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1950's Garter Belt-Unmentionables Through The Decades

YouTube associated with this blog post: https://youtu.be/e5Vf3-DzxFo

For the 1950's, I thought I'd make something a lot more sassy then I usually sew. I've had this pattern for at least 6 or 7 years. It was too advanced for me at the time, but I fell in love with it and I bought it anyway. Mrs. Depew has the most beautiful patterns in her Etsy. She takes vintage patterns, many from French magazines, and makes the, available to all. There are many patterns in her shop I'd love to make. For this project, I used two of them. They are #2002 1950's Garter Belt Corselet (http://mrsdepew.com/lingerie-patterns/corsets/french-corset-garter-belt.html) and #2001 French Bra Corselet (http://mrsdepew.com/lingerie-patterns/brassieres/french-bra-corselet.html). I will write about the former this week, and the later next week.


These patterns are PDF downloads, which is very convenient. These come in only a few sizes and don't include seam allowances. I printed the pattern on my home printer, and cut it out, then added the seam allowances. First, I made a practice version or a “mock up”. That one turned out a bit too big. A corset is usually made to include a gap in the lacing at the back, to accommodate small size fluctuations of the body. The mock up closed completely on me at the waist, and the hips were too big. I then made the final version one size down, and that worked well.



For this project, I used a length of a black floral brocade. It is just beautiful. I did have some issues identifying the front and the reverse side, since both looked similar. I couldn't decide whether I wanted it to be black with red ribbons, or all black. Eventually, I chose black because that's what I had in my stash. Someday, I am probably going to make a pale pink or a soft peach version. Maybe even lavender? Who knows. But I do want one to wear under lighter clothes, where the black would show through.

On the back edges, the fabric was folded over to create channels for my steel boning. I chose to make the eyelets next. That's my least favorite part of any project, so it seemed best to get if over with quickly. The holes were punched and the eyelets set using my Crop-a-dile tool, and then I sewed over them all with black thread. This took far too long. 



Finally, I was ready to start the actual construction. The right sides were sewn together, leaving the allowances on the outside. That was covered up by a bit of satin ribbon. On the inside, I sewed in some boning channels along those lines and inserted the boning. It only goes up part of the way up the seam, as directed in the pattern. Then, I bound the top and bottom edge with regular bias tape. The last step was the lacing. I used a “bunny ears” pattern. This method allows the wearer to tighten the corset on themselves.



Thanks for reading!

Yours in hard work, creativity, and a dash of pixie dust,
Sarah

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