Corset

[elizabeth_mn]

I drafted my new corset pattern from the old one yesterday and I was about to cut out the fabric when I noticed it has slubs.  Just little, teeny, not very noticable unless the light hits it just so slubs, but slubs nonetheless.  So of course I had to have one of those half-hour long moments of uncertainty in which I just sit there and stare at the fabric and worry and fret and contemplate.  And (also of course) I just went ahead anyway.  I suppose I can live with a slightly slubby corset and bustle, mostly because I have about $5 to my name right now and I can't really buy anything else, and the only other two suitable silks I have in the stash are white (ick) and a pretty dark burgundy, which I didn't really want to use, even if it is perfectly perfect, wonderful, smooth taffeta.  Those two are also left over from Mr. Painting's project; I don't think I could bring myself to buy such luscious stuff without some idea of what I'm going to do with it.

Other than the slubbiness, though, this fabric is pretty dreamy.  It so crisp, it rustles like paper, but it has good substance.  And it's a lovely color, sort of a pale red, from the cherry-red warp and the straw-yellow weft.  After I make the corset and bustle I'll have about 1 1/2 yards left, so I asked my honeybunny if he wants a new doublet out of it.  (He said sure, and I said ok, next year.)

Comments

[chloeandrudy.livejournal.com]

If someone's that close to you to see the slubs, they're too close.
Unless you want him to be. ;) And then I don't think you need to worry about it.

I read on a Yahoo Group costume site that slubby fabric WAS used, even in dresses, so have no fear.

[ashamanja-babu.livejournal.com]

I guess you're right! I also read something the other day (on the Truly Victorian board) about slubby fabrics being period-okay. But since I'm entering this in a competition, I'm just worried about every little detail.

[chloeandrudy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's where I read it. You might want to copy any of that info, or any documentation, to take with you. Is this an SCA group? Do they have rules or guidelines of what you can and can't use?

[ashamanja-babu.livejournal.com]

It's the MN State Fair creative activites competition. The historical reproduction is just one category out of dozens of other garment making categories, and all they say is that they want documentation of historical accuracy - not very specific! So I suppose I should hope that the judges either don't know enough to notice or know enough to think it's okay. Anywhere in between gets in the "a little learning is a dangerous thing" area.

Anyway, I'm kind of trying to find the balance between making my documentation paper for the entry long enough to be useful and not so long that the judges just skim through it.