getting going on the corset

morning all

it's a bit grey and drizzly here in lovely Birmingham today and has been for a few days actually, which is a bit of a shame as it was fireworks night last night (5th November), and Saturday when the main displays were being held it rained really heavily and was quite windy, a number had to be cancelled across the country. Myself and Dr J. were out so we didn't get chance to try out our new vantage point.  We had an attic dormer done as part of the renovation work on the house, and this give us quite a bit of height and faces the local cricket ground where they were holding a display on Saturday, so I will have to wait for next year to see if we can actually see much, hopefully if we're not out. To be honest Saturday night was great fun anyway, much better than trying to see fireworks in the fog, we had 2 weddings and a lovely meal, nough said.

Anyway I am spending this grey morning squirrelled away making velvet roses in the warm with some great music, so I'm happy, hope you all are too. Before I get completely stuck into it, here's a little more about the velvet stays (corset).  I think in simplest terms Stays are 18th century and the word was then replaced with corset in the 19th century.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.

This particular one is being made up to be one piece with just lacing down the back, whereas other stays are two pieces laced at the front and the back, hence the plural aspect of the word, (might be something similar to trousers, which are always plural.)

playing with powerpoint, what do you think?

Each pattern piece has 4 layers, top layer (outside), velvet, 2 centre layers, canvas and the inside layer is a lining material, for my delicate skin. No seriously canvas can rub, when its very tightly laced.

The channels for the bones will be made up of stitching through all the layers and then inserting the boning into the gap between the 2 canvas layer, hence two canvas layers to protect the more delicate fabric from the bones which can easily wear through anything softer.

I have been looking at different stitch patterns on my machine to make a more decorative channel.  I have a fairly old machine, with no fancy gizmos, just a few standard stitches, these are what I have to play with.  I looked through my box of sparkly threads and decided on a gold one. the sparkle doesn't really show up on the photos but it looks lovely in real life.
I was really please with the trial run of this actually as I thought I would have trouble with the velvet moving around whilst sewing, but I sewed it all upside down with velvet faced down at the bottom and it did budge once, so thats great too.  The real reason for it being upside down is that you can put fancy thread on the bobbin that would not be able to go through the needle if it were on the top, the side you see whilst sewing looks like this..

 I think I will go with a stitch that is designed for attaching elastic, the centre one in this photos, I did like the curves, but it will be too much of a nightmare trying to line them up each time and I think just look messy otherwise.

And just before I go here a little progress on that hat, main bits are sewn together, now I just need to do the embroidery on the sideband, and a little bit of internal stuff, and then it will be ready for shipping.

Well that's all for now,
stay warm and safe
hugs
ally
x