A Unique and Frugal Idea

I've made some dresses I really like. I've also made some dresses that I don't care for all that much. There have also been dresses that surprised me, like this dotted sheer. I was 100% AGAINST white when I decided to make a sheer dress, but being a cheapskate means beggars can't be choosers, so the dress material was bought for $5 a yard, somewhat grudgingly because...it was white.

It turned out to be extremely light and comfortable, and ultra-fashionable feeling! So cool in the dead heat of the summer too; I've worn it to a few events with 90 degrees +. The result was a nice surprise, but there were also a few drawbacks.

1. White in the sun makes you look like a blob. In pictures, and in real life. See below.

2. Apparently bugs are drawn to white. Not that that really bothers me, but people are always coming up and brushing the bugs off my dress.

3. A few people have said I look like Mary Poppins with my red waist. Now, I LIKE the red and white, but I hate associations. Not that I blame them, because it does.

And this wasn't even directly in the sun!

So my idea is to retire this dress, and make a new sheer/light cotton 1860's dress in a less bug-attracting color. Despite having owned this dress for maybe 3 or 4 years, it's in surprisingly good shape. Any stains have been successfully scrubbed out. Rather than keep this dress in my closet, I would love to pick it apart and remake it into something new entirely. The skirt is massive...at least 50% larger than the average 1860's dress. While that's not ideal, it does give me more cutting yardage for a new dress. I also have a yard or two up in my stash. I also made a dress for my sister in this same material, and if I give it a few years she'll outgrow it. Not that I want to wait a few years.....or that it won't be shredded by then.

Because I'm a fashion plate junky, I did some research of fashion plates that were sheer cotton, and with dots. Dots were typically flat-embroidered on in silk thread, rather than a little clipped tuft, so my material isn't perfectly accurate, but oh well. Here are some options in no particular order; keep in mind that each fashion plate has a different way of displaying the spots.

1. An 1880 house (or evening) dress, if of muslin made over a basic silk dress (the one on the right). I'm always a sucker for natural form, although I question whether I have enough fabric.

May 1880 Petersons Magazine

2. A 1799 Morning dress, with a little vest over the top. The length of the train might be limited to the length of the skirt, although by the time the tucks are let out it could be pretty long. I've already done a specifically 1799 dress, so this isn't my favorite option, but I'm leaving it on here because I really like the vest.

November 1799 Ladies Monthly Museum

3. An 1840 dinner or evening dress of white spotted gauze over white satin; the sleeves are black velvet (kind of a weird detail, right?). I feel like they might look like black holes on your arms in person. I could probably eek this out.

 March 1840 Le Follet

4. An 1841 evening dress, with an underskirt made in puffs. This one's a little frilly for me.

February 1841 Ladies Cabinet

5. An 1849 evening dress, with the underskirt of plain tarlatane. Love the basic-ness of it, and I definitely have enough yardage for this one.

February 1849 Godeys Magazine

6. An 1852 evening gown, trimmed with ribbon. I love almost everything about this design. I would probably need to wait, and use the skirt from my sister's dress for the upper layer.

March 1852 Le Moniteur de la Mode

7. An 1870 evening dress, with black bows down one side. I don't love bows, but I like black and white a lot, so there might be a way to come up with a different trim that suits my taste a little more. I would totally do black roses, if I thought they would be accurate. What I like about this one is I definitely have enough fabric, and it would feel a little like making an old dress over in a new style (rather than going back in time). Because of the square cut-bodice, I might not need to make a new bodice but just cut the current one down. Off-the-shoulder necklines typically need adjust and a basic cut-down from a high-necked dress usually doesn't work.

January 1870 Petersons Magazine.

8. An 1867 evening dress for the seaside; skirt and bodice of blue silk, with the overdress in dotted white. This might be a less frugal way of re-working this fabric, since it would only need a little bit, but there would definitely be enough; it's the figure on the right.

August 1867 Godeys Magazine

While I don't really need another evening dress, I wouldn't mind one. I like the variety of eras to choose from; while I've already done Natural form and Regency, I wouldn't mine doing them again, but I also wouldn't mind doing a new era. 

Which one is your favorite?

How to Calculate Fabric Width Differences

Jen, over at Historical Sewing, has a great article on how much yardage you would need for various garments in certain eras. I've always used the basic "5 yard skirt" method in my historical skirt calculations, but I've recently had an epiphany about amounts, and also discovering the wonderfulness of fabric that is 60''. I always never know how much to buy, and way overshoot and overspend. My very first dress I bought 11 yards!

A plaid in 60'' width fabric; I only needed 6 yards for an entire 1860's dress!

I love shopping fabric online. It's awesome. But comparing prices is sometimes tricky, because I forget to calculate the difference between 60'' fabric and 45'' fabric. If there are two different wools, and one is $8 a yard and the other is $10 a yard, I might choose the cheaper one being the cheapskate that I am. BUT...upon further research, you find out that the $10 a yard is actually 60'' wide and may even SAVE you money....if you know how to make the proper calculations as to how much you need. You won't be doing any saving at all if you buy the same amount as you would for 45'' fabric, even if you have gobs leftover.

1 yard pieces of 40'' silk taffeta

It is true that 5 yards is close to the amount you would need, but only for a 45'' fabric if you want 4 panels. Before even beginning to start fabric shopping on a budget, grab your measuring tape and pad of paper, and we'll calculate how much yardage you will need.

Start by figuring out how long your skirt needs to be. Take the longest measurement, and add enough for hem and turnover at the top, if you use that method. My finished skirt length at the longest measurement (in the back) is 43'', so I'll add 2'' for turnover at the top, and 1/2'' to attach the hem guard. Rounding up, my total cut panel length is 46''. That isn't going to change from width to width, so hang on to it!

Beginning with 45'' fabric, I'll need 4 panels. Here is the formula:

Cut Panel Length x Amount of Panels, Divided by 36'' = Skirt Yardage

This applies to 45'' and 60'' widths. So for me, I will need 5.111 yards for 45''. I'd probably round up to 5 1/4 yards. For 60'' fabric, I would only need 3.83 yards, round up to 4. That's considerably less! If I paid $8 a yard for the 45'' widths, I would be paying $42. For 60'' widths, I would be paying $40. I know, $2 isn't a huge difference, but it definitely makes some of the 60'' prices look much more affordable than you might think.

After that, calculating bodice design is pretty dicey. I've found that, a basic bodice with plain coat sleeves, you can probably get away with 2 yards even in 45'' fabric. You may even need to do a little bit of piecing, but I've had no trouble with 7 1/2 yards of that same style. For larger sleeves, you will definitely need more; 3 yards total should cover most styles. Huge pagoda or bishop style sleeves you may want to up it to 3 1/2.

For 60'' width fabric, I haven't really experimented with what the difference in yardage is, BUT...using a different way of comparing, we can figure out how much we will need. 45'' to 60'' is 3/4, or 75%. See what I did there? You will need 1/4 less fabric than in 45'' fabric. That makes a basic bodice (the 2.5 yard kind) being a little under 2 yards, with the most being 2 3/4 yards.

There you have it! I'm getting better at calculating in my head, and having the finished skirt measurement written down in my notebook makes a huge difference.

5 Ways to Save Money in Corsetry

I am sooo excited to be on my way with my corset. The grommets are installed, the busk is in, and just fiddling with it more before I sew the boning chanels. I tried it on, and wow! The coutil behaves completely differently, and is much more firm. I could barely get it on, and completely laced has 3'' spring (before tightening the laces, there is about 5'' of spring, so you can imagine how tight it feels when first putting it on). The mockup only had 1 1/2'', so it makes it more difficult to get on. I'm afraid I have no pictures of what the corset looks now, and mockup pictures aren't so great. BUT...pictures will be coming!

The coutil is way more stiff and thick than I thought it would be. Next time, maybe I will try the imported coutil from corsetmaking.com instead of the domestic coutil; there was only a $5 price difference. After a little debate, I decided to try making a single layer corset, but line with twill. After working with it, I think it was a good decision because my sewing machine couldn't make up it's mind going over some of the double layers, particularly over the seams.

With each corset, the price gets lower and lower. Here is some of the breakdown of what my costs are, and some comparison of how you can plan ahead and save money on your next corset by making wise purchases now. No matter how much you hate making corsets (which I don't, it's growing on me), or how long you think your corset will last, you will eventually have to make another one.

My first corset was:

$15 busk
$10 Boning
$25 grommet setting kit
$10 Cotton twill (the mockup became the finished product)

All in all, shipping is expensive, so the total was around $70-$75.

The second corset:

$15 busk
$8 boning
$25 1 yard cotton coutil
$6 cotton twill (I bought it for the mockup, but it'll also be used for the finished product)

I ordered 4 dozen grommets for a different project and used 2 dozen, so I'll have enough for this particular one and be able to consider it stash. Also, there are a couple different boning sizes I have from my last corset to use in this one that will fit somewhere in the side and back. The front in this new one is considerably longer, 2'', plus more flare vs. straight up and down. Total cost = $65

With potential preparations for a corset for someone else, I will have enough for one layer to be coutil, which is a huge savings, and I may be able to use my original busk which doesn't fit my new corset. Grommets, once you have the kit, are inexpensive in bulk. I ordered 4 dozen on Amazon last time for $8, and it's nice to have enough for more than one project.

Here are what the price is looking for the next one:

Re-Used Busk - free
Stash Coutil - free
$6 cotton twill mockup
$8 boning
$8 Grommets

Corsetmaking.com is a great resource, but their shipping is expensive for even small orders. For something like this, I will probably try The Button Baron; each boning piece is a little more expensive, but the shipping is way better on smaller orders. So, the total we're looking at for the next corset is between $25-$40, depending on whether the old 11'' busk works or not.

All in all, here is the breakdown of ways to save money:

1. One thing that I haven't had to buy is plastic zip ties for the mockup. I keep reusing it over and over, and very rarely does it get put in a finished project. That is kind of a one-time buy, if you hang on to them once you're done with the mockup. Another thing you can use for each project is a set of grommet tape; I bought eyelets from Joanns for a different project, and they were so cruddy that they are now only used for mockups. However, after tearing apart my old corset, I decided to not recycle the back panels with grommets because of the stretching and have upgraded my mockup just by switching to something I can put boning in.

2. If you and your friends are looking to make corsets, order from Richard the Thread. You must buy at least 5 yards, but the breakdown is $15 a yard all in all.
Also, I just discoverd this Etsy seller has very affordable fabric, but the shipping can be expensive for people outside the UK like me.

3. Making single-layer corsets or double layer with the inner layer being some other stable fabric is another way to stretch one yard. I also recommend that any bias strips you use to bind or make boning casings with you use something other than coutil; it has no bias stretch whatsoever and could be more of a headache than it's worth.

4. You don't need any fancy grommet setting kits, but after buying the simple kit for $25 and using the grommets from that, buy in bulk enough to make 2 or 3 corsets. You'll save on shipping, and the more you buy the less expensive they are by the dozen.

Grommets available at Vogue Fabrics

5. As far as busks go, there isn't really any place to get them for less than $15, and the best bet is buy from either the same place you buy boning or fabric. If you have an old corset, reuse it if you can. My friend Tiana over at Adventures in Costuming found an old corset at a thrift shop and reused the busk. I go thrifting all the time, but I never think to look for sewing supplies.

If you buy boning, it never hurts to buy a couple extra bones in case you want more. If you don't use them, they can be used either in a mockup or in the next corset.

Know of any other good tips to save money in corsetry? I'd love to hear them!