1800 - 1820 Regency Riding Corset

started - November 1, 2006

cost so far - $100.62

November 1, 2006 - I bought The Mantua-Maker pattern well over a year ago. At the time I had planned to make this corset for civilian club wear. Well that never ended up happening. The pattern sat in a drawer with me pulling it out to look at, even picking out the fabrics I would use, but never actually doing anything with it. For the past couple months though I have actually wanted to sew and have been looking online at dress diaries for inspiration. I stumbled across one that had a Regency dress that I would die to have... So of course now I have to make it. I will email her to ask her permission to show the picture of her dress to place it on here, but for now I have no picture to show you. Well if I am going to make the dress I most defiantly have to make the under things to go with it. So now I have a real reason to do this corset!

I must admit I am sort of.... not scared but that is the best word I can come up with. I have never made a corset before so some of the stress come from that. But the main reason is this is tailored. It has to fit. And has to fit well.... All my other projects there was some lee way some give or take I could play with... Because of this I am actually going to do a muslin. I can't bear the thought of cutting into the fabric designated for this and it not fit me. I am sure with my mentality I would throw it away and never attempt one again.

I still need to order some supplies, boning, a busk, the lacing, the Bias tape. Hopefully I will get to that today, if not tomorrow.

November 2, 2006 - I took some measurements today. So of course now I feel like crap because of the weight I have gained. But it gives me motivation to go to the gym more...okay start going to the gym again.... *le sigh* I am going to use this as motivation, and here is why. The directions for the corset say to use your waist measurements because you can change the others with gores. Well I am 'blessed' with a combination of an hour glass figure and a pear. MUCH MUCH bigger on the bottom then both waist and chest. Chest measurements have me at a size 12, Waist at a size 14 and hips somewhere between 18 and 20. Thankfully closer to 18, (I add that to make me feel better!) So if I use my waist measurement I am already to high for my bust. Now I know they have gores in this pattern but that makes things bigger.... not smaller....  So my conclusion is I am going to cut this for the smaller waist size using the size 12. And I will have to really start kicking my butt about getting back in shape. I am sure someone is saying "what about your hips".... As you can see there is a huge difference in them. I am going to have a problem with them no matter what size I use. That is one of the reasons I am using the riding corset option to give myself more room.... This is going to be fun......

4 November -  Well I renamed this to Regency underthings because I decided I needed to make all of them. Well the thought actually came to me that I would need to wear something under the corset to take pictures to put on here.  ROFL.... That's sewing ADD for you. So I convinced my husband to take me to the fabric store to look for a sturdy fabric to make temporary lacing for the corset. *smirk* I found the needed fabric but also left with a super soft silk that will work perfectly for my chemise/shift. I also got a 3 yards of a 'super cotton' (I am in Japan right now. So when I go to the fabric store what I tell you about the fabric's content is the only thing in English) that is also soft but I chose not to use it for the chemise... I think I am going to use it on the lining of the dress.... perhaps.... if I don't find something better.

In my excitement I have already drafted my pattern, washed the fabric, cut it out and pinned it together to be sewn tomorrow. I have also chose the embroidery that I want to use on the hem. All this of course is to procrastinate starting the corset.

8 November -  I sewed up the corset grided out how I wanted the embroidery  thinking the whole time. This is soooo cute. So dainty and feminine. The whole time thinking that this must be the reason women were women, if this is just their underwear, how could they not feel beautiful. HA then I tried it on. Way to tight. I didn't factor in a seam allowance. In my attempt to make a sort of form fitting garment not just a big 'ol sack I had made it to small. I knew it was to good to be true. So I added two more rectangle side pieces. Now it is more bag like and less dainty... Dang.

I am also cutting out the pattern pieces and muslin for the corset today.

12 November -  I need a dress form. Santa needs to bring me a dress form. I wanted to bring in the top of my chemise so it is still semi form fitting. I don't want a bunch of fabric to bunch up under the corset....  that hurts after awhile. I asked my husband to help me and for some reason he couldn't understand how I wanted him to pin the sides. I tried 3-4 times to show and proceeded in only hurting myself. That was part of the reason I needed him to help me! I can't do it myself. One because it is an awkward angle and I wanted to get both sides even. This is hard to do if you are contorting  your body. The second reason is my shoulder. It just doesn't care to move certain ways. It will let me know with intense flashes of pain. That was two days ago and I still have pain radiating from that blasted joint. But after turning the chemise inside out my husband was able to do what I wanted. Just took a little compromise.

I cut out the final material for the corset today. The pattern fit fairly well. I added 2 1/2 inches to the length of the pattern, 1 inch to the bust gusset and I am still working with the hips. I think I am just going to add another gusset but I might make the hip gusset longer like I did the breast gusset. More and likely it will be the first of the two. I should be able to start sewing on it tomorrow.

15 November - Not only does Santa need to bring me a dress form he needs to bring me a new sewing machine. I was attempting to hem the inside seams of the chemise using one of the more fancy stitches. Well one actually meant to sew hems.... The thing has a mind of it's own..... BLEH

11 December - I am still waiting for the boning and busk to arrive for the corset, that is why there hasn't been much updates.  I ordered it over a month ago so I would think it would of been here by now. I sent the company an email yesterday. The wait continues..... I finished the embroidery on the hem of the chemise yesterday. I tried to get some pictures but none of them came out to well. I will add the ones I did get. When my hubby gets home I might get pictures of me in it to put up here. It will depend on just how sheer it is with the flash. Until I can decide if/what I want to do with the neckline the chemise/shift is done! Here are pictures of the corset thus far. I am waiting on the materials before I can go any further. Grumpy with how the gussets came out but not getting discouraged because they won't be seen.

15 December - I finally got an e-mail back from the boning people. I am so mad at them I could scream. They didn't even ship it until I sent them the first e-mail on the 6th. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!! and to add to the anger (though not their fault) they didn't send the tipping fluid because they can't ship it overseas. So now I am in a bind on what to do instead. UGH!!!!!

23 December - I haven't made to much progress but I figured I should update. Pictures to come later. I had problems with the busk not being long enough so I Jerry rigged two of them together bound very very tight with Muslin, or as I am going to call it padded. :) I am hoping to be able to replace it with a proper one later. The busk pocket is complete, it just needs it eyelets/grommets put in. I accidentally put the first four two low. I am not going to do anything to fix that. I figure if I ever need to attach something to the corset, and underskirt or something I have it already. As my friend Jen says, its not a mistake, it's a pattern adjustment. All the boning has been cut it is just working on being tipped now. The hip gusset for the riding corset version has been cut outs. I also added lace to the neckline of the chemise/shift.

old: new: steel bones:

 channels numbered, busk pocket made and hip gussets cut

29 December - I got a lot done but not enough really to update on. The boning channels were painstakingly slow.  My first few were off of sight and the lines on my machine. They were ugly... and not straight. Requiring me to rip one out which was a real pain! I made small holes in my fabric. *grumble grumble* So all the rest (there are 18 mind you) were done off of measurements and drawn lines. The only way I can make a straight line is with a ruler. So my WHITE corset is now lined with pink tailors chalk.... But I like it so it will stay that way until it wears off. I also changed from the green thread I was using for contrast to white thread to match the corset. Yes I chickened out! But I do like the look of the contrast of the white on the brown lining. I was going to make it reversible.... but the 'back side' just started to get to ugly to even try and save. So I have the front pretty side and the back must hide from the public side. Then yesterday, I pinned all the bias tape down and machined sewed it on to the front side. That to was slow working lasting all day. I started last night on whip stitching the back of the bias tape into place. I am only half way done with the top half.... Today's goal is to finish the whip stitching of the bias tape and hopefully start on the grommets/eyelets.

1 January -  I 'finished' the corset yesterday. Of course it is not done done. I need to finish sewing over the grommets to get a more period accurate look. Only 62 more to go. They take me close to a half hour to do one.... This will take awhile. But it is wearable. I just need to buy cording first. Unfortunately for me here in Japan, New Years is a HUGE deal and almost everyone closes to spend time with their families. We went to the fabric store two days ago to try and buy the cording and they were closed for the holiday.  As soon as I can buy some I will have my husband lace me into it and take pictures on our new camera. It truly looks like a corset now that the grommets are in and they boning channels have been sewn. I only have two gripes with the whole project. The gussets truly are not that pretty. If I could redo them and know they would look better I would. My other gripe is in some spots the binding tape is not so pretty. On a few of the seams I made so that it would make the curves, it came apart. So some day soon I will be patching those areas. Other then that I am very very happy. It looks like I got in a fight with a wild beast with all the scratches I got from the pins and my fingers have more holes then a pin cushion. With all the blood I drew on this project, it better fit like a glove!!!!

3 January -  I finally was able to get the lacing I needed. Hubby laced me into it tonight and below are the pics. I am a little unhappy about the bowing (for lack of a better way of explaining it,) in the back. This could probably be fixed with loosening the lacing but hubby really believes in the "if you can breathe it is not tight enough." You can tell the huge difference between my hips and waist in the pictures. ICKY. Thankfully I have a lot of room to lose weight and it still fit! I just need to finish sewing over the grommets. Three came out while I was being laced into it. I am not sure how anyone can use just grommet and they hold.

6 February: Over a month later and in a completely different house, I have decided on making a bodied petticoat for the Regency dress. The decision was made because by doing it that way I can use this dress with other colored petticoats and virtually have a whole new dress, allowing me to wear it without the overdress like I wanted to. I finally got the overdress fabric about a week ago (pictures to come) and cut the pattern out two days ago. I am using the Sense and Sensibility pattern for the under dress. The overdress will probably be drafted completely by yours truly. *smirk* I won't be able to start all this until tomorrow after I finish the curtains.

20 February: Mundane projects can be so boring. I have finished two sets of curtains and I am working on the ones in my sewing room/ the guest room. They are probably the prettiest ones but they are still boring compared to the dress. I have been working on that a little bit every other night or so even though there have been no updates. The petticoat is done except for a little bit of handwork and the bottom hem that will wait for the under dress to be finished so I can hem them at the same time. To the right is a not very pretty picture of the back. The chemise sort of bunched up a bit  but if I didn't wear it you all would be very afraid because of the sheerness of it. It doesn't help that the whole thing is a little loose, (*gasp* I know to big and not to small!!!.) I think I will be adding one more snap to the bodice back... To the left is a picture of the front. I love how the tucks came out!