Well, here I lay in bed still....it has been a week and two days since my back decided that it wished to visit unimaginable pain upon me. There is significant healing and I am finally seeing the bend in the road that leads to healing....I can sit up for longer (10-15 minutes!! Whoot!!!) with out pain remembering to inflict itself, I can walk a bit faster (still have my sideways "S" bend going on....not as sexy as the Edwardian "S" bend but very entertaining....), I am sleeping more. So, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and my attitude and emotional state is improving!! Still very sad that Costume College is just a lovely dream (Josie you will text me pictures and fun anecdotes of the days there correct?)
Here you can see my sideways "S" bend....currently I am listing to the right!!! Oy Vey!!! The only good thing about this unwanted occurrence is that I have lost weight! I had a lady tell me that pain is a form of stress and therefore induces the fight or flight syndrome causing weight loss! Whoot!!!
During my time in bed, to alleviate my boredom, I have been thinking about the future and what sewing projects it will hold! I have so enjoyed this years adventures in eras never traveled. Therefore, I think I would greatly enjoy exploring other eras. I have been watching a lot of period movies on Netflix.....Thank God for Netflix!!! As I lay here in my bedroom, I can't help but think of the ladies in days of old who were plagued with consumption, pneumonia, TB, a weak constitution, even those who were paralyzed! What did they do without Netflix? I know they surely read, but there is only so much reading day after day that a body can endure! God bless those ladies!! And yes, I know I am spoiled!!!
But I digress....as I said, I have been watching many period movies and I have fallen in love with the 1840s....
These movies are not only great watches, but the costumes in them are drool worthy! Especially Jane's wedding dress! Swoon!!!
I have planned on making a corded petticoat to go under an 1830s dress that I wish to make (Oh!! That's another era that I plan on exploring!) so I'll already have that particular piece of underwear. The next thing of course will be an 1840s corset/stay. Some ladies can wear their Regency/Romantic era stays for the 1840s, but since I look like a sausage in mine, that just won't do for the more hourglass shape of the 1840s. I haven't been able to find many examples of this era which has been frustrating. I did find a couple of examples on Pinterest...
Unfortunately, no site reference is available for this....
I really like the top corset.
This corset is from the ebay store Time Travelers Antiques....I am loving the shape of it and the fact that it has a wooden busk and the nice amount of boning. Not sure if I will add shoulder straps though...It also looks as though the grommets are metal.
After much deliberation and anxietizing over having to purchase another corset pattern, I decided to use the Simplicity 7215.
Oddly enough, view "B" looks very similar to the extant corset!!! Just take out the metal busk and it is a pretty good match!
I also found a couple of blog entries where the lady seamstresses had taken out the busk, making the corset one piece and more era correct for 1840!
These corsets turned out most lovely and quite era correct looking for the 1840s! I am so excited to start this project!
Here's to healing and planning!
I am so glad you are starting to feel better and thinking forward. Of coarse I will share all I can, I will miss you terribly. You probably owe me chocolate.
ReplyDeleteI will miss you terribly....what kind of chocolate are we thinking? ;-)
DeleteYou poor thing! I hope you start getting better soon! I love Bleak House, also Daniel Deronda, The Paradise, Mr Selfridge, pretty much any version of Great Expectations, Frankenstein, Dracula, Hugo, The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies, anything with costumes by Colleen Atwood and all of the BBC dramas especially the Emma with Romula Garai the the Northanger Abbey with Carey Mulligan as the friend.
ReplyDeleteThank you Laura! Love Daniel Deronda, Great Expectations, Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, the Emmas and Northanger Abbey...haven't seen the others you wrote about...will have to add those to my list!!! Thank you!
DeleteI'm glad you're making good use of your down time. Gives you a great excuse to watch all those movies, and spend hours on end searching books and photos online for your research.
ReplyDeleteI'll try and remember to take some photos w/ my cell phone at CoCo and tag you so you can see them on FB.
Keep healing!
Val
Val, my down time is now turning to the canning season and what I want to take on this year! hahahahaha!!! No rest for the weary I guess!
DeleteI can't wait to see the pictures you take! Thanks in advance!!
I hope you feel better soon! If I were in your place, I'd be doing exactly the same thing - lots of planning! I like your ideas for the 1840s corset. You might also want to consider, when you muslin it, tweaking the waist to make it longer. That base pattern is 1860s, which had a waist that was at the natural level or just a tiny bit above it, where as the 1840s were pretty long-waisted. It'll help once you make your dresses! :)
ReplyDeleteScene, I am healing right along....taking it slow so as to not grouch my back out! Thank you! Thank you so much for your advice on the corset construction! I will most definitely make the waist longer....I'm pretty long waisted so that will work just fine!! Yeah!!!
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