember to look carefully at the diagrams contained in the book whilst drafting your historical stays and corsets as they will support the pattern you create. The pattern diagrams in this book are based on a British size 6 so the position of each line and the final shape of each panel will differ slightly depending on the size of your model. In larger sizes the position of each panel may not always fall in the same position on your female basic block pattern; use the diagrams as a guide only to help create the curves of each panel.

Once you have completed your historical pattern I recommend that you trace a second copy of your pattern, as you will then have the original to record any alterations and use again in the future. The patterns do not include a seam allowance; this is added during the cutting process and is usually 5cm at the centre back (CB) and centre front (CF) and 2.5cm on all other seams. When cutting your fabric it is important to mark the direction of the straight of grain on each pattern piece; this is parallel to the centre back and centre front lines of the original basic block pattern. These have not been indicated on the individual patterns to avoid confusion with the bone channels.

Depending on your level of experience or objectives you may want to consider which historic pattern to draft before starting. Your choice may depend on both the period of the garment and the level of difficulty. The 1890 black corset from the Hereford Museum collection is a good one to start with as it has only four panels on each side, no tricky gusset inserts and only a few bone channels. If you wish to draft an earlier corset, the 1598 ‘pair of bodies’ example worn by Pfalzrofin Dorothea Sabina von Newburg, recorded by Nora Waugh in her book Corsets and Crinolines, and Janet Arnold in Patterns of Fashion has only two panels. Although it does have tabs these are plotted separately so are easier to draft.

In some early stays patterns I have adjusted the number of tabs and bone channels in the final garment in order to simplify it and make it more comfortable to wear; this reduction does not impact on the period silhouette. You may wish to add more bone channels to your garment; this will depend on the size of your stays or corset and the rigidity that you require. If you wish to fully bone your corset bodice or stays, use the historical diagram at the beginning of each individual pattern instruction as a guide.

The width of bone channel varies depending on the period and style of the stays or corset. In most cases I have used between 0.7cm and 1cm wide bone channels and 1.3cm wide eyelet channels; I have placed the eyelets approximately 2.5cm apart. Your choice of boning may depend on what is available to you, so an adjustment to the bone channels on your pattern may be required to fit the new size of bone you intend to use. Information on suppliers of corset making materials is provided at the back of the book. When making your stays or corset I suggest that you fit it on your model during the early stages of construction; this valuable exercise will enable you to make adjustments to the final garment if needed.

Finding and using the measurements for your historical pattern

Each historical pattern has a series of tables of calculated measurements to enable you to draft a pattern to fit your model. Each calculated measurement will be plotted to create an individual panel, each panel is clearly numbered within the instructions for your specific stays or corset.

The measurement tables are located at the beginning of each historical pattern; these are split into parts of the body: bust, waist and hips. The measurements are separated in this way to accommodate all varieties of body shape. If your model’s measurements fall between sizes within the table, choose the smaller size for the waist and the larger size for the bust and hips; the stays or corset can always be adjusted during the fitting process. The stays patterns end at the waist so only include bust and waist measurements; later corsets from 1820 onwards include hip and sometimes mid-hip, high hip or lower mid-hip measurements.

As detailed previously, the purpose of stays and corsets was to alter the silhouette of the wearer, therefore when drafting a corset or stays pattern the waist measurement is reduced to allow the waist to be pulled in and made smaller. The bust measurement is also reduced but not so dramatically, as are the hips in some patterns; this can be seen in the measurement tables. For those of you who are waist trained or wish for greater waist-reduction I suggest that you cut your waist measurement further and use the measurements from the chart for the size smaller.

Gather and record the measurements for your model and create an individual table of panel sizes for the pattern you are You can check the key measurements of your pattern once drafted by adding up the width of each panel from the centre back (CB) to the centre front (CF) on the bust, waist and hip lines. This should total your half reduced measurement for each part of the body. drafting. The full measurement closest to your model is in the column on the far left, the half measurement and half reduced measurement will be listed next to it, the resulting calculations for each panel are listed below the individual panel number.

The diagram below gives an example of an individual measurement table and how to use the table to find the specific measurements referred to within the pattern instructions.

Example:

Begin plotting the 1760 corset bodice pattern onto your traced female basic block.

2 Pattern drafting tools

Pattern drafting tools

Since writing my first book the number of specialist pattern drafting tools on the market has continued to increase, although most are regular drawing and measuring equipment. I have listed the tools that are useful for the whole pattern drafting process, from taking measurements of your model to drawing up your patterns. Specialist equipment such as a Pattern Master or similar grading rule, set square and a hip/ tailor’s curve are particularly beneficial for the process of producing accurate patterns and smooth curves. As the pattern instructions use metric measurements, metric tools would simplify this process and avoid converti...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Image credits
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 How to use this book
• 2 Pattern drafting tools
• 3 Female measurements
• 4 The female basic block
• 5 Preparing the female basic block for your historic pattern
• 6 Historical patterns
• 7 1598 ‘pair of bodies’
• 8 1680–1700 cream silk fully-boned corset bodice
• 9 1760 silk brocade corset bodice
• 10 1760 strapless stays
• 11 1830–45 buff corded corset
• 12 1890 black cotton corset
• 13 1890 Celebrated C.B. Bridal Corset
• 14 1905 plunge front corset
• 15 1915 deep skirted corset
• Glossary
• Corset busks and boning
• Costume collections
• Suppliers
• Bibliography and further reading