The Corset.
A statement piece that symbolizes the pain that women will endure to embody their ideas of beauty and elegance. This item of clothing has been a controversial piece from the 1600s, well into the 20th century.
What is believed to have begun around 1600 BC with the Minoans; a civilization of people near Greece, a figurine from their culture of a snake goddess is found in what looks to be a corset, being the earliest imagery of the garment.
In more recent cultures, they have been used to slim the waist, and shape the chest of women through the use of boning.
The boning material can range from material like metal, plastic, or even whale bones (baleen), with its main purpose to maintain the stiff shape and structure.
"To maintain this shape, some corsets had as many as 60-100 whalebones sewn into them."
– Hagen History Center
It wasn’t until the 1830s where intricate lacing was replace with a hook and eye closure allowing women to put them on single-handedly.
By the end of the 1900s a more “S” shape was desired with a focus on the chest being more forward.
Just as quick as this shape came in, a new body type that shrunk the size of your hips was more desired. This new shape later inspired the creation of the girdle. With the start of WWI in 1914 as women went into the workforce, it was the first time in 400 years that these restricting type of corsets were not popularized.
1700s
1869
1900s
Video Visuals
Step – by – Step
1.
Mark (3) measurements (*):
a. Under-bust (UB) to Waistline (WL)
b. Under-bust (UB) to Hipline (HL)
c. 1/2 Hipline measurement
2 .
Draw a rectangle with a base of (c) with a height of (b) & transfer your markings (UB, WL, HL) using the (a) measurement for the WL placement.
3.
Creating some panels, we divide our base by 3 to use as the width for each panel.
4.
The point (d) where our waistline intersects with our panel lines is where we are going to snatch the waist.
– Take some time to try on your draft, pinching at that point on the waist to approximate how many inches of fabric to remove.
Take the total inches of fabric to be removed and divide by two (e).
5.
Starting at each point (d), extend a line on both sides of the point (e) inches far.
The endpoints of the line will then connect to the top and bottom of line (d)
Cut out shaded fabric &Sew together.