Hey Look Ma, I Made It!

Alrighty. Welcome back to whatever the hell this is. A blog? A cry for help? Draw your own conclusions. 

If you're joining me for the first time because of a recently published article in USU's Liberalis magazine, welcome to the blog! I'm so pleased you decided to check this out and I hope I don't scare you away by being a *little* unhinged. If you're not new to this blog, an article about this project was recently published in USU's Liberalis magazine! Check it out here:

https://chass.usu.edu/liberalis/project-spotlight/archive/spring-2022/killer-corsets.php

Thanks to Lyndi Robins for writing such a wonderful story on me and I am very honored! 

Onto the stuff. 

I previously skimmed over the process of making the mockup and now I'm here to skim over how I made the final version of my Pretty Housemaid corset reproduction! If you missed the post on the mockup, check it out here. 

The actual corset was constructed in the same manner as the mockup but this time, there were several new obstacles to consider:

1. The final version had a third layer made of burlap. The mockup only had the two layers sandwiched together. Because I was only interested in ensuring a good fit with the mockup, it didn't seem necessary to add reinforcement to the canvas.

The burlap, also called jute, could have been substituted in the final version for modern fusible interfacing and melted to the outer layer, allowing me to work with the fashion fabric and interfacing as one. That would have made my life considerably easier but when I ordered the materials through the History Department, my corset construction knowledge was non-existent and the baby historian in me wanted nothing more than to re-create this as close to the original as possible. The Leicester County Museum record of the PH listed the materials and jute was one of them so here we are. 

I don't necessarily regret my choices about the burlap. My project proposal did say something about me using historical methods to reconstruct the Pretty Housemaid. In retrospect, this seems irrelevant because I also used a domestic sewing machine from the 21st century, polyester thread, and acrylic whalebone. There is very little about this corset that is not modern.

2. The coutil fabric used for the lining layer closest to my skin was not cheap. I was absolutely terrified of cutting it up because the budget only allowed for one and a half yards, giving me just one shot to get it right. 

3. A different busk that was taller and skinnier was required for Michelle's pattern. The split steel spoon busk will be harvested from the mockup and set aside for future projects. When I will be in the mood for corset making again is anyone's guess. It's a very particular mood. 

4. I had exactly 24 grommets in this sort of antique brass color and again, no room for error on installing grommets in the back. This became an issue because I was listening to music and kind of spaced out while doing this and accidentally hammered a few grommets without washers so they just fell out of the eyelets and were unusable. A few were also installed facing the wrong way. 

5. I had never sewn bias binding around the raw edges of anything before. And I had to figure out that chore. Hand sewing ended up being the only way to get that done. If you follow my Instagram, you probably saw the absolute number that process did on my tiny woman hands. 

6. Handsewing was the only way to get the bias binding done because I didn't want to murder my sewing machine, Barb by making her sew through up to six layers of fabric, 64 rows of cording, and 20 bones. She probably could have handled it but I adore the Barb Machine. She's fancy on a tight budget much like her namesake, my great-grandmother Barbara Elaine Day. *high fives the sky* 

7.  I could no longer rely upon the option of drawing on the fabric with reckless abandon to help guide my machine stitching. Previously, I was straight up using a black pen on the outside of the mockup fabric like a barbarian to indicate where certain boning channels needed to go and it was much easier to control. Now I was using the far more acceptable tailor's chalk.

Under the light bulb embedded in the arm of my sewing machine, my tailor's chalk becomes invisible on the fabric I chose. Like a reverse blacklight. Just nothing I marked was visible as I fed it through the machine. Why not turn the light off? Because the light doesn't have any controls aside from the power switch. It's as if someone at the Singer Corporation ordained that every sewing machine's light switch also be the kill switch for the entire machine. So I'd sew a few stitches blind, shut off the whole thing, and kind of gauge how far from the line I was and adjust before turning it on again.

It felt like those movies where an airplane pilot suddenly has to navigate the plane without GPS or radar or something. I'm not a plane scientist. 

8. I had to leave the country for important vacation purposes and the corset was set aside. The goal was to have it complete by the new year and like any other time expectation for this project, that didn't happen. We went to Mexico and it was overwhelmingly beautiful. I had a wee identity crisis about my race and the ethical implications of tourism. But the experience was one I'll never forget. If you're ever in a position to do so, it's really fun to lay on a beach drinking alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages alike. Also, snorkeling through underwater caves and swimming with sea turtles is highly recommended. I feel very grateful for the chance to do something like this. There were flamingos, parrots, monkeys, iguanas, and all manner of jungle creatures around our hotel. We saw ancient Mayan temples at Tullum, and my parents were grifted immediately when we went to a shopping district in Playa del Carmen. Fun was had all around. 

Pictures of me making it. 

The addition of cording and boning shrunk the width of the pieces and it created some problems of unevenness. 

I felt super smart for about ten seconds when I realized white bobbin thread would match the inside and khaki top thread would match the outside. 

These hip pieces were an absolute pain. 

Tune in next time for some sexy data analysis! I will attempt to interpret the vitals recorded by the smartwatch and present them in a way that makes sense. Let’s see what this thing does to me!