Category: What I'm up to

1. Little Mix (Jesy Nelson) and the Heart-shaped Corset

   Posted on 9:00am Thursday 12th Nov 2020

   

   I didn't intend on creating this design to be honest, but whilst creating the petal corset for Foundations Revealed, the shape popped out at me and as it was coming up to Feb 14th I thought why not. It worked out well and I punted out the pics - it garnered a lot of interest and was featured by the Daily Corset on Instagram. They are followed by Little Mix's stylist who wanted it for Jesy Nelson so I sold it to her. Their stylist said it would be used for publicity material for the next album 'Confetti', then Lockdown happened delaying the release and I almost forgot about it. This photo was released yesterday. It's weird to see something I have created on somebody followed by millions of people! They have 13.3 million followers on Instagram and more than 200,000 people have liked this photo - I can't get my head around these sorts of numbers!

   It's in all the press too - so chuffed!  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8937195/amp/Little-Mix-pose-glam-Confetti-promo-still.html

   https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/13168219/jesy-nelson-corset-little-mix-confetti-promo/

   Pattern available through this website or in my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/CorsetsbyCaroline/listing/765175166/corset-pattern-the-petal-the-heart?utm_source=Copy&utm_medium=ListingManager&utm_campaign=Share&utm_term=so.lmsm&share_time=1605191230883

2. Mary Wollstonecraft at Newington Green, London - the birthplace of feminism

   Posted on 8:00am Tuesday 10th Nov 2020

   

   Mary Wollstonecraft wrote ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ – one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy and a powerful case for the liberation and education of women. She was one of Britain’s most important radicals; a free thinker of the enlightenment and a human rights campaigner. I have lived in an area of London called Newington Green for the best part of my life and it is here that Mary established a school for girls and gained inspiration and support from activists and intellectuals who settled in the neighbourhood (including the dissenting luminaires Richard Price and Anna Letitia Barbauld). I’m proud of my hood and today a statue at Newington Green will be unveiled. It's been 10 long years of fund-raising - at last, a fitting memorial to this incredible woman.

   

   © National Portrait Gallery, London

   ‘I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves’

   She was born on 27^th April 1759 in Spitalfields, London and had two children, one of whom was Mary Shelley who wrote the famous gothic novel Frankenstein - probably one of the first works of science fiction. She died very young at aged 38 on 10^th September 1797 only 10 days after giving birth to Mary. 

   The next article that I'm writing for Foundations Revealed is about the shorter Regency stays - the kind worn under the Empire line dresses of the time. In this portrait by John Opie in 1897 she's wearing a typical white muslin chemise gown that was gathered under the bust. With the higher waist came a new form of shorter stays that were initially similar-shaped to the stays of the eighteenth century but then developed to give the bust an uplifted and separated profile (rather then the mono shape than had gone before).

   

   © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

   As part of my research I wanted to visit Blythe House (part of the V&A where the fashion collection is stored) to interrogate these 'transitional' stays but alas whilst this pandemic rages, that avenue of pleasure is closed to me for now. 

3. Teens-era long-line under-bust corset (Lizzy) redrawn for 2020

   Posted on 12:00pm Thursday 29th Oct 2020

   

   My favourite historical patent is the Elizabeth Hume design of 1917. I'm very much a modern corset maker but I sometimes use original designs as a source of inspiration. I graded a pattern based on this one in 2014 but wanted to add some more plus sizes and have a look at grainlines and panel shapes - I wanted to be a bit more true to the original.

   

   Aspects to this design;

   - Straight silhouette - more hip smoothing than waist cinching

   - Skirt length

   - 16 panels 

   - instructions included for adding piping detail to the seams

   - two versions are included - a 2'' and 3'' waist cinch on standard sizes

   - curved centre back for sculpting the lumbar area (good for sway backs)

   - slight S-bend