This fitted corset is designed to show off a woman’s best assets, enhancing natural curves. Make this corset by following the instructions from page 144 of Alabama Stitch Book. (The pattern is included on the pattern sheet at the back of the book.) We made our version with medium-weight organic cotton jersey fabric, but it could easily be made using recycled t-shirts, as well.
Hello all, Today i am going to talk about a specific costume of southern Selonia. I already did one posting on Selonian costume from the north of Selonia. The costume i will describe today straddles the Latvian - Lithuanian border, being found in Nereta district, Augšzeme Province, Latvia. .For location see this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nereta_municipality And Biržai district, Aukštaitia Province, Lithuania. Check this link for location. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir%C5%BEai This costume resembles those of Lithuania more than it does those of Latvia, but it has some distinct characteristics. You may recall a map i included in my last posting showed an ethnic Lithuanian presence north of the border in this area. I cannot verify that, but the costumes are clearly from the same tradition. Here are two examples of the costume of the Nereta district, a married woman and back view And an unmarried girl. And here are a couple of examples of costumes from the Biržai district. A single girl. A young married woman with a cradle.[note the elaborately woven skirt] And a museum exhibit. These images are all from different sources so the quality varies quite a bit, i'm afraid. The distinctive piece of this costume is the chemise, which is typical neither of Latvian nor of Lithuanian Costume. The chemise is made of two seperate fields for the front and back, and there are two wide inserts sewn onto the shoulders which contain horizontal woven ornament in red. Both Latvian and Lithuanian chemises typically have a narrow bar over the shoulders with the front and back generally cut in one piece. The cut of this region is much more typical of Slavic costume, in fact if i had seen one of these chemises without knowing its provenance i would have identified it as being from Polissia, on the Ukrainian/Belorussian border. The second distinctive feature is red woven ornament placed vertically on the body of the sleeve. This feature is also not typical of either country. One could speculate that these features owe their existance to the old Selonian tribes. Here is the cut of the chemise of this region. Here are some closeups of chemises on the Latvian side. This is the shoulder insert and upper sleeve of one chemise. The collar of the same chemise. This is the shoulder piece and upper sleeve of another chemise. This is the shoulder piece of yet another chemise, the shoulder piece being attached with a decorative open stitching, the upper sleeve being at the right side of the image, and the body of the chemise at the bottom. The woven stripes would display horizontally on the upper arm. Here are two examples from the Lithuanian side. If you look at the images above, you will see that most show a plaid skirt, each woven in a different design based on red, green and other colors. Another part of the costume is a sash, either inkle woven, or very commonly hand braided. It also includes a linen apron, plain woven, or woven with a pattern, with red ornament at the hem, woven or embroidered or both. It may also be edged with bobbin lace or fringe. Here is a closeup of the apron shown in the first image. Here is a closeup of another apron from the Latvian side. Here are closeups of two aprons from the Lithuanian side. You will recognize this apron from the three part image of the museum exhibit above. Both of these examples have a patten woven into the entire apron. Two more linen components of this costume include the married woman's headcloth or 'wimple', called 'galvasauts' in Latvian and 'nuometas' in Lithuanian. The ends were ornamented with similar designs as the chemise and the apron. Often the two ends had different designs. There are various ways of tying this garment, as you can see above. The last garment, visible in the first image, is the rectangular linen wrap, called 'snatene' in Latvian and in Lithuanian 'panuometis' if made of one panel and 'drobule' if made of two panels joined together lengthwise. These also had ends ornamented in the same way as the aprons and chemises. They were sometimes woven of linen and wool for cooler weather, but the elaborately decorated Villaine so typical of Latvia is found neither in this region, nor in the rest of Lithuania. If you examine the images above, you will see that the Lithuanian images show two different cuts to the bodice, or 'liemene'. The last two images show a very basic cut, round neck opening, made of four pieces, sewn to the waist, and unjoined below, the bottom edges of the four pieces forming four lappets that extend to the hips. This is a common cut which is found all over Lithuania and Belarus. The first of the images shows a quite different cut, extending only to the waist in back but having two short extensions on the front. This cut is only found in western Aukštaitia, and in prints by Palaima and others, this is shown as the bodice typical of Aukštaitia. It was made of various materials, home woven as well as velvet or brocade. If the latter was the case, it was edged by metallic galoon. Either way it was fastened down the front with a chain laced through metal eyes or hooks. A couple images of this costume from the Lithuanian side. Note that this outfit has the horizontal ornament on the shoulder inset, but has horizontal ornament on the lower sleeve, instead of vertical. The various images show necklaces of glass or amber, typical of the entire Baltic region, but the girl wearing this bodice is also wearing a silver necklace of hollow beads and dangles, similar to those worn in neighboring Zemgale and by the Finnic peoples. These are also not found in other regions of Lithuania. The 'karuna' or crown shown in two of the Lithuanian images above is made of a wide piece of commercially produced galoon, lined and fastened around the head, by itself in the first image, and combined with a bow made of a wide commercially produced ribbon in the second. The Latvian girl is photographed with a 'vainags' typical of eastern Latvia, with beaded decoration on red cloth. Thank you for reading, i hope you have found this interesting and perhaps inspiring. I intend to work my way through the various provinces of Lithuania unless i get a request to research another area first. Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals Roman K. [email protected] Source Material: Source Material: Velta Rozenberga et al, 'Latviesu Tautas Terpi III Zemgale, Augszeme, Latgale' [Latvian National Costumes III Zemgale, Augszeme, Latgale], Riga, 2003 N. Kalashnikova, 'National Costumes of the Soviet Peoples', Moscow, 1990 Ilze Zingite, 'Latvian National Costumes', Riga, 2000 J. Sudmalis, 'Cimdu Rasti' [Mitten designs], Riga, 1961 Aija Jansone et al, 'Ieteikumi Latviesu Tautas Terpu Valkatajiem', Riga, 2002 AntanaTamošaitis and Anastazija Tamošaitienė, 'Lithuanian National Costume', Toronto, 1979 Vida Kulikauskienė et al, 'Lithuanian National Costume', Vilnius, 1994, Kati Reeder Meek, 'Reflections from a Flaxen Past, For Love of LIthuanian Weaving', Alpena, Michigan, 2000 Teresė Jurkiuvenė, 'Lithuanian National Costume', Vilnius, 2006 Mikalina Glemžaitė, 'Lietuvių Tautiniai Drabužiai', [Lithuanian National Clothing] Vilnius, 1955 Stasė Bernotienė, 'Lietuvių Liaudies Moterų Drabužiai XVIII a XX pr.' [Lithuanian Women's Folk Clothing from the XVIII to the XX cent], Vilnius, 1974, Stasė Bernotienė, 'Lietuvių Valstiecių Išeiginės Prijuostės XIX a. - XX a. pradžia' [Lithuanian Aprons of the 19th and 20th cent], Vilnius, 2007 J. Grigienė et al, 'Lietuvių Liaudies Menas - Drabužiai' [Lithuanian Folk Art - Clothing], Vilnius, 1974 Elena Matulionienė, 'Klaipėdos Krašto Tautiniai Drabužiai' [Folk Clothing of the Klaipeda Region], Klaipeda, 2005 V. Palaimas, artist, set of postcards, 'Lithuanian Folk Costume', 1961 R. Paknys, photographer, set of postcards, 'Lietuvių Tautiniai Drabužiai', 1991 Tatyana Razina et al, 'Folk Art in the Soviet Union', Leningrad, 1990 Irma šidiškienė, 'Buti LIetuve', Vilnius, 2004
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Fall 2011 I’d been reading about curved-front opening/seam bodices for a bit, but it wasn’t until recently that it all finally clicked and made sense to me. I dropped everything to work…
This entry will hopefully explain different ways of corset lacing and tips for you to get the best cinch and extend the life of your corset. First of all, let's talk about laces. The laces of a corset can be double-faced satin ribbon or flat cotton laces as a standard. The choice mainly depends on aesthetics and the maker's preference, as they both are commonly strong and durable. You can see the difference in between these kinds of laces on the image above. The green Electra Designs corset on the left features satin ribbon laces, while the 19th century blue corset in the middle is laced with flat cotton cord and the Madame Sher pink corset on the right features a rat tail lacing. The kind of laces shall not be confused with the style of lacing. The style might also depend on the maker's preferences, but laces can be easily changed by the wearer to meet his/her needs. Despite of this, historical corsetry should be laced according to its era. A pair of 17th century stays won't be laced the same way as a victorian/edwardian corset, for instance. Anyway, the lacing styles we're now discussing are the ones used for actual corsetry. 1st. One of the most commonly used styles of lacing is clearly explained in Evening Arwen's webpage. The style this link will direct you to is the classic victorian way of lacing, for wich you start lacing at the top edge of the back panels and place bunny ears (loops) at the waist area (these loops will help the wearer lace his/herself into the corset by pulling them, and will easily put the most pressure on the waist area for a perfect cinch). 2nd. Another common lacing type is the one explained by Electra Designs. This one also starts at the top and places loops or bunny ears on the waist area, though those loops invert the laces creating an extra cross. These inverted bunny ears actually help the lacing not to slide while cinching and are extra secure. 3rd. The last type we'll see is also very common, but I personally think is the less appropiate for corsetry. This corset by Bibian Blue shows this kind of lacing that starts either at the top or the bottom (the example is started at the bottom and ties the edges at the top). There are no bunny ears on the waist area and the ribbons look more like a shoe. I would recommend lacings 1 or 2, as the bunny ears help pulling the waist in which is actually the corseting aim. Now we know a bit more about laces and lacing, how do we put our corset on? 1- First of all, make sure your laces are loose enough to wrap yourself with the garment without any pulling or pressure. This will prevent the front closure from damage (it doesn't matter if it's a zip, a busk, swing hooks... If the front closure is also a lacing system, you may need to loosen this up as well). When your corset features no front closure at all, back laces should still be loose enough to get inside (as you would put on a top or T-shirt); if laces are too short to get in, then you'll need to undo part of the lacing so you get comfortably in. Then, relace your corset before starting the next step. After wraping the corset around, close the front. If it's a busk, make sure you start closing the second or third hook first to avoid extra pressure on the piece, and then fasten up the other hooks. 2- You've got your corset loose around your body: now it's time to pull the laces. You can make this on your own (a mirror will help) or get it done by somebody else. In any case, the way of doing it is pretty much the same. Start by pulling the bunny ears at your waist as long as the surrounding laces tighten a bit. Now, start pulling from the top to the middle, and then from the bottom to the middle as you would do with a shoe, making sure the extra ribbon goes to the middle section increasing the lenght of the bunny ears. Repeat this until you feel pressed by the corset, making sure you pull more or less the same way at the top and bottom so the back bones don't suffer and keep as straight as possible. The pressure must be comfortable and allow breathing normally. If you feel any pain or discomfort, loosen the laces a bit until you feel like huged and well. Warning!! Make sure you lace yourself in slow and gently, there's no need to rush. Too much pressure may cause injuries if you don't listen to your body's needs. Feel free to bend and accomodate yourself inside of the corset while lacing so you get comfortable. 3- Pull the bunny ears to get a perfect cinch around your waist and tie the rabbit ears into a simple bow. I recommend to leave the free edges slightly longer than the looped laces to ease unmaking the bow: it's not the first time I pull the bow wrong and make a knot, which is not a desireable thing to happen when you need to loosen yourself up quickly. Tip: Half an hour after you put your corset on, your body has accostumed to the cinch, so you can gently pull a little bit more. Be aware of what your body says to you: if you don't feel like pulling in anymore as you know this will be uncomfortable or even painful, stop and skip this readjustment. Comfort and patience are essential when corseting. Here's a video by Lucy/Bishonenrancher cinching herself into a "1st type lacing" (bunny ears) corset to clear these steps up, and this is another video of hers closing a "2nd type lacing" corset (inverted bunny ears). If your corset is laced in the 3rd way (no rabbit ears) then check this video by Lucy/Bishonenrancher, it will help a lot! How do we get out of our corset now? Simply follow the same steps as before but starting from the end: so you undo the bow, loosen a bit at the top and a bit at the bottom as many times as needed to keep the back bones straight, and when you're loose enough unfasten the front closure if there's one (remember, the second/third hook of the busk is the last one to be unfastened). Happy lacing!
Well, it's happened again: I've got the corset bug. And it's a good thing--I've finally pulled out the underbust corset kit from Sew Curv...
NB : Merci de ne pas reprendre cet article (ou mes images) sans citer ce blog de manière claire. Et s’il vous semble utile alors partagez-le (merci d’avance !). Please, do not use this article (nor m
My favorite surviving 18th century stays can be found in the Victoria & Albert museums collections. As my previous stays were starting to s...
