A Nineteen Teens Corset

An underbust corset from the 1911 corset pattern in Corsets and Crinolines. The corset mainly smooths out any curves so the straight skirts of the 1910s look right. The corset is a single layer of brocade coutil from Farthingales, with spiral bones in boning casings. The busk is a short 9 inches and stops where busks stop on earlier corsets, so it doesn't get in the way. The corset is left open below that, so is quite comfortable to wear.

The front and back views. While the gap is a little large, I make corsets like this because they always seem to strech a little and you get used to wearing them so need to lace them tighter :)

A side view and a close-up of the back. The gap is even down the back, but the bones curve and make it look rather odd.

The pattern pieces cut out. The straight pieces in front are facings for inserting the busk.

I sewed the hip gores to the pieces they were attached to first. This make them quite easy to insert!

I used flat felled seams. The three steps are illustrated above. A normal seam, trimming one side of it, folding the long seam allowance over the shorter and pinning it, and finally the finished seam.

Everything pinned into place. To finish the corset I used a facing on the back edge, sewed boning casings in the places marked on the pattern and bound the top and bottom with white silk satin ribbon.

Pumpkin, a.k.a. Miss Thing, cleaning the pattern for me :)