"Becoming Victoria"


I am honoured and excited to have been invited by the Llandrindod Wells Victorian Festival committee to appear as a young Queen Victoria at this year's festival from 22nd-28th August 2016. In preparation for this role I will be designing and making the costumes for the young queen over the coming months. These will be authentic reproductions of the fashions of the early years of Victoria's reign and will include a range of 1840s women's garments from corsets and petticoats to day dresses, ball gowns and bonnets. This blog will document and share my progress as I research, design and stitch each element to reveal the secrets of "Becoming Victoria".

Tuesday 21 June 2016

The corset construction progresses...

65 days to go and the corset is now almost ready to be boned...


All of the panels have been joined and the gores inserted to complete the two halves of the corset. The seams are sewn twice using two different stitch lengths. This helps to strengthen the seams so that they can withstand the tension exerted on them when the corset is laced without ripping apart as though perforated. The seam allowances are then pressed to one side and 3/8" channels are stitched to one side of each seam. It is into these channels that the steel bones will be inserted. Additional vertical cording also supports the wider side panel. The photographs show how the shaping of the pieces at the hip and the insertion of the gores create a three-dimensional form that will hug the body to create the desired silhouette.

Both sides of the corset, pinned in the centre to simulate the look of the final garment

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