Constructing a corset

Princess Celestia isn't the only cosplay I'm currently planning. I've also been invited by Cherazor to join a Les Miserables cosplay group. While the others will be reproducing characters out of the movie (I believe that so far we have Gavroche, Mlle Thénardier and Javert), I decided to go down a different route. I'm realising more and more that I prefer costumes where I get a lot of freedom to do my own design, so I decided to pick up the book and find a character that isn't explicitly named and portrayed in the movie.

In the end my choice landed on Azelma Thénardier, Eponine's little sister who isn't part of the musical at all. This gives me the freedom to do whatever I want with it, while still having a proper name for the character, rather than just claiming to be some random poor revolutionary from the streets of Paris.

While the revolution does take place at 1832, I've focused my research on the 1820s. The Thénardiers aren't exactly prosperous, especially not towards the later parts of the movie/musical/book, so it seems highly unlikely that Azelma would be dressed in the latest fashion. Also, dresses from the 1820's are absolutely adorable, the gradual change from regency towards romantic fashion produces some truly pretty things. The waists are moving downwards again and the sleeves aren't yet as stupidly poofy as they become in the thirties.

But before I can even think about making the dress, I need proper underwear! At the very minimum I'll need a shift (underdress), stays (corset, that is) and a couple of petticoats. The shift and petticoats shouldn't be too hard to make, the corset will be a bit more of a challenge. While I'm fairly familiar with the theories of making one, I've never actually done it.

I'm reluctant to spend more money than neccessary on the costume, so I started googling for online patterns and instructions.

First realisation: To most people "corset" equals "victorian corset" and no other model or style has existed, ever. This... Makes research of a more obscure model somewhat frustrating.

Second realisation: I'm inbetween two periods of fashion. Googling for regency won't give me the right models, googling for romantic won't be quite right either. Yes, I can google by specific years, but it isn't nearly as handy as having a neat label to put on the style I'm looking for.

There are several different models of corsets/stays available from this time period.

Shamelessly stolen borrowed from here

The shorter ones are closer to a modern bra than what you'd consider a corset, seem to be much more comfy and waaay easier to make. However, I get the impression that they are popular earlier than I'd like to, even as poor as Azelma is, I doubt she'd be wearing a thirty year old corset. They are also, and most importantly, only suited for small, slim and petite girls who already have a body fitting in with the ideal and fashion at the time. Not so much suited for me then. I'll need the full version that goes all the way down over the hips.

In the end, I stumbled on this. It's really handy, well written instructions, lots of pictures of both the original vintage one as well as construction of the new one. There's only one drawback, there are no instructions on how to draft your own pattern. I'll definately need to make my own, I'm nowhere near as small and skinny as she is, I'll need to adapt the pattern to my bodyshape.

Here are my results, based on her photos and pattern pictures:

Click for larger!

The side piece, green in my sketch, is the trickiest one. It's not immediately obvious how it works from only looking at the pattern pieces. Once I looked closer at the photos of the corset I realised that it's more a case of the green and blue pieces making up the front while the orange makes up the back, seeing how the seam between green and orange pretty much ends up being a side seam.

This is all well and good, but what I really need is to know what measurements to take, and how they will affect the pattern. These are my guesses for that:

The corset must go all the way down over the top of the hips. Not so far that it gets in the way of walking, obviously, but if it stops too far up it creates a decidedly unflattering bulge. An inversed muffintop, so to speak. It'll also be avoided by making sure it flares enough at the bottom to not be as tight around the hips as it will be around the waist and bust.

Overall, I'm not aiming to have a super tight corset. These aren't victorian corsets, after all, and we're not aiming to look like wasps. In fact, this corset is more after shaping you towards a smooth body shape rather than trying to make you look tiny. The orange and yellow measurements should be fairly straightforward. I should be able to get the yellow positioned right on the side piece simply by putting it at a straight angle against the green and at the correct distance from orange. I'll also need to remember to calculate for the space the lacing takes up in the back, on all the pictures I've seen the corset has been laced fairly widely, you're not aiming towards having the two back pieces meet.

The pink one will be trickier. Firstly, because of the armscye and how on earth I'll be measuring that to get a good size (I'm leaning towards wildly guessing and hoping it'll turn out all right..). Secondly, I'm not sure how to measure it right. It'll need to be smaller than my actual bust measurement, since that's the one place where the corset will constrain and shape the most. But how much? I have no real way of knowing. The gussets in front make sure the corset bulges at least a bit at the bust, we're not looking to be completely flat. But it should still be somewhat straight. On the other hand, I don't want it to be straight enough that I end up with a stupidly enthusiastic pushup effect. 

I'm thinking that what I'll have to do is simply make the measurements as best as I can, make a mockup of scrap fabric, adjust it when I can try it on, turn that into pattern pieces, rinse and repeat until it looks good. This will be fun!