Making A Georgian Costume - Part 1 The Corset B4254 Butterick

Gosh it's been a long time since I last posted.  No wonder I have had to make a robe for my mother, and for myself a major Georgian outfit from scratch. And of course life it's self happens.


Like anything one has to begin with the foundations of the outfit. So I needed to make Georgian
stays. I purchased the B4254 Butterick Making History Corset Patterns chose to make corset B.

Corset A and B are virtually the same, except corset B allows the wearer to put the corset on by themselves, because it is laced at the front as well as the back. This is what I wanted.

I don't know why I made the decision to hand sew the corset.  Maybe I wanted more control, maybe I wanted to know what it was like to hand sew a corset, maybe I wanted to know what the dressmakers of the time went through.  It was a good idea at the time, but half way through my poor hands were complaining.  Overall I am glad I made this decision. Now that I look back, I really appreciate my corset more.

4 Layers were used.

Top layer - Violet Jacquard Suiting

Middle layer - Grey upholstery fabric

3rd Layer - Interfacing

4th Inner Layer - Purple Cotton

I used spiral steel boning. Which is fairly easy to cut with little pliers. 

A sample of my hand sewing. 

The end product!

Overall I was very happy with the corset. The only changes I made to the Butterick pattern was to add more boning in the chest area.

I do realise my binding is better on the left hand side.  The binding on the right, is rather dodgy.

I find it very comfortable to wear the stays and I can drive in them really well. Bonus!  Overall the instructions were great and well illustrated.  I hope to make the other 3 corsets at a later day.  I recommend this pattern to a sewer who has some experience in making a corset.

Pattern Review - Butterick B6108 Edwardian Suit

I bought this Butterick B6108 Pattern many moons ago.  I had no event planned to wear a suit to. Luckily a dear friend decided to plan a day of enjoying the art of punting on the lake at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne.  I thoroughly recommend Punt Tours.

Most of my friends decided to attend in early Edwardian attire, but I decided this was the perfect opportunity to make my first suit.

In the beginning I was going to make the pattern on the left. However I changed my mind after I made the skirt.  I decided to then make the one on the right, and I am glad I did.

The fabric of choice was wool.  It is Autumn here in Melbourne, Australia, so wool was perfect.  I knew the best place to purchase quality wool, was from Crossley Job Lots .  Many of their fabrics are dating back 30 to 40 years.  So the fabrics automatically have that period feel.



The skirt was pretty straight forward, however it was my first time making pleats with wool.  Gee this fabric creased nicely under the iron. :-)

Now with the coat.  I was a little nervous, it was going to be a challenge, it was my first coat!  I decided to make some changes with the pattern. I decided to eliminate the large collar flap but keep the smaller collar.  My reason for doing this, I am a short person of plump build and the larger collar, I felt would overpower the look.  So I removed it and moved the buttons to the top of the triangle flap.  I felt the buttons would hold the flap better and gravity and the weight of the wool would do the rest of holding the suit in place.

I also decided to make the cuffs smaller as well. When I placed the full size cuffs on the sleeve, I just had to laugh, they made my arms look very short. Thus I had to reduce the size of them as well, they worked, but I could have reduced them a little more.

Overall the Butterick B6108 pattern was a joy to make. Excellent instructions and illustrations.  I used a combination of the sewing machine and hand sewed when it came to inside lining.

Butterick B6108 Retro Pattern
Fabric: Wool (Navy Blue),
Curtain Fabric (Collar & Cuffs)
Lining.Hat: Op ShopBlouse: Op ShopBag: Antique & Op Shop