The second part of my outfit (part one here) is a corset, of sorts.
At least that’s how it started out. However, the whole issue of boning was quite taxing. I had a friend offer to bring me some lamb ribs from her farm. Err, no, I don’t think so. Then there was a whole discussion about going south to Albany where there used to be a whaling station and having a fossick for old whale bones. This had merit as that is what corsets used to have for their structure. Then I thought about the time involved and lost the will to live. Road kill was also mentioned, but when Mark started talking about fashioning me some from pine, I called a halt to the whole debate and now have a corset sans boning.
I wasn’t sure I would be able to get into it without my lady’s maid husband, but to my delight I managed to wriggle into it and do up the laces. As you can see, it is not laced tightly, I haven’t hung on to the bed post while Mark has a knee in my back to get it firm, but it is ok. Of course, when it’s done up tighter at the back the front sits a bit more snugly.
I used some strong felt for this one. It is quite thick and is completely felted. All the seams are flat felled, except the curved front seams, which are blanket stitched, and the edges are bound with i-cord.
The gold i-cord was dyed using sour-grass flowers, as was the gold wool for the thread used to couch the gold i-cord and for the decorative stitching.
A little trilogy of photos showing the dyeing and the results.
One of my friends wanted some yellow wool to repair a teddy and the yarn on the left is what I dyed for her. I simply put the wool in later. The little knitted piece was put in after I removed the pot from the heat, and it was the residual warmth which dyed the wool, which is a pretty colour.
The red wool was dyed using red-ink sundew bulbs which I harvested from our weekend place as suggested by Nicki (thisismoonlight). I didn’t like doing this much as the plants have to be sacrificed, so I tried to get them from the firebreaks as they would be destroyed by the tractor anyway. The colour obtained on wool is rather glorious though…
There was a lot of hand sewing in this. There are 22 “buttonholes” at the back, all of which had to be blanket stitched through two thicknesses of felt, and then all that i-cord had to be sewn on, and the decorative bits completed.
I have one more item of clothing to blog and then I just need to finish the shoes and bag. My worry is that it’s now warming up and I won’t be able to wear it this year.
