I’ve finally finished my Edwardian S-bend corset! Yay! It took a couple of years – from drafting/ adapting the pattern to finding the perfect fabric and notions and sewing the corset – but now it’s finished. And I love how it turned out! Continue reading Edwardian S-Bend Silk Corset
Not all women in the Edwardian era wore heavily boned corsets. Some preferred to wear lightly boned corsets, usually called sports or athletic corsets:
The Edwardian sports corset doesn’t ‘interfere in the many free movements of any of the outdoor games […] and every one will be quick to appreciate the advantages of the newest try in the favor of athletics, comfort and trimness.’ (San Francisco Call, 1903) Continue reading Edwardian Sports Or Ribbon Corset
‘As every girl who loves the outdoor sports knows, corsets and athletics have long been on unfriendly terms with each other. For some strange reason, not entirely understood by those who devote a part of every day to athletics, the designers of feminine harness have made little or no study of a corset suitable for such exercise, and they certainly have made no effort to combine the straight front with the freedom of movement required in playing golf and tennis.
For the very first time on record peace has been established. We now have the pliable, easy straight front that is adapted to the needs of the athlete. Continue reading Edwardian Athletic Corsets For The Edwardian Sportswoman
I’m sewing an Edwardian S-curve corset in my free time – yay! 😀 I’ve always wanted to have an Edwardian S-curve corset. But it takes so long (more than a year already) – so here are some in-progress-pics before I can show you the finished Edwardian corset.
I used off-white 100% silk satin, and white cotton twill as lining. The corset is heavy boned with Continue reading Edwardian White Silk Satin Corset In Progress
That’s the Victorian corset I often wear under my Victorian dresses. Continue reading Victorian Corset
The right underwear is very important for historical costuming – even more important than the dress – because underwear provides the structure for the dress. Without the correct underwear, the dress looks cheap and shabby.
Victorian women wore many layers of underwear: chemise, drawers, corset, petticoats – to name just a few. Mid-Victorian underwear was usually very plain – unlike late Victorian or Edwardian lingerie with their lace frills and flounces.
Here I’m showing you how a middle or upper class woman would’ve dressed in the 1840s or 1850s. Continue reading 1840s/ 1850s Underwear – Dressing The Victorian Lady
Victorian working women wore practical clothing – suitable for working. Learn how a Victorian working woman would’ve dressed. Continue reading Dressing The Victorian Working Woman
‘Now, there is a right way and a wrong way of putting on a corset, and as this lesson should appeal to every woman, young or old, it should be learned with care and followed scrupulously.’ (Every Woman’s Encyclopaedia, 1910-2) Continue reading How To Put On A Corset
In the Edwardian era, cooler corsets were worn in the summer, such as mesh corsets and broderie anglaise lace corsets. Continue reading About 1900s Summer Corsets
‘There was one blushing damsel, just budding sixteen, whose waist by a corset ne’er encircled had been, but whose mother insisted that on such a night one should find a place there, and the lacing be tight.’ (How She Felt In Her First Corset, 1887)
Tight lacing often was frowned upon in the Victorian and Edwardian era. I’ve compiled articles from 1800 till the 1920s which regard tight lacing as a danger to health. They say that tight lacing would produce diseases from cancer to consumption (tuberculosis) to abortion and even death. Continue reading Tight Lacing In The (Pre-) Victorian And Edwardian Era