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Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................. 5

16th Century Costume Timeline ................................................. 6

Overview of an Elizabethan Outfit ............................................. 7

History of the Elizabethan Corset ............................................. 12

Corset Materials ......................................................................... 19

Making a Corset Pattern............................................................ 27

Corset Measurement Form ........................................................ 29

Making an Elizabethan Corset .................................................. 30

Wearing & Caring for your Corset ........................................... 39

History of the Spanish Farthingale ........................................... 41

Farthingale Materials ................................................................. 44

Making a Spanish Farthingale .................................................. 45

Bumrolls & French Farthingales .............................................. 49

Making a Roll .............................................................................. 51

Elizabethan Stockings: History & Construction ..................... 53

Elizabethan Smocks.................................................................... 59

Making a Smock ......................................................................... 62

Appendix A: Books on Elizabethan Costume .......................... 66

Appendix B: Mailorder Resources ............................................ 70

List of Illustrations ..................................................................... 73

Bibliography ................................................................................ 75

Endnotes ...................................................................................... 78

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5

Intro-duction

In the SCA, people choose costumes that fit their character and inclination. Manystick to basic T-Tunics for comfort and ease of manufacture; some people preferItalian Renaissance styles, and some the dags and cotehardies of late Medievaldress. But one thing that almost everyone will agree upon is that Elizabethancostume is one of a very difficult, time-consuming and formidable fashion to sew.

Wearing an English Elizabethan dress requires foundation garments and other para-phernalia. You can’t throw an Elizabethan gown over your head and run, like youcan with a loose surcote or T-tunic. Therefore many people steer away from Eliza-bethan garb as a costume choice, preferring something that doesn’t require as mucheffort and storage space.

What many people don’t realize is that Elizabethan costuming isn’t the horrifi-cally complex art that the finished product makes it appear. To make a court gowndoes require time and effort and lots of pieces of clothing, but if you take eachgarment one at a time and build your outfit from the inside out, even those withoutmuch experience with a sewing machine can make something which will producea gratifying number of oohs and aahs. In fact, the everyday dress of the Elizabe-than marketwomen is in many ways as simple to make, and as comfortable, as theclothing worn a century before.

But before you begin on your court gowns, kirtles and sleeves, you need to havethe basic underpinnings required for upper-class Elizabethan costume. It is oftenthese underpinnings—smock, corset, farthingale, roll, and so on—that turn so manypeople off of Elizabethan costuming, believing it more trouble than it’s worth.Once you have the foundation garments, however, you can make any number ofbodices and outfits to wear over them; and the underpinnings are not as difficult tomake as you might think.

This manual contains information on finding materials for, making a custom pat-tern for and sewing together a corset, farthingale (cone-shaped hoop skirt), smock,and bumroll, information on knitting a pair of period stockings, a list of places tofind period fabric, boning and other materials, and other useful introductory infor-mation about the hidden aspects of Elizabethan costume that aren’t visible to thenaked eye.

This is a second, updated edition of the original Elizabethan Underpinnings.Mailorder addresses, email addresses and other resource information has changedin the last six years, and new research on Elizabethan costume has dramaticallyincreased what information we have on underpinnings during the 16th century.

If you are interested in continuing down the path of Elizabethan costume afterreading this Compleat Anachronist, visit the Elizabethan Costume Page, http://costume.dm.net/, to find materials, resources and inspiration to start you on yourway. Many of the articles that form the basis of this manual are online there.

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16th Century Costume

Here, for reference, is a chart showing the changing silhouette ofElizabethan dress from the beginning to the end of the 16th century.

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Overview of anElizabethan Outfit

There’s not enough room in this book-let to cover the topic of all Elizabethancostume. To understand what went un-derneath, however, it’s necessary tohave a basic understanding of the dif-ferent elements of costume inElizabethan England.

This is a listing of the main elements ofElizabethan dress. By the term “Eliza-bethan”, I mean the dress worn by theEnglish during Queen Elizabeth’s reign,or approximately 1560-1600.

There was a very wide variation in stylebetween 1560 and 1600—indeed, theentire silhouette of fashion transformeditself during the 40 year timespan. Thevariation between the clothing worn bythe nobility and that worn by the com-mon folk was almost as great.1 Inaddition, women of the 16th century hada number of different ensembles tochoose from, just as modern women do.There’s no “one” Elizabethan outfit.

Therefore, I’m narrowing this overviewdown to one lady, at one time and place.Meet Cecily Hawkins, a minor noble-woman living in London in 1575. She’sgoing to Elizabeth’s court today, and hasdecided to wear her most fashionable

gown: A French gown, with a low,square neckline, a tight-fitting bodice,and a full skirt gathered to the waist.

Putting on an upper-class English Eliz-abethan gown is a complicated process,and when you include hair and make-up, can take half an hour or more.Several writers of Elizabethan timeslampooned the extraordinary amount oftime required for a woman to completeher toilette and dress. Phillip Stubbes’rant on women’s dress, written in the1580s, is an entertaining & informativeexample.2

Cecily has a number of servants to doher hair and put on her shoes after shedresses. If you are unfortunate enoughto lack servants to help you dress, youshould do your hair and put on any un-derwear, stockings and shoes beforestarting. Once you’re dressed, thesethings will be much more difficult todo. Although the Elizabethan noble-women didn’t wear underwear per se,several modern re-enactors do; whenwearing Elizabethan dress in hot weath-er, shorts can prevent chafing.

After stretching and washing her faceand hands, Cecily is ready to dress.

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Fyrste: A SmockeThe first thing Cecily puts on is her smock, also called ashift. This innermost layer of clothing, worn by all womenof all classes, was a basic linen undergarment worn to pro-tect outer clothing from sweat and body oils.

But which smock to wear? Cecily has different kinds ofsmocks; some are cut close to the body with a low, squareneck and close-fitting, ungathered sleeves. Others have puffysleeves gathered to cuffs and a body gathered to a close-fitting neckband. Since Cecily’s wearing her low-cut Frenchgown rather than a gown with a high bodice, she chooses alinen smock with a low, square neck, decorated with black-work and narrow lace around the neck opening.

For more information on the history and variety of Elizabe-than smocks, see the section on Elizabethan Smocks.

Ye StockynsNext, Cecily opens her clothes chest and looks through herstockings. Women’s stockings of the 1570s came to justabove the knee. Cecily has several pair of cloth stockingsfor everyday wear. These are made of bias cut wool in anumber of colors and weights.3 She also has three pairs ofexpensive knitted hose, two of wool jersey yarn, and one offine silk thread. Today, she decides, she should wear hersilk stockings. Cecily’s stockings are kept up by a garter, athin ribbon tied just below the knee.4 See the section onKnitting Period Stockings for more details.

A Paire of BodyesNow it’s time for the corset. Cecily’s corset , which shecalls a “pair of bodies”, is a close-fitting bodice stiffenedwith reed and whalebone. Cecily doesn’t wear a corset ev-ery day—although she’s a buxom woman, her petticoatbodies gives a fashionable enough silhouette for relaxed homewear—but for court, she needs a corset to give her the flatfront line required for her French gown. For today, she slipsa busk of horn down the front of her corset to make it verystiff and straight. Look at the sections on the History of theElizabethan Corset, Corset Materials, Corset Patterns andMaking a Corset to find out more about this garment.

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A Spanisshe VerdingalCecily’s Spanish farthingale is next. This is a cone-shapedhoop skirt which gives the A-line shape that has become sofashionable at court over the past decade . She has somefarthingales stiffened with rows of rope, which give a softerline, as well as some stiffened with willow withies, whichcreate a very rigid shape indeed. For court, she chooses herwillow-hooped Spanish farthingale made of red taffeta.

Her maid, Joan, slips it over her head and ties it to the corsetat the sides. This keeps it from slipping down and moving,and helps transfer the weight of heavy skirts to her torsorather than having it rest all on the hips. Cecily feels a chilldraft creep under her hoopskirt, and belatedly wishes thatshe had put on a warm, flannel petticoat under her farthin-gale5 .

For more info on the farthingale and its evolution through-out the Elizabethan era, look at the sections on the Historyof the Farthingale and Making Elizabethan Farthingales.

A RowleShould she wear a “rowle” to Court or not? Cecily debatesthe question. Some women wear small, padded crescentsaround their hips to make skirts spring out more. The Frenchgown Cecily plans to wear has pleats that are stuffed withbatting and stiffened buckram near the top, to give them morespring6, but perhaps a bumroll would give an extra “oomph”to her skirt. She decides to wear one, and Joan ties it aroundher waist. Look at the section on Rolls and French Farthin-gales for more information about this item.

Ye Kyrtell and ForepartCecily has a number of different kirtles. Many are separateskirts, although some of her “kirtles” are actually entire un-dergowns, meant to be worn under different styles of outergowns.

For this French gown, Cecily plans to wear a kirtle skirtover her farthingale. Cecily has her maid Joan take her redsatin kirtle out of the press. Cecily chooses one that will gowell with the red velvet gown: a red satin kirtle, with aforepart of black taffeta and white sarcanet puffs, embroi-dered in gold. It has matching sleeves, like several of her

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other foreparts7. Joan laces the matching sleeves into thearmholes of her gown, while Cecily waits impatiently.

A ParteletCecily had planned to wear her favorite shirt under her gown.It gathers to a high neck and has poufy sleeves which gatherto cuffs. It’s entirely covered with blackwork embroidery.As she’s wearing sleeves that match her forepart, however,the shirt isn’t an option; there’s no way the gathered andheavily decorated shirt sleeves would fit comfortable underthe outer sleeves. Instead, she chooses a white silk partletembroidered with a network design in black silk “blackwork”embroidery. This partlet ties under her arms, and fills in thelow neckline of her gown quite nicely.

Gowne and SlevesAt last! Time for Cecily’s gown and sleeves. Joan helps herinto the French gown, makes sure the partlet is evenly tuckedaround the neckline, and laces it closed in front as the othermaid, Maud, fiddles with the fashionable large shoulder rollsto make sure they’re straight. Most of Cecily’s gowns fas-ten up the front, either with lacing or with hooks and eyes.The skirt of the gown is shaken out so that it lies evenlyaround.

Ye ShoesCecily has several shoes to wear. Theyall have thin leather soles and uppersof leather, velvet or other fabrics. Theyare lined with wool, taffeta and satin8.Some are slip-on shoes, similar to mod-ern espadrilles. Others look rather likemodern mary janes, with a low-cut topand a strap across the instep.9 Cecilydecides to wear her red leather “latch-et” shoes. These shoes have twoside-flaps that fasten over a centraltongue, tying with a yellow ribbon. Sheslips out of the slipper-like pantofles10

she’s been wearing to keep her feet offof the cold floor, and steps into hershoes.

Hedde WearCecily sits down before her mirror witha sigh of relief, as Maud and Joan busythemselves with her hair. Joan places alinen cape over her gown, to keep hairand hair oils (Cecily rarely washes herhair with soap) away from the costlygown11. She then brushes the knotsfrom her mistress’s hair with a bonecomb. The front hair is rolled into twopoufs, using some false hair to add body,and the rest is braided into a thick brownbraid. Joan then threads a blunt needlewith a ribbon, called a “hair tape”, andproceeds to “sew” the braid to Cecily’shead to keep it in place12. She then fix-es a small bag, or “caul”, over the braid.

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After looking through her various head-wear—a rather out-of-date french hood,a small flat cap, and several hats of dif-fering shapes, sizes and colors—Cecilydecides to wear a tall hat of white andgold brocade, embellished with severalwhite feathers and a beautiful hatpin ofenamelled gold.

Painte for the FaceMeanwhile, Maud has been preparingCecily’s makeup. Cecily doesn’t oftenwear makeup, but for an appearance atcourt it really is required. She preferswhite lead for a foundation base. Al-though some folk warn that it’s bad forthe skin, she’s never noticed any badeffect. Maud applies the white founda-tion to Cecily face and bosom, and thenapplies red “ceruse”, or vermilion, toCecily’s lips13. She also puts a touchof ceruse on the cheeks.

A Ruffe-bandeCecily orders her fancy white linen neckruff with the gold lace edging and span-gles to be brought from its band-box.It was set into neat, crisp figure-eightsjust the night before, by a local womanknown for her starching ability andknack with setting ruffs. It has match-ing wrist ruffs. Joan and Maud hookthem onto Cecily’s neck and wrists.

JewelryCecily chooses a rich carcanet, or jew-eled choker, of garnets and pearls towear around her neck. It has a pendantdepicting a dolphin, decorated with di-amonds and emeralds. She chooses rubyand pearl earrings, and Joan slips some

bodkins tipped with pearls into thepoufs of her hair. Not quite satisfiedwith the effect, Cecily also dons a longgold chain and has Joan fix a large pen-dant to the front center of her bodice.Like most other women of her station,Cecily believes that more is always bet-ter when it comes to decoration.

Safeguard & CloakIt’s a rather cloudy day and there’s aslight chance of rain. Joan keepsnagging Cecily to wear some protec-tive clothing, so Cecily has Maud puta “safeguard”, or protective outerskirt14, over her gown to keep anymud or water from it during her horseride across town. A waist-length capeprotects her bodice and sleeves.

And Cecily is finally ready to go tocourt!

Fig 1: Portrait of an Unknown Lady, c.1565-1570. School of François Clouet.

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History of the Elizabethan Corset

Body-shaping through the use of gar-ments has been practiced in manydifferent fashions throughout the cen-turies and around the world. In Japan,the obi wound tightly around a wom-an’s torso served much the sameflattening and smoothing purpose as anElizabethan corset; the “giraffe-neck”women of Africa use a series of metalrings to lengthen their necks to extraor-dinary proportions.

When people think of 16th centurydress, the first thing that comes to mindis the corset. The corset represents afundamental shift in the concept ofclothing and tailoring. Until the late15th century, body shaping was accom-plished by the seam placement, andtight lacing which were responsible forthe monobosom effect of15th centurykirtles and Italian renaissance gowns ofthe same era1 . At most, there was someform of stiffening on either side of thelaces to keep the seam straight, and per-haps an interlining of stiff or heavyfabric through the bodice of the gown.In the 16th century, a change occurred:instead of shaping clothes to the body,as had been done throughout the Mid-dle Ages and Renaissance, the bodybegan to conform to the fashionableshape of the clothing worn.

There are several myths about wearingcorsets, many of which spring from Vic-torian corsetry rather than Elizabethan.In the 16th century, the corset was notmeant to draw in the waist and createan hourglass figure; rather, it was de-

signed to mold the torso into a cylin-drical shape, and to flatten and raise thebustline. There is one 16th century ref-erence to a small waist beingfashionable, but on the whole it was afashionably flat-torsoed shape, ratherthan a tiny waist, that the corset wasdesigned to achieve.

Another common myth revolves aroundthe discomfort of corsets. This, too,stems from the tightly-laced waists ofthe 19th century; the corset worn inElizabethan England, when fitted andlaced correctly, is quite comfortable.Some well-endowed women considerthen more comfortable then modernunderwire bras, and many people withback problems have remarked uponhow much a boned-tab Elizabethan cor-set feels like a supportive back brace.

As the corset was hidden underneath theother layers of dress in the 16th centu-ry, finding out about it is difficult. Upto the 1520s, the raised and slightlyrounded shape of the fashionable gowncould be achieved by a well-fitted kir-tle. A German woodcarving of 1520shows a woman wearing a gown with adefinite crease and fold in the fabricunder the bust2 . In Holbein’s sketchesof the 1520s and his portraits of the1530s, however, stiffening is definitelyrequired3 .

This flattened bosom could have beenachieved by Tudor bodices and stoma-chers were stiffened with buckram(glue-stiffened canvas) to achieve thefashionably flat shape4 . Looked at from

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a practical standpoint, however, it savestime and labor to have one stiffenedundergarment to wear under severalgowns then to stiffen every gown indi-vidually. Having an undergarment totake the strain of shaping the body alsohelps to extend the life of the outergown. In addition, tightly-fitted andsupportive undergowns worn under-neath a decorative outer garments werefound through Europe for the entirityof the preceding century5 ; it is onlynatural that this established trend shouldhave continued.

How did the corset evolve into a sepa-rate garment? In the 15th century, atightly-fitted kirtle worn under the out-er gown was used to shape the body intothe fashionable form. It’s likely that itwas the bodice of this kirtle which wasfirst stiffened with buckram, and thenwith stiffer materials such as reed orbents, as the fashionable silhouette be-came flatter and flatter during the 1520sand 1530s.

During the 1530 and 40s, the decora-tive skirt of the kirtles worn undergowns underwent a change: instead ofan entire decorated underkirtle, a sepa-rate, decorated “kirtle” skirt could beworn under the outer gown6 . When thishappened, we can theorize that the by-now-essential stiffened kirtle bodicewas retained as a separate garment: the“payre of bodies”, or corset as it is nowknown.

There are also references in early 16thcentury Spain of a “vasquina” bodicebeing tied to a farthingale or stiffenedskirt7 . Add stiffening of some kind tothis separate under-bodice, and voila—a corset is born.

Written References to CorsetsOne problem with finding written ref-erences to 16th centuries is that the term“pair of bodies” could denote both acorset and the bodice of a gown. Oneneeds to take the context of the refer-ence into account. If it is a “pair ofbodies with sleeves”, most likely it is agown which is being discussed; if ma-terials such as whalebone or bents arementioned, it could concievably be acorset rather than a bodice. If it is men-tioned with petticoats or farthingales,other undergarments of the time, thenchances are it is a corset rather than abodice. In the 1550s, the first referenceto a separate undergarment is found inthe wardrobe accounts of Mary Tudor8 .

• Item for making of one peire of bod-ies of crymsen satin• Item for making two pairs of bodiesfor petticoats of crymsen satin• Item for making a pair of bodies for aVerthingall of crymsen Grosgrain

Fig 2: Drawing after Hans Holbein’sPortrait of Jane Seymour, c. 1535.

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Satin appears to have been Mary’s fab-ric of choice, and crimson was one ofthe prevalent colors in her wardrobe.Sewing a stiffened bodice to a petticoator farthingale would be a practical wayto lessen the bulk underneath the outergowns, keep the farthingale from slip-ping out of place and help distribute theweight of a heavy gown more comfort-ably. References to petticoats oftenmention bodices sewn to them9 .

Queen Elizabeth had several pairs ofbodies listed in her wardrobe ac-counts10 . The following listings,according to Janet Arnold (author ofQueen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d),most likely referred to a corset-like gar-ment.

• A payre of bodies of black cloth of sil-ver with little skirts (1571)• a pair of bodies of sweete lether(1579)• a pair of bodies of black velvet linedwith canvas stiffened with buckeram(1583)• for altering a pair of bodies...the bod-ies lined with sackecloth and buckramabout the skirts with bents covered withfustian.• a pair of french bodies of damaskelined with sackcloth, with whales boneto them (1597)

As we can see, several different mate-rials were used to stiffen bodies: leather,buckram, bents, and, as the 16th centu-ry neared its end, whalebone.

In the later 16th century, “French Bod-ies” was a term commonly used for thestiffened undergarment. In 1577, theywere worn in France:

French women have inconceivably nar-row waists...over the chemise they weara corset or bodice, that they call a‘corps pique’, which makes their shapemore delicate and slender. It is fastenedbehind which helps to show off the formof the bust.11”

A quote from the late 1590s give us anidea of what they were stiffened with:

I will have a petticoate of silk, not redbut of the finest silk there is...it shallhave a French bodie, not of whalebone,for that is not stiff enough, but of hornefor that will hold it out, it shall come,to keepe in my belly...my lad, will havea Busk of whalebone, it shall be tyedwith two silk points...”12

Here again a petticoat has a bodie “to”it, indicating that the two were worn—and perhaps even fastened—together.

French bodies show up regularly in tai-lor’s bills of the later 16th century. Hereare some listings found in the bills ofTailor’s Bills of the 1590s13:

• 2 pair of French bodies (1591)

• 3/4 [yard] of canvas for mistressKnevittes bodies (1591)• whales bone for the bodies

• an elle of canvas for my mistress’sFrenche bodies [and] six yards of greenbinding lace to them (1592)• 2 yards of sacking for a pair of Frenchbodies (1594)• a whale bone bodye (1590)

and lastly, here is a reference to a pairof bodies made for Queen Elizabeth’sdwarf, Tomasen: “a payer of Frenchbodies of damask lined with sackecloth,with whales bone.”

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Pictures of CorsetsDescriptions are well and good...butwhat did the period pair of bodies looklike? Unfortunately, pickings are slim.As the pair of bodies was an undergar-ment, it wasn’t depicted in periodpaintings. In fact, I have found onlythree paintings from the time periodwhich show a pair of boned bodies.

The first is a portrait of Elizabeth Ver-non, Countess of Southampton, datedto c. 1600. It shows the countess endeshabille wearing a pink boned pairof bodies underneath her opened jack-et. A ruffle of gathered fabric runsaround the bottom of the corset, and itlaces up the front.

The second is somewhat later—it datesto the 1620s, but still provides usefulinformation on corsets of the late 16thand early 17th centuries. “Kitchen in-

terior with the Rich Man and Poor Laz-arus”, by Pieter Cornelisz van Rijck,shows a kitchen maid dressed in smock,corset, petticoat and apron. Like Eliza-beth Vernon’s corset, this one is alsovery flat, laces up the front, and is bonedwith narrow, vertical channels.

Extant CorsetsFortunately, we have more to go on thanpaintings. There are currently twoknown corsets from the 16th century,and two stomachers dated to the early17th century, which we can look at asexamples.

The first and best known example of a16th century corset is the German pairof bodies buried with Pfaltzgrafin Dor-othea Sabine von Neuberg in 1598.This corset is shown in detail on page47 and 112-113 of Janet Arnold’s Pat-terns of Fashion 1560-1620 and in Jutta

Fig 3: Drawing after a Portrait ofElizabeth Vernon, c. 1600

Fig 4: Drawing after a detail from vanRijck’s “Kitchen Interior”, c. 1628

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Zander-Seidel’s book Textiler Hausrat.It is made of three layers of cream-col-ored fabric, the outer layer being silkbacked with linen and the inner liningof linen, and has channels backstitchedbetween the two layers into whichwhalebone was inserted. It has tabs atthe waist, as well as small eyelets at thewaistline through which the farthingale(stiffened hoop skirt) or petticoat couldbe fastened to the corset.

A pocket sewn down the front of theGerman corset allowed a stiff busk tobe slipped into the corset, to provide acompletely flat front. The armholes arerather far back, as are the armholes ofmost garments of the time; a stiff, up-right, and what modern people wouldcall unnaturally rigid posture was con-sidered a mark of good breeding.

This was a German corset, and there-fore cannot be considered an exampleof English Elizabethan fashion; never-theless, it is the earliest surviving corsetwe have.

The busk which would have beenslipped into the busk pocket, was a long,flat piece of ivory, horn or wood, elab-orately carved in later centuries, whichhelped to give a pair of bodies a rigid,smooth shape. In 1579, Henry Etiennementioned this item in a letter: “Theladies call a whalebone... their stay,which they put under their breast, rightin the middle, in order to keep straight-er.”14 This stay, or busk, could be tiedinto place by a busk-lace to keep it fromshifting up or down. The busk-laceeventually became an intimate favor,given by women to the men theyloved15 .

The second corset is English, and wasput on the effigy of Queen Elizabeth in1602. It currently resides in Westmin-ster Abbey, along with a detailedwrite-up and dating of the corset by Ja-net Arnold which is kept in theWestminster Library16. There is a pho-tograph of this corset in Norah Waugh’sbook Corsets and Crinolines. As thebook was printed prior to the corset’s

Fig 5: The corset worn by the Effigy ofQueen Elizabeth in Westminster, c. 1602

Fig 6: Corset buried with PfaltzgräfinDorothea Sabine von Neuburg, 1598

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re-dating to c. 1602, it is included with18th century corsets.

This corset was also stiffened withwhalebone. Unlike the German corsetit had boned tabs and a wide, scoopedneck which hinted at the shape the cor-set would attain during the next twocenturies. It laces up the front. Inter-estingly, the front edged of this corsetcurves in below the bust and out overthe bust. Due to the front lacings, it hasno busk;instead, two heavy strips ofwhalebone run down either side of thefront lacing.

Aside from these two items, all we haveare two 17th century stomachers, onecurrently in the Globe Theatre in Lon-don and the other in the RocamoraCollection of Barcelona, which wereboth cut down from corsets. They arevirtually identical in proportion andconstruction; both are made of a heavy,coarse linen, are boned with thin reeds,and are braced with horizontal cross-braces of whalebone down either sideof the front center lacings.

16th Century Corset-makingBased on the extant corsets we have toexamine and on the construction tech-niques found in other garments of theperiod, we can draw some conclusionsabout how these items were made in the16th century.

Professional tailors often mention cor-sets in their bills and accounts17 . LikeFrench Farthingales, petticoats and kir-tles, “whaleboned bodies” were an itemreadily available from a lady’s tailor. Aswith many other garments of the time,women who couldn’t afford a tailorcould easily make a corset at home fromsackcloth and the small reeds readilyavailable to all for stiffening.

The effigy corset was made of threepieces—two front pieces and one backpiece—which were made and finishedseparately and whip-stitched togetheralong the side back seams before wear-ing. This technique would allow foreasier size changes: if the wearer gainedor lost weight, the back could be re-moved and a smaller or larger pieceadded.

These corsets and the two stomacherswere constructed by placing layers rightsides out, sewing the boning channels,and then binding the edges with a stripof leather or fabric. The modern “sewright sides together and then turn rightsides out” was an uncommon techniqueof the time.

The binding on the two corsets and ontwo extant stomachers of the time wasplaced right side against the outsideedge of the corset, stitched down, turnedover to the wrong side, and either hem-stitched down along the edge or

Fig 7: Stomacher currently at the GlobeTheatre. Tentatively dated to the early

17th c.

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stab-stitched through to the front of thecorset, following the seam line of theouter binding edge. In the case of thetwo stomachers, the raw edge was leftunfinished on the inside. Binding stripscould be made of ribbon, of fabric cuton the bias, or of fabric cut on thestraight.

The boning channels on the Pfaltzgra-fin’s corset and two 17th centurystomachers were backstitched, whichwould add strength and flexibility to theseams as well as adding a more finishedlook. The seams on the effigy corsetwere stitched with a running stitch.

Lacing holes had a row of boning toeither side of the holes, in all cases. Theholes were poked with an awl and whip-stitched around the opening for strength.

In all pictures and extant corsets andstomachers, the boning runs straight upand down across the entire front.

The quality of material varied widely,as can be seen from the different list-ings for corsets: sackcloth for lessexalted bodies and for lining more ex-pensive pairs of bodies which werecovered with damask, satin or taffeta.The quality of construction varied aswell. On one of the stomachers, therewere four backstitches per inch; thePfaltzgrafin’s corset was made withsmaller stitches and finer thread, as wasthe Effigy corset.

To sum upDuring the 16th century, corsets weremade out of linen, linen-cotton blends(after 1570), or, in the case of nobility,an outer layer of leather, satin or othersilk and inner layers of linen. Whale-

bone, horn and reeds were the mostcommonly used materials for stiffeningthe pair of bodies, although heavy cord-ed rope cannot be discounted as apossibility. The boning was slipped intochannels between the outer and innerlayers of the corset, which could be ei-ther running-stitched or back-stitched.Corsets could lace at the center front orcenter back, through eyelets reinforcedwith a buttonhole or whip stitch. A cor-set could have unboned tabs at the waist,a ruffle of fabric sewn at the waist, orboning extending down into the tabs.It could even be fastened to a petticoator farthingale, either tied to it withpoints (laces run through eyelets) orperhaps sewn.

From practical experience, the boned-tab corset is immeasurably morecomfortable than a corset with no tabsor unboned tabs. The straps of the Ef-figy corset are also more comfortablethan those of the Pfaltzgrafin corset, asthey don’t cut into the armhole as muchand are cut on the bias. For the ram-rod-straight court gown, a back-lacingcorset with a busk is required. For moreinformal gowns, or gowns without adeep point in the front, a front-lacingcorset is fine. Front lacing corsets aremore comfortable and easier to get into,although it’s a good idea to have backlacing for adjustment. Lacing the far-thingale to the corset eliminatesshifting, makes the whole garmentmove better and is more comfortable (inmy opinion). A petticoat with a heavi-ly boned bodice is a convenientalternative to a separate corset and skirt.It eliminates bulk at the waist, as well.

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Corset Materials

Corsets serve one primary function: togive the body a “fashionable” shape.The rebellious body tends to resist un-natural shaping; therefore, the mainrequirement for a corset is strength.Aside from the shapes of the patternpieces themselves, the two factors in-volved in a corset’s shaping strength arethe fabric of the garment, and the stiff-ening used.

PERIOD FABRICSLinen

The corset, being primarily an under-garment, could very likely have beenmade from the material most periodundergarments were made of: linen.According to all material evidence todate, most chemises, smocks, and oth-er undergarments of the middle ages andrenaissance were made of linen or a lin-en/wool blend1 (or silk for those whocould afford it), and some 16th centurycorsets are specified as being lined withcanvas or buckram, both of which werelinen-based fabrics at the time. It’s agood material for corsets. Why?

• Linen breathes well, an important con-sideration in a garment as tight-fittingas a corset.• It’s strong and durable, and resistsseam and fabric strain better than, say,wool.• It’s able to withstand the repeatedwashing necessary for a garment wornclose to the skin.• It has a natural stiffness of texture(when new and tightly woven) thatcomplements the corset’s function.

• Lastly, it was cheap. (stress: Was.)Linen was the cotton broadcloth of pe-riod times, used for much basic andutilitarian garb.

Silk-based fabrics

Like all utilitarian garments, the pairof bodieswas fancied up by the upperclasses. Satin, taffeta and sarcanet,velvet and brocade were all used byQueen Elizabeth, according to the ward-robe accounts of the Master of theQueen’s Closet2 . The corset of thePfalzgrafin Dorothea, which Janet Ar-nold examines in her book Patterns ofFashion 1450-1560, had an interior lin-ing of linen but was a silk satin on theoutside. From what references areavailable3 it seems silk satin and taffe-ta were the most commonly used fabricsfor richer folk.

For a corset, you’d want to use a strong,heavy silk (such as a baroque satin, forexample) rather than the light and flow-ing fabrics found in most fabric storesunder the category “silk”. These aren’tsturdy enough unless backed with lin-en, buckram, or some other sturdierfabric. In addition, never use chlorinebleach on it.

So, why use silk for a corset?

• It’s an incredibly strong fabric• It’s period• It breathes wonderfully• You can wear the corset as an outergarment and show off the fabric, thoughit’s not a period practice.

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MODERN EQUIVALENTSCotton Duck/Drill Canvas

Unfortunately, pure linen is nowadaysharder to come by and silk satin sellsfor $20 a yard. For purely utilitarian use,with no thought for period authenticityor pretty looks, the best fabric to makea corset out of is cotton canvas, specif-ically “duck” or “drill” fabric. It can befound in any fabric store, usually for $4-5 a yard. Undyed, unstriped duck or drillin a cream or white color is best, if suchis available, as it is both more periodlooking and less likely to bleed ontoother garments when it gets damp orsweaty. This fabric:

• Is the strongest and most durable fab-ric you can find for a corset; it standsup to repeated washings, and corsetboning has a hard time poking throughit• It’s stiff, and doesn’t crinkle orscrunch; this helps keep a smooth cor-set line• It’s cheap.• You can get it in any fabric storeFor someone wishing a fancier corset,perhaps one which can be worn over achemise and skirt as an outer garment(it’s not perfectly period, but it looksnice) the general practice is to use can-vas drill or some other plain, strong,cotton-based fabric for the inside lin-ing, and a fancier cloth for the outsidelayer. There’s a wide variety of fabricsto choose from. Modern fabrics madeto resemble their more expensive, orig-inally silk-based counterparts—brocades, shot silk, velvet and satin toname the big four—are period-looking,beautiful possibilities for outer layersof corsets.

Upholstery fabrics and brocades areusually quite strong and unlikely to rip,though they have more give and stretchto them than canvas does. However,depending on what the cloth is madeof—synthetic or natural fabrics, andwhat kind of dye is used—there maybe problems with shrinking whilewashing, bleeding of dyes, and (this isa problem with synthetic fabrics) a lackof breatheability while wearing it.

This might seem like a small consider-ation, but when you’re wearing a corsetat high noon under heavy clothes, itseems much more pressing. My tapes-try corset, though it looks great, is asweatbox compared to my cotton can-vas one. Also, extended contact withsome rubber and plastic-backed uphol-stery fabrics can be a health hazard dueto fibreglass content.

Prices range from around $8 to $15 ayard, depending on the type of brocadeyou’re buying. Check the fabric storeremnant tables for scraps of upholsteryfabric; a corset doesn’t take much, andthe prices are cheaper.

Satin is a good choice for a fancy cor-set. Although it can be a slippery painto sew, the smooth fabric is strong andlooks quite nice on its own. If you’regoing to use satin, the most period typeis the heavy stuff known as “bridal” or“baroque” satin. Avoid hammered sat-in. Also, acrylic satin (as opposed topolyester satin) will tend to rot and dis-colour when repeatedly exposed tosweat.

Shot silk, that stiff, rustly fabric foundin the bridal section that changes colorwhen it moves, was used in Elizabethantimes where it was known as “change-

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able taffeta”. It’s not as strong as silkor cotton canvas, and also tends to rotwhen exposed to sweat, but looks nice.At our local Jo-Ann’s, it costs $8 a yard.Discount fabric stores or warehouseswould have it at a lower price.

Velvet. If you’re going to use velvetfor your corset, use cotton velvet orvelveteen if you can find it. Not onlywill it be more durable and less likelyto acquire shiny flat spots, but it looksmore like period velvet and—drum rollplease—you can toss it in the washingmachine, something that silk, taffeta,satin and shot silk really don’t appre-ciate. Keep in mind, though, thatwearing the corset under a dress is go-ing to flatten the velvet eventually. Alsoremember that velvet is hot. At mostretail stores, cotton velvet costs $12-14dollars a yard, and velveteen costs $10-11 dollars/yard.

Silk is another choice for the outer fab-ric of a corset. China Silk, that flimsy,flowing fabric that most people imme-diately think of when they hear theword “silk”, was not found as an outergarment during Elizabethan times.Back then, silk was either a gauzy, trans-lucent fabric used for veils andundergarments, or a heavier fabric witha slight shine and the approximateweight of a baroque satin or taffeta; itis this lattery type that a corset wouldbe made of. Silk can be woven to cre-ate a number of different textures andfabrics; when choosing a silk-based fab-ric, stay away from nubbly andrough-textured ones, which weren’t inuse during Elizabethan or Tudor times.

Corduroy , the cordury with the smallwale (small ridges, not the big ones), is

also a cheap and nice-looking alterna-tive to other fabrics. It’s cheap andsturdy, and good for daywear. (I’mlooking for a reference for this as wespeak)

FINDING THE REAL THING

For all you die-hards out there who re-ally want a linen, silk satin, orhonest-to-god silk brocade corset,check out Appendix A for a list of plac-es that sell specialty fabrics Thai Silks,in my experience, has the best buys forhard-to-find silk velvets, satins and taf-fetas.

BONING, BUSKS, ANDOTHER HARDWARE

Much of the information and sugges-tions for boning materials in this sectioncame from people on the early costum-ing e-mail list. I have not, personally,used any boning aside from springsteels, polyester boning, feather boningand hoop skirt boning.

PERIOD BONING

The earliest material that we know wasfor corset stiffening was Buckram, aglue-stiffened canvas used to stiffenbodices and stomachers in the first halfof the 16th century1 . Using several lay-ers of buckram sandwiched between theouter fabric and lining is the most doc-umentable stiffening method for early16th century dress. For true corset bon-ing, however, bents and whalebone arethe two primary materials mentioned inthe later 16th century.

Bents, or narrow reeds 1.5 to 2 mm indiameter, might seem a bit flimsy for aboning material. When used in bundles

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over a large area of a corset, however,they provide very good support equiv-alent to that of many modern plasticbones. Reed is my favorite material forboning, as it breathes better than anyother boning material, is much lighterthan any other boning material, and ischeap and easy to replace.

Narrow reed of this kind can be foundfor pennies a yard at many basketry sup-ply stores, or you can harvest reed ofsimilar shape and length yourself, if youlive near an area where they grow.

Whalebone, the substance which willprobably be associated with corsetry forall time, was the boning material mostoften mentioned and is an excellentsource of stiffening. It isn’t “whale-bone” at all, actually, but rather aflexible substance known as baleenwhich whales use to sieve out planktonand sundry other sea creatures to eat.Although illegal to import and not usedin modern corsetry, whalebone would

be a corsetmaker’s dream because of itsflexibility, toughness and resilience. Inaddition, it could be cut with scissorsor knife and filed with a nail file.Whalebone bones during Elizabeth’stime were around 3/8 of an inch thick,which gave an impressive amount ofsupport.

Rope has been used for boning repro-duction corsets with tremendoussuccess, although there is currently noprimary evidence to support its use in16th century pairs of bodies. It providesa smoother line with slightly more curveto it than either whalebone or reed.Hemp rope was used for stiffening far-thingales of the time, and it is entirelypossible that it was used as stiffeningfor under-bodices and corsets as well.It breathes very well, although it issomewhat heavier than reed bents, andcan be washed. For corsets with bonedtabs, however, it lacks some of the sup-port required.

Horn is mentioned as a material forcorset boning as well. It is a very stiffand thin material indeed. I have neverseen it used, due to the difficulty of pro-curing enough material of the rightshape and size, but it was used in the16th century.

MODERN BONINGMATERIALS

As whalebone is no longer an option forcorsets and not all of us have the abilityto go out and harvest our own reed, thevast majority of corsets are boned withmodern substitues for 16th century ma-terials. What you use to bone yourcorset is limited only by your imagina-tion, your desperation, and your budget.When it comes right down to it, any-

Fig 8: A recreation of the Effigy Stays(c. 1602) using reed bents for boning.

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thing long, flat and stiff can conceiv-ably be used as boning.

Spring Steel Boning is one of the mostcommon materials used for boning thatyou can find. Granted, it’s also the mostexpensive; but in my opinion, the priceis worth it for several reasons. First,it’s extremely strong, yet not very thick.Second, it comes coated in a rustproofcovering, so you can sweat in it andwash it and not worry about rust stains;and it also comes in 1/2 and 14/ inchwidths. You can buy single bones cutto length between 4 and 22 inches long,or buy a roll of steel boning, some tinsnips, a file and some tipping fluid tomake your own.

Unfortunately, steel boning is hard tofind locally. You can find places that sellit mail-order in the Mailorder Resourc-es appendix. Greenberg & Hammerhave the cheapest prices for steel bon-ing that I’ve found to date.

Artificial Whalebone is, aside fromreed, my favorite material for boningcorsets. It attempts to replicate the ten-sile nature, thickness and spring of realwhalebone, and succeeds to a consid-erable extent. It comes in severaldifferent widths, and can be cut tolength with a pair of scissors. With theaid of a hot iron, you can also bend itfrom side to side. It is not quite as stiffas spring steel and will tend to moldsomewhat to the shape of your bodyover several wearings, but it is wash-able and convenient to use. It is evenharder to find artificial whalebone thanspring steel; the only three companiesin America that sell it (to my knowl-edge) are Farthingales in Toronto,Grannd Garb in Virginia and Sewing

Central in Columbus. All are listed inthe Mailorder Resources appendix.

Rigilene and Feather Boning can befound at all local sewing shops. Rig-ilene, also called poly boning, is a thinlength of plastic covered with a paperor fabric sleeve. Feather boning is alight mesh which can be sewn to fabricitself. Poly boning is passable, at best;a corset should be solidly boned if polyboning is used, as it will easily bend andwarp at the waist and under the bust.Feather boning provides very little sup-port, and should be avoided if any othermaterial is available. If you do use it,sew the boning diagonally, fanning outfrom the center front to the sides. Thiseliminates many of the creases or foldsthat the lightweight feather boningmight otherwise not be able to prevent.

Hoop-Skirt Boning, the material foundin wedding dress petticoats, can be usedas a cheap material for boning—thoughI don’t recommend it. It’s basically along strip of glue-stiffened fabric withsteel wires along the edges for stiffen-ing. It rusts when exposed to sweat orwater, which can leave rust stains on thecorset, and it can crack when bent. Itdoes have its uses, however; as the mid-dle of the ribbon is only stiff fabric, youcan punch grommet holes through it.You get a very straight edge that way,with no puckering or gapping, for min-imal effort. Hoop skirt boning isavailable at some local fabric stores.

“Found” Boning made of all mannerof materials can, with a bit of creativeenergy, be made to serve as decent cor-set boning. One of the most popularare the wide plastic zip-ties found athardware stores. They are cheap, stiff,

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and similar in a number of ways to theartificial whalebone mentioned above(though they are not as springy).

Timber strapping, also found at lum-ber yards and hardware stores, has beenused for boning corsets, although theends need to be filed and covered toavoid impalement, and they have a ten-dancy to rust. Bamboo skewers (withthe points snipped off) are another bon-ing material I have heard mentioned. Itworks well enough when an entire cor-set is boned, but will snap at the waistif not re-inforced by a wooden busk.

The list of materials I’ve seen used isnigh endless: sanded down saber sawblades, the metal bits from hangingfiles, bamboo from sushi mats, electriccable cord and more. As long as youmake sure that the ends are rounded andwon’t poke you, the list of possible bon-ing materials is endless.

BUSKSThe busk is a long, flat piece of wood,ivory or whalebone which was inserteddown the front of the corset to give thebust and torso that truly flat look whichmen find so appealing. Depending onthe length of your torso, the decade ofthe dress you’re making, and how fardown you want the corset’s point to be,the busk can be anywhere from 10 to16 inches long1 . The busk length that Iusually use is 14 inches long (the Pfal-tzgrafin Dorothea’s corset is this long,and the length works well for the En-glish Elizabethan gowns I wear), and is3/8 of an inch thick It tapered from awidth of two inches at the top down toaround one inch at the rounded bot-tom2 . Busks are not absolutely

necessary to a corset, especially if youhave a lot of stiff boning in it and aresmall busted, but they do help greatlyin achieving the period silhouette.

Stories concerning the origin of the buskvary. Some believe that it was origi-nally created as an aid to flattening thetorso and creating the straight-frontedsilhouette characteristic of the time, butthere’s an entertaining story floatingaround that the wooden busk itself wascreated as an aid to a popular Elizabe-than dance, the Volta, and gave mensomething solid to hold on to when theywere required to lift and toss womenwearing full court dress. There is a 16thcentury reference to gowns stiffenedsolely by a busk, or “stay”, which sug-gests that the busk may possibly haveexisted prior to boned corsets.

To make a busk, you will need:

• a saw (preferably an electric band saw,though a hand saw will do)

• a ruler and pencil

• a vibrating electric sander, or sandpa-per with which to sand by hand

• a hand or electric planer, to plane thebusk down to the desired thickness

• a hand or press drill with a 1/4 inchbit (or something or similar size) to drillholes in the top of the busk for laces torun through.

The Busk PatternMeasure the length of the busk youwant. If you’re making it for a corsetyou already have, take the measurementfrom the front center top to the bottomtip, subtract half an inch, and use that.If you’re not sure, use 12 inches as your

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length. It’s best to have the busk reachdown to the most protruberant part ofyour abdomen, so that it doesn’t dig intoyour stomach when you bend over orsit down.

On a piece of posterboard, cardboard,or paper, draw a line the length of yourbusk, and label the ends A and B. AtThe A end, measure out one inch on

either side of the buskand mark. Label themC and D. Measure inhalf an inch from theB end of the line, andmark it; label thatpoint E. With yourruler on point E, mea-sure out from the line1/2 an inch on eitherside; mark thosepoints F and G.

Connect points C andD: this is the top ofyour busk. Connectpoints F, B and G

with a curving line; this is the roundedbottom point of the busk. Connectpoints C and F, and D and G, which arethe sides of your busk. Voila. Now cutout your pattern.

Choose your WoodBusks were, in the 16th century, madefrom ivory, whalebonem horn or wood.Unless you have pet elephants or whalesto hand, wood is the way to go and whatwe’ll work with here. If you’re search-ing for the period look the hardwoodsoak, ash, cherry and walnut are lovelyand strong woods to use. Of the four,I’ve found oak to be the strongest andleast likely to break.

If you don’t have these woods available,any hardwood will do. You can even usehigh-quality plywood, which is remark-ably flexible. Just avoid soft woods likepine, spruce or fir, which aren’t strongenough to withstand the stresses a buskos placed under. You will need to pro-cure a piece of wood at least two incheswide and 3/8 of an inch thick.

Make the BuskPlane the piece of wood using a handor electric planer, down to 3/8 of an inchthick.

Trace the pattern onto the wood, withthe wood grain going lengthwise.

Cut along the pattern with a band sawor hand saw, slightly to the outside ofthe pencil mark.

Sand the Busk. Sand the sharp edgesand top corners of the busk using sand-paper or a vibrating sander, until theyare smooth. Sand the rounded bottomuntil it’s smooth and even. Sand theouter side (this side which will face thefront of the corset) of the busk until thecorners are mostly gone and that sidehas a rounded shape when looked at endon. Finally, sand the whole thing with400 grit sandpaper to make it nice andsmooth.

Drill the holes using a small 1/4 inchdrill. Drill two holes side by side halfan inch from the top. This step is notnecessary, but many period busks hadholes drilled through them and a ribbonlaced through the holes and correspond-ing holes in the corset to tie the buskfirmly into place and keep it from creep-ing up. The busk-lace was given as anintimate favor by women to men they

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cared for. In fact, the small bow foundon many modern brassieres is its directdescendent.

Oil the busk using an old rag and somelinseed oil (which is period) or someother finishing oil, or even polyure-thane, to finish the busk. This will sealthe wood, strengthen it, and bring outall the color, grain and shine of the woodyou chose for your busk. If you’re feel-ing perfectionistic, wait until the linseedoil has dried and then polish the buskusing 400 grit sandpaper and some morelinseed oil. You’ll be amazed at the sat-iny smoothness you obtain.

MODERN SUBSTITUTESFOR BUSKS

For those of us who don’t have wood-working tools and don’t have thefortune required to buy an honest-to-god ivory busk, here are somealternatives. If you put your mind to it,you’re sure to find something that willdo the trick. I even used a wooden spoononce—a temporary measure, but it didthe job.

Order one from the many Mail-orderplaces that sell them. Alteryears, whichis listed on the mail-order sources list,sells ash busks of many differentlengths.

You can use two pieces of spring steelboning in place of the busk, sewn nextto each other. They don’t provide theabsolute stiffness of wood, but they arereasonably firm and solid.

Find a wooden ruler and file the cor-ners off the bottom end. Even a metalruler will do, if you cover the sharp cor-ners with tape. This is a quick fix

solution—wooden rulers aren’t thatstrong—but it will work. Lexan plas-tic is another alternative substance.

Use one of the front-opening steel bus-ks used in 19th century corsets—twolengths of spring steel, one with tabs andthe other with corresponding knobs,which can be opened and shut in thefront. They cost around $14, and canbe found at many of the places on theMailorder Sources list. Though blatant-ly non-period, they’re a godsend whenyou have to put a corset on by yourself.Sew them in so that the metal knobs areto the inside, so that they won’t causebumps down the front of your gown.

GROMMETSElizabethan corsets didn’t have grom-mets, those metal rings through whichthe corset laces lace. They simply pokeda hole in the fabric and sewed a button-hole stitch around it, or used metal ringson either side of the lacing holes andsewed through the fabric and over therings for reinforcement1 .

Most people nowadays use Dritz grom-mets from the local fabric store. I’veused these myself. Although they’re notthe best quality, they’ll do the job andare the easiest way to go for someonewho’s never made a corset before.

If you want to get slightly fancier, trysewing over the grommets with fabric.It looks period, at least, and makes theholes much stronger. You can find bet-ter quality 00 (double-ought) grommetsthrough Greenburg and Hammer($7.00/gross), which is on the Mail-or-der Sources List (Appendix A).

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Making a CorsetPattern

Although corset kits and commercialcorset patterns are available from plac-es like Alteryears, an Elizabethan corsetis simple enough to make that creatinga custom pattern is cheaper and less ofa hassle. I came up with this pattern,and it works well enough for me.For convenience’s sake, this pattern isstrapless. There are instructions on add-ing straps if you wish, but I have foundthe strapless corset to be more than ad-equate in achieving a period silhouette.The lack of straps allows it to be usedfor very wide-necked Tudor outfits aswell as Elizabethan.

1.) Take your measurements.

Fill out the corset measurement formin the back of this section. The follow-ing instructions refer to this form.

1. Take the front length measurement(measurement 1 on the measurementform you just filled out), and draw avertical line of that length down theright side of your piece of paper.

2. Take measurement 2a (one half thebust measurement) from the form.Draw a horizontal line of this lengthfrom the top of the front measurementout to the left.

3. Locate the midpoint of the horizon-tal line. Measure two inches to the left,and measure down from there the num-ber of inches you wrote down forMeasurement 5 (bra cup size) on theform.

4. Mark this point A. Take that same

measurement 5, and measure down thatfar from the left end of the horizontalline. Label this point B.

5. Take measurement 2c on your form(1/8 the bust measurement). Measurefrom the front center out leftwards thismany inches and mark this point C.

6. Draw a gently curving line to con-nect points C, A, and B. This is the topof your corset.

7. Take measurement 4 on your form(waist to underarm). Measure this dis-tance down from point A. Mark thispoint, and draw a horizontal line all theway across the paper.

8. Take Measurement 3a (1/2 the waistmeasurement). Measure out this far tothe left along the waistline, mark, andmeasure down one inch. Label thispoint D. Connect D and B to form theback center of your corset.

9. Divide the waist line between D andthe front center of the corset, and markit point E. Divide each half of the linein half again, and mark these points F(to the left of E) and G (to the right ofE).

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10. Draw a curving line from the bot-tom front center of the corset to pointG. Make sure the curve at the bottomof the front center is wide enough to fitthe point of the busk.

11. Measure up from point E one inch,and mark it. Draw a gentle curve fromPoints G, to this mark, back down topoint F, and then from F to D. This fin-ishes the pattern.

Adding Straps to your Corset

The above pattern finishes the body ofthe corset. You can add straps to thecorset, both to provide more bust sup-port and to prevent the corset digginginto your hips; others have experiencedthese problems with strapless corsets,although I have not.

I prefer straps attached to the back ofthe corset, which narrow to a point thatis tied to the front neckline just in frontof each arm. (See the Effigy Corset pat-tern in “History of the Corset” sectionfor a visual example of how thesestraps.)

Now Check the Pattern.

Using this half-pattern, fold a piece ofsturdy fabric (like duck or canvas) inhalf, lay the front center of the patternagainst the fold, and trace around thepattern. Cut it out of the folded pieceof cloth, open the fabric up, and fit itaround you to see if it fits. Having afriend help makes this process easier.

Make sure that the front comes up highenough, and that the underarm curvesand hip curves are deep enough so thatthey won’t rub against your arms andhips. You may have to move the un-derarm/hip curve slightly to the front

or back to get a perfect fit. Mark anychanges you want to make on the fab-ric with a pen.

Make sure that the pattern comes uphigh enough in the front. It should notclose completely in the back; thereshould be a one to two inch gap, someof which will disappear when you lacethe actual corset on. If the top backmeets, mark it and trim it so that thereis a one to two-inch gap.

If you made a corset pattern with straps,have someone pin them together at thetop of your shoulders. Make sure thatthey are pulled tight enough to providethe bust support you want. If they’retoo close or too far apart for your lik-ing, change their placement on thepattern. Mark each strap where it meetsover the shoulder. Take the piece offabric off, and transfer any changes tothe paper pattern. If you have a corsetwith straps, place the paper pattern be-neath the fabric and cut off the paperstrap on the pattern at the place whereit met the other strap over the shoulder.

Other Pattern options

I have a corset pattern generator onlinewhich will take your measurements andgenerate a to-scale pattern for you,along with detailed instructions ondrafting it. If you run into problems,you can try it out at http://costume.dm.net/custompat/

If you want a professional pattern towork from instead of making one your-self, both Margo Anderson HistoricalPatterns and Mantua Maker Patterns sellexcellent corset patterns, based on au-thentic originals with a variety ofoptions to choose from: straps, bonedtabs, and front lacings, to name a few.

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Fill your measurements in on the lines below. Use the diagram to the right as aguide to placing the measuring tape for taking measurements. The center frontmeasurement is the measurement from the top of the Corset to the bottom point ofthe corset front; for a Tudor or Early Elizabethan corset (1530-1560, this bottompoint is only slightly below the waistline, between 9 to 12 inches long. For lateelizabethan corsets, this point is 6 to 8 inches below the waistline, making thecenter front measurement 13 to 16 inches long. This center front measurementwill differ by body type and size. 12 inches is a good average center front corsetmeasurement.

1.Center Front Measurement: _____ in.

1500-1550: 11 in., 1550-1580:13 in.,

1580-1600: 15 in

2. Bust Measurement-2 inches: _____ in.

2A. 1/2 Bust: _________ in.

2B. 1/4 Bust: _________ in.

2C. 1/8 Bust: _________ in.

3. Waist Measurement-2 inches: ____ in.

3A. 1/2 Waist:________ in.

3B. 1/4 Waist:________ in.

3C. 1/8 Waist:________ in.

4. Waist to Underarm: ______in.

5. Bra Cup Size

(use numbers below):________ in.

(A=1, B=1.5, C=2, D=3,

DD & above=3.5)

Corset Measurement Form

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Making an Elizabethan Cor-

Making a no-tabsor unboned-tabcorset1) Cut out the fabricpieces. Lay your fabricon a flat surface, folded in half. Makesure that your fabric is folded on thestraight (i.e., that the threads of the fab-ric are running straight up and downnext to the fold, and not at some angle.)Place the center front side of your cor-set pattern against the fold, and pin it tothe fabric. If you have fabric weights,by all means use those instead.

Using a pencil, chalk, or some othernon-permanent material, trace the out-line of the corset pattern on the fabric.Cut around the pattern tracing, leaving1/2 an inch of seam allowance along thebottom waist and the center back.Around the top of the pattern, leave noseam allowance—cut the cloth rightalong the edge of the pattern. If you’remaking a corset with straps, leave a 1/

What you need:• A pattern• The corset material-1 yard• The lining material-1 yard, (same asthe corset material unless you’re usinga fancy outer fabric• 16 grommets (unless you’re pokingholes and binding them with thread)• 2 yards of lacing—satin ribbon, shoe-lacing, whatever. 2 yards may seemlong, but it makes it easier to get intothe corset by yourself.• 2.5 yards of 1-inch-wide ribbon ofyour choice (for variations 1 & 2). Asan alternative, you can use bias tape ora one-inch strip of the corset fabric orsome other fabric in place of the satinribbon.• A busk• boning

You can choose to make a corset withno tabs, a corset with unboned tabs(similar to that shown on page 13) or acorset with boned tabs (similar to thatshown on page 14). A corset with notabs is the easiest to make, but can biteinto the waist. A corset with unbonedtabs looks nicer, and helps to keep yourskirts from sliding under the corset. Aboned tab corset is by far the most com-fortable option, but takes morehandwork and time.

What follows are two sets of instruc-tions: the first will make a corset withno tabs or unboned tabs, and the sec-ond will produce a corset with bonedtabs. Step 1: cut out the outer and inner

layers of the corset

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2-inch of extra fabric at the ends of thestraps as well.

Do all of the above to the lining fabricyou’re using. When both pieces are cutout, lay them one on top of the otherand compare; trim away any small dif-ferences between the two pieces.

2) If you are making a corset withtabs, now you cut out the tabs for thecorset. Cut out a piece of cardboard orpaper in the shape of a trapezoid. Thetop should be two inches wide, the bot-tom three inches wide, and the sidesshould angle out from the top to thebottom. Lay the tab pattern on the samecloth you used for the corset. If theouter and inner material is the same,you’ll be cutting out 16 pieces from thecloth; if you’re using a different mate-rial for the lining and the outside cloth,you’ll want to cut out 8 pieces from eachkind of cloth.

3) If you are making a corset withtabs, now sew the tabs together. Cutout the number of tab pieces you’ll need(as specified above), leaving 1/2 an inchof fabric around the tab as seam allow-

ance. Match pieces of the lining andoutside material together, right sidestogether. Starting at the top corner, sewa seam down the side, across the bot-tom, and up the other side of the tab, 1/2 an inch away from the edge. Trimthe extra seam allowance close to theseam, especially around the corners, andturn the tab inside out so that the edgesare finished. Iron it as flat as you can.

4. Sew the corset together. If you aremaking a corset with no tabs, this iseasy; simply place the outer fabric andlining right sides together, pin, and sewdown the center back line, all along thebottom edge, and up the other back sideand you are finished.

If you are making a corset with tabs,you must sew the tabs to the bottom lay-er of the corset at this point. Placementis very important in this; it’s easy to getthe tabs sewn on wrong side out. Laythe outside fabric of the corset flat, withthe side you want showing face up.Starting one inch in from the back cen-ter on either side, lay the tabs, right sidedown, along the bottom edge of the cor-

Step 2: cut out the tabs

Step 3: sew the tabs

Step 4: sew the bottom of the corset

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set. They should be upside down, sothat the raw tops of the tabs are evenwith the raw edge of the fabric. Layfour tabs on either side. The tops of thetabs should be as close to eachother aspossible, with the wider bottoms over-lapping slightly. Now lay the liningfabric on top, with the side you wantagainst your body facing down.

Pin the bottom edge, making sure thatthe outer fabric, tabs, and inner fabricare all smooth and even with eachoth-er. Sew a seam 1/2 an inch away fromthe edge down one center back, all alongthe waist edge of the corset, and up theother back side, stitching the tabs andthe two layers of corset fabric together.

Trim the excess close to the seam, andturn the pieces right side out. Iron itflat.

5) Mark and sew the channels for theboning and the buskOnce you know what material you’regoing to use as boning, mark channelsslightly wider than the boning materialon the inside of the corset with chalk/washeable marker/etc., using the bon-ing layout below as a guide. Exactplacement isn’t necessary, as long as it’ssymmetric. If you have the busk you’regoing to use, lay it on the inside of thecorset and trace around it; otherwise,follow the chart. If you need a lot ofsupport, place boning in every channel.If you don’t need a lot of support, placeboning in every other channel.

Sew along the marks to create channelsfor the boning. Straight pins are usefulfor ensuring that both layers lie flat andeven. Sew from the top of the corset tothe waistline on all stitching, or from

Step 4: The Corset turned right side out

Boning LayoutStep 5: Mark and sewthe boning channels

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the waistline to the top—this avoidswrinkling and twisting the fabric. Testthe first channel to see that it is indeedwide enough for the boning before do-ing the rest.

6) Add the BoningSlip the boning and busk into the chan-nels. At the center back, slip one boneright next to the edge, leave a channelfree for grommets, and slip anotherbone into the channel on the other side.

7) Finish the top edgeLay the strip of fabric wrong side upagainst the right side of the corset, withthe edge of the fabric even with the topedge of the corset. Fold the end of thestrip down so that the rough edge won’tshow. Starting at the edge of the backmost tab, sew the fabric and the corsettogether 1/2 an inch away from the edgealong the top until you reach the buskpocket seam. If you want your busk per-manently in the corset, sew across thebusk pocket. If not, stop sewing, andcontinue again on the other side of thebusk pocket, all the way along the top.Fold the end of the fabric in before you

reach the end, so that the end is finished.If you left the busk pocket unsewn,hand-stitch the strip of ribbon to thefront layer of corset fabric only.

8) Finishing TouchesTurn the fabric over and iron it (or not,depending on the nature of the corsetfabric). Fold the fabric over the edgeof the fabric to the inside of the corset,and hem-stitch it by hand. Leave thefabric behind the busk pocket un-stitched.

Slip the busk into place, and poke twoholes in the fabric to match the holes inthe busk if any exist. you can sew abuttonhole or whipstitch around theholes, making sure not to sew the twolayers together. Once the busk is inplace, a ribbon will go through the holesin the lining and through the busk, andtie together in a bow on the front of thecorset to keep the busk from sliding outof place.

9) Put in the GrommetsUsing a pen or pencil and starting 1 inchfrom the bottom edge, mark out 7 to 8

Step 7: Finish the top edgeStep 8: example ofgrommet and sewn

lacing holes

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(depending on the length of the corset)equidistant points up the back centeredges of the corset. The points shouldbe at least 1/2 an inch away from theback center edge, and approximately 1inch apart. Following the instructionsfor your grommets, insert and pound thegrommets into place. If you’ve neverput grommets into an outfit before, Ihighly recommend practising on a pieceof cloth before you do the corset. I rec-ommend the nickel or brass-plated 00(double-ought) grommets, available atGreenberg & Hammer for $6.00 pergross, to the dritz grommets at the store;they’re smaller, stronger, and look bet-ter.

If you’re not using grommets, poke avery small hole in the fabric with an awlor pointed implement, stretch the fab-ric, and sew a buttonhole stitch aroundit. You can also sew a buttonhole stitcharound the metal grommets, to makeyour outfit look more period. It is help-ful to finish off the lace you’re going touse to lace your corset with by rollingthe ends small and either wrapping cleartape or thread tightly around them, ordipping them in wax. This makes it alot easier to lace with, and reduces curs-es and mumbles behind your back. Theflat laces used for ice-skates are the bestcommercial laces I’ve found.

10) Immediately rush to the nearest mir-ror And try your corset on for size! Thenshow it to everyone else in the house,graciously recieve comments on howyou must be dying inside something likethat, and relax with a cup of tea. Oryou can start on the gown to go overthe corset.

Making a Boned-Tab Corset

1. Alter the corset pat-tern.

To make a boned tabcorset, you will need toadd the tabs to your corset pattern. Layyour basic corset pattern out on a largepiece of paper or a cut-apart paper bag.Trace around the pattern with a pen orpencil, and lift it away.

Starting at the back center of the newpattern, measure down three inchesfrom the waistline and mark this point.Do this every few inches along thewaistline. Stop when you’re four inch-es away from the center front, and drawa vertical line connecting the point threeinches below the waistline up to thewaistline. Now connect the dots thatyou’ve drawn, to create a line parallelto the waistline but three inches belowit. (See Diagram A)

This area between the waistline and thenew bottom edge is what will becomeyour tabs. Divide this below-the-waistsection into 4 equal tabs, by drawinglines from the line you drew up to thewaistline. Cut out this new pattern, snip-ping the vertical lines to create theseparate tabs.

2. Cut out the fabric pieces.

Lay your fabric on a flat surface, fold-ed in half. Make sure that your fabric isfolded on the straight (i.e., that thethreads of the fabric are running straightup and down next to the fold, and not atsome angle.) This is very important tothe stability of your corset-to-be.

Place the center front side of your cor-

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set pattern against the fold, and pin it tothe fabric. If you have fabric weights,by all means use those instead. Using apencil, tailor’s chalk or other non-per-manent marker, trace around the corsetpattern. Draw the lines dividing the tabs,as well. Lift the pattern away.

Cut around the pattern tracing. Leaveno seam allowance; cut on the lines youdrew. That’s right, this pattern doesn’thave any seam allowance. If the fabricyou are using tends to fray, be sure touse fray-check along the edges. You willbe handling this fabric a lot, so fraycheck will be necessary. Also, do notcut the tabs. We’ll be waiting till thevery end to do this, so that the separatetab pieces will not fray or stretch. Fornow, leave the tab section as one piece.

Open out your corset pattern, and, us-ing your pattern, draw the tab dividinglines for the other half of the corset.

Place your corset fabric that you’ve justcut out on your lining fabric. Pin thetwo together, or use fabric weights. Cutout a lining the same size as the outerfabric. There is no need to mark the tabdividers as you did on the outer fabric.

If your outer material is relatively flim-sy (i.e., thin silk or taffeta), cut anotherlayer out of a sturdier fabric to placebetween the lining and the outer fabric.The boning will be slipped betweenthese two inner layers, saving the outerfabric from wear and tear.

3. Mark and sew the channels for theboning and the busk

As you can see from Diagram B, thepattern of boning for this type of corsetis different than that used for the othercorset variations. Once you know what

material you’re going to use as boning,mark channels slightly wider than theboning material on the outer fabric ofthe corset with chalk/washable marker/etc. Exact placement isn’t necessary, aslong as it’s symmetric. If you have thebusk you’re going to use, lay it on theinside of the corset and trace around it;otherwise, follow the chart.

if you are using a weaker boning mate-rial, such as corset reed or poly boning,you will likely want to sew boningchannels completely around the corset,leaving no space unboned. Otherwisethe tabs will quickly bend at the waist.If you are using wide artificial whale-bone or spring steel boning, one boneon either edge of each tab is sufficient.

Sew along these boning channel marksto create channels for the boning.Straight pins are useful for insuring thatboth layers lie flat and even. Sew fromthe bottom edge all the way to the top,and backstitch at both ends. Test the firstchannel to see that it is indeed wideenough for the boning before doing therest.

This is by far the most tedious part ofmaking a corset. Here’s a tip to speed itup: instead of running every stitch fromthe bottom to the top, Run one stitchfrom the bottom to the top, backstitch,lift the presser foot with the needle inthe fabric, rotate the corset 180 degrees,move the needle to the beginning of thenext channel, put the presser foot down,backstitch, and sew down the next chan-nel. Note: This may cause wrinkling inthe channels if your outer fabric or yourlining is a twill or slightly stretchy fab-ric, or if your channels are exceptionallywide. Test this technique first to make

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sure it doesn't make your fabric wrin-kle, pucker, or pull off the grain.

4. Add the Boning

Slip the boning into the channels, andmake sure that the busk fits. The bon-ing should be the entire length of thechannel, from the top to bottom edge.

5. Cut the Tabs

The time has finally come to cut apartthe tabs into separate pieces. First, I rec-ommend running a very fine machinestitch along either side of each tab mark,narrowing them to a point at the waistwhere the tab ends. This will create apointed shape about 1/4 inch wide. Dabfray check down this shape and let itdry before snipping carefully up themiddle between the two seams. Thiswill help keep the tab edges from fray-ing, and the boning material coming out,until the bottom edge is finished.

6. Optional: Test fitting

No body is alike. Everyone “squishes”differently, and every fabric stretchesever so slightly. In addition, thick bon-ing materials can make thecircumference of a corset shrink. If thisis your first corset and you don’t do thisfinal fitting, your corset will most like-ly not fit you exactly. To make sure yourcorset will fit after all the work you’veput into it, I recommend you try it on atthis point, before finishing the edges.To do this, you need a pair of lacingstrips.

If you plan to make more corsets orbodices in the future, lacing strips are agood investment that you will use overand over again. Take a five-inch-widestrip of canvas that’s about 30 inches

long, fold it in half lengthwise, and iron.Cut this strip in half to create 2 15-inch-long-strips. Now set gromments aninch-and-a-half apart, close to the fold-ed edge, down each of these strips.

To fit the corset, stitch the strips with abasting stitch to each back edge of yourcorset. Make sure the folded edge of thestrip is even with the edge of the fabric.Lace the corset on, snugly but not toosnugly. You may have to tighten the lac-es two to three times before everything’swhere it should be. Your bosom shouldbe elevated during lacing, and when lac-ing is complete, it should feel secure butnot be squeezing out of the top of thecorset. Let the person wear the corsetfor 10 to 15 minutes, moving around,turning, sitting and lifting their arms.This allows the fabric to stretch if it’sgoing to, and allows the wearer to dis-cover any uncomfortable areas ortrouble spots.

Check that the space between the backedges is the same at the top and bottomof the corset. Ideally you want two inch-es of space between the back edges.Often the top back will be closer togeth-er than the bottom. If this is so, pinchthe fabric at the side back top into adownward “dart” to make the back edg-es even. If you find that the corset istoo loose, mark where you think theback edges of the corset should be, un-lace the corset, remove the lacing stripsand sew them on at this newly markededge, and try the corset on again. Youmay find that the tabs dig into your hips,and need to cut them slightly longer.

Once you’ve determined any changesthat need to be made, take the corsetoff and remove the lacing strips. If you

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found that the corset was slightly toobig, cut a bit off of the back center tothe newly marked edge. if it was toosmall, stitch an additional bit of fabricto each back side piece to the width youneed, and add more boning channelsand boning.

7. Finish the edges.

To finish the edges, you want a strongmaterial as the boning material will bepressing directly against it. A fine leath-er is the best material, though it can bevery hard to work with. You can use abias-cut strip of the outer corset fabric,a contrasting fabric, or a sturdy ribbonas well. The strip should be an inch wideif it’s leather, and an inch and a halfwide if it’s fabric.

A friend gave me the following tip: ifyou are using leather to bind your cor-set, you can save your fingers by puttinga leather needle in your sewing machineand running the leather strip through themachine with no thread. This will cre-ate evenly spaced holes that you caneasily get your sewing needle throughwhile stitching the binding to your cor-set.

Lay the edging strip wrong side upagainst the right side of the corset, withthe edge of the fabric even with the edgeof the binding. Stitch the binding witha backstitch to the front layer of thecorset about 3/8 an inch away from theedge. If you’re using leather, stitch theedge of the leather to the corset 3/8 aninch away from the edge. If you usedcorset reed or broomstraw, you’relucky—with care, you can machine-stitch the binding to the corset throughthe boning material.

Stitching around the points of the tabscan be fiddly, and is best done by hand.Once you’ve stitched the binding allaround the bottom edge of the corset,wrap it around to the inside over theedge of the corset. Tuck the raw edgeof the binding under if it’s fabric (withleather, you don’t need to worry aboutfraying), and whip-stitch the binding tothe inside layer of the corset.

Repeat this process with the top edgeand the back center edges. If you wantyour busk to be removable, be sure tostitch the binding material only to thefront layer of the busk pocket fabricwhen you are stitching it to the right sideof the corset top. Do not stitch the bind-ing down on the wrong side of the corsetbehind the busk pocket.

8. Put in the Grommets

Using a pen or pencil and starting 1 inchfrom the bottom edge, mark out 7 to 8(depending on the length of the corset)equidistant points up the back centeredges of the corset. The points shouldbe at least 1/2 an inch away from theback center edge, and approximately1.25 inches apart.

Following the instructions for yourgrommets, insert and pound the grom-mets into place. If you’ve never putgrommets into an outfit before, I high-ly recommend practising on a piece ofcloth before you do the corset.

If you’re not using grommets, cut a verysmall hole in the fabric, and sew a but-tonhole stitch around it. You can alsosew a buttonhole stitch around the met-al grommets, to make your outfit lookmore period.

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Long corset laces (basically 4-yard-longflat shoelaces) are sold by some cos-tume supply places like Greenberg &Hammer. Alternately, you can use ice-skating laces from a used sports store,or make your own lace out of a strongmaterial such as linen tape or waxed lin-en cord (sold by Wooded Hamlet).

It is helpful to finish off the lace you’regoing to use to lace your corset with byrolling the ends small and either wrap-ping clear tape or thread tightly aroundthem, or dipping them in wax. Thismakes it much easier to lace with, andreduces curses and mumbles behindyour back.

9.)Finishing Touches

Slip the busk into place, and poke twoholes in the fabric to match the holes inthe busk. You can sew a buttonholestitch around the holes, making sure notto sew the two layers together. Once thebusk is in place, a ribbon will go throughthe holes in the lining, through the buskholes, and tie together in a bow on thefront of the corset to keep the busk fromsliding out of place.

If you will be wearing your corset witha farthingale, sew pairs of holes at thefront side waist and back side waist ofthe corset. When your farthingale is fin-ished, run a short lace through theseholes and through matching holes at thefront sides and back sides of the farthin-gale, and tie them in bows. This is howcorsets and farthingales were worn inthe 16th century: as one unit. Lacing thetwo together prevents the farthingalefrom slipping awkwardly down, helpssupport the weight of heavy Elizabethanskirts, and makes your outfit move moregracefully. If both farthingale and cor-set open at the center back, you can putthem on and take them off as one unit,which saves time.

10.) Immediately rush to the nearestmirror

And try your corset on for size! Thenshow it to everyone else in the house,graciously receive comments on howwonderful you look, and relax with acup of tea. Or you can start on the far-thingale to go with the corset!Fig 9: Effigy corset reconstrcted from

the original. © 2000 Sarah Powell.

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Wearing & Caring for your

I know, it sounds rather anticlimacticafter you’ve gone through the processof making the thing. But putting a cor-set on in the right way prevents someaches and pains.

First of all, an early Tudor and Elizabe-than corset was not meant to diminishthe waist. It was used to that purposeby a few young fashion victims of thetime, but its primary goal was to flattenthe chest and to provide a nice, smooth,cylindrical torso. If you pull it reallytight in order to make your waist small-er, you’ll end up with a waist two inchessmaller than it was beforehand, a lot ofdiscomfort, and an aching back by theend of the evening. It’s the point of yourbodice and the size of the bumroll thatgives the illusion of a small waist.

Elizabethan corsets, when worn correct-ly, are not only bearable but actuallycomfortable. For large-busted women,they provide more bust support than anyunderwire can dream of. They also pro-vide terrific back support.

When wearing a corset, always put onyour chemise or smock before you wearthe corset itself. Wearing a corsetagainst the skin gets it all oily andsweaty and gucky, no matter how ma-chine-washable it is; and lacing on acorset that reeks of sweat is, handsdown, one of the top ten most unpleas-ant things you’ll ever do.

Next, find someone to help. It is possi-ble to put on a corset by yourself, buthelp is always great. The corset can belaced up from the top to the bottom, or

from the bottom to the top. Whereveryou end is where the most pressure willbe on the corset; if you’re worried aboutthe corset slipping down your waist,lace from the top to the bottom. If you’reworried about your bosom slippingdown, lace from the bottom to the top.

In period, only one lace was used forlacing bodices and corsets.1 It was tiedaround one grommet hole, laced across,laced up diagonally, laced across again,and so on, forming a zigzag pattern.There’s no reason not to do this, savethat two laces are stronger than one andthat the one-lace method sometimesends up with the two sides of the corsetuneven with each other, if you’re notcareful. If you’re lacing with two laces,simply lace the corset up like you woulda shoe.

Lace the corset loosely, then have theperson being laced pull on the ends ofthe laces while the lacer tightens them.Many people will have to do the “Eliz-abethan Lift” when the corset’s abouthalfway laced, to move their bustlineup to the correct location. Tie the endsin a bow (a double bow, if you’re inse-cure) and tuck it inside the corset.

On the subject of cleavage: The PlatterEffect, though period, was used prima-rily by lower-class women of anunsavoury persuasion. If you’re dress-ing as an honest peasant woman, amiddle-class woman or a noblewoman,it’s considered polite (and period) tokeep your ladies securely and decentlytucked into place.

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One lacing method is to lace the corsetfrom top to bottom, criss cross, tyingthe ends together at the waist and pull-ing the two loops at the bottom totighten the corset before tying the loopstogether in a bow.

To get into a corset yourself, you’ll needa really, really long lace. Lace the cor-set when you’re still out of it, from thetop to the bottom, as loosely as youpossibly can. Then put it on over yourhead like you would a shirt, and pullthe laces to tighten it. Twist, contort, andjump up and down a lot, and eventuallyit will be securely laced.

Another method which is extremelyuseful (although not perfectly period)when getting into your corset by your-self is to add a front-closing busk to theright or left of your wooden busk, oreven in place of it, though it isn’t as stiffas wood. These front closing busks aremade of two pieces of 1/2 inch widespring steel boning, one of which hasknobs riveted to it and the other ofwhich has corresponding steel tabswhich hook over the knobs. They wereused in 19th century corsets, and canbe obtained from a number of the plac-es on the Mailorder list (Appendix A)for around $10. Simply lace the corsetclosed to the tightness you desire, andfrom then on, open and close the corsetusing the steel busk in the front. I my-self have found this addition to mycorset to be a godsend.

Cleaning your CorsetHow you clean your corset depends onhow it’s made. A machine-washablecorset:

• Is made of a fabric which won’t shrink,bleed dye, or do funky stuff in the wash-er or dryer. Cotton fabrics (pre-washed)are machine washable, as are some bro-cade fabrics, cotton velvet, and linen.Silk in any form is not, never was and,barring a technological breakthrough,never will be machine-washable. (Ilearned this the hard way). Satin, Shot-silk and taffeta, and many upholsteryfabrics are also not machine washable.

• Has a removable busk which can betaken out before washing, or doesn’thave a busk at all.

• Has stiffening that won’t rust in thewash: coated spring steel or plastic bon-ing are the two machine washablematerials. Timber strapping, hoopskirtwire, and any other boning which con-tains metal should NEVER be machinewashed.

If your corset meets all of the abovecriteria, congratulations! You can throwit in the wash. Remove the busk if ithas one, and wash it on gentle in coldwater. Lay it flat to dry.

If your corset is not among the selectfew which can be machine washed, tac-tics are quite different. To remove aspot, use woolite or some other mildsoap and a damp washcloth or tooth-brush. Try not to get any metal boningwet, as this can result in rust spots onyour corset. Fuller’s earth is said to begood for spot removal and for remov-ing stains and smells. You can also letthe corset air dry outside in the sun fora few days (unless you’re worried aboutthe fabric fading) to get rid of anysweaty reek. As a last resort, you canalways have it dry cleaned.

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History of the Spanish Farthingale

The Spanish Farthingale was a bell-shaped hoopskirt worn under the skirtsof well-to-do women during the Tudorand Elizabethan era. From the 1530sto 1580s, the farthingale played an im-portant part in shaping the fashionablesilhouette.

The Spanish Farthingale, as its namesuggests, originated in Spain. The name“farthingale” itself is an English corrup-tion of “verdugado”, the Spanish wordfor twig, which refers to the rings ofwillow and cane used to hold the hoop-skirt rigid.

The first depiction of a farthingale is ina picture dated to 1470. It is a Spanishpainting portraying Salome holding thehead of John the Baptist on a plate. Herouter skirt is tucked up to reveal a bonedfarthingale made of a rich brocade, with

several double rows of brocade contain-ing willow bents evenly spaced alongits length.

Tradition holds that the Spanish Farthin-gale arrived in England in the early 16th

century, introduced by Katharine ofAragon, Henry VIII’s queen. At thetime of her arrival, it was noted that theywore “benethe ther wast certayn rowndehopys, berying owte ther gowns fromther bodies after their contray manner”.

Clear pictorial evidence of the farthin-gale, however, didn’t show up inEngland until c. 1540. By this time,hoopskirts worn by English noblewom-en begin to appear in court paintings andportraits. The famous portrait of LadyJane Grey (aka Katharine Parr) wears aclassic late Tudor gown complete withfarthingale. A similar gown is shown

Fig 11: Claude de France. Gown style isc. 1545. Collection Gaignieres, Paris.

Fig 10: Drawing of Salome after a detailfrom “Banquet of Harod” by Pedro

Garcia de Benabarre”, c. 1477

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below worn by Claude de France. It isin 1545 that written reference to the far-thingale also first appears: “VII virg.Satten bruges crimson pro una verdin-gale.

The conical silhouette of the farthingalestayed for the most part the samethrough the 1550s and 1560s, and wellinto the 1570s. Several portraits showgowns which are obviously worn overfarthingales. Some few pictures evenshow the farthingale itself, such as awatercolor drawing of a woman andchild from Il Libro del Sarto, an ItalianTailor’s pattern book of the 1570s and1580s,, shown below.

This picture, and others, show farthin-gales which weren’t much wider thanthat worn by Jane Grey 25 years before.Court farthingales, however, could bewider. A sketch of Queen Elizabeth,

created by the artist Hilliard in 1588 de-picts a fashionable, if perhaps somewhatexaggerated, Spanish farthingale of thelater 16th century.

Although paintings showing the actualconstruction of a Spanish farthingale arerare, and no surviving farthingales re-main for study, there are references tothem in Mary Tudor’s wardrobe ac-counts, Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobeaccounts and other inventories throughthe 16th century. Spanish farthinagleswere made out of buckram, canvas, fus-tian, taffeta, satin, grosgrain (a ribbedcloth) and silk, and guarded & embel-lished with satin, brocade or taffeta.Interestingly, a significant proportion offarthingales mentioned are red or crim-son.

Stiffening materials mentioned are var-ious kinds of rope, including hemp rope,ropes made of twisted rag, and ropesmade of bent (small reed) twisted to-gether. Other popular materials werewhalebone (first mentioned in 1580),

Fig 12: Woman with Child from f103rof Il Libro del Sarto, c. 1580.

Fig 13: Drawing after a sketch of QueenElizabeth by Nicolas Hilliard, c. 1588.

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and osiers. Some farthingales may alsohave been stiffened by starching the far-thingale itself.

There is also a reference in Mary Tu-dor’s accounts to a forepart fasteneddirectly to a farthingale, rather than akirtle. Some farthingales also had bod-ices attached to them, presumably forsupport (and most likely to flatten andshape the torso, as well.)

Juan de Alcega’s Tailor’s Pattern Book,published in 1589, provides invaluableinformation on laying out, cutting, andsewing together a Spanish farthingale.This pattern used 6 Castilian Baras (51/2 yards) of silk fabric, which was 22inches wide. Below is a diagram anddescription of how to make his SpanishFarthingale.

The rectangular front piece (piece A)has the two gores marked A sewn to ei-ther side of it to create a flaringtriangular front half. The two triangu-lar gores are sewn to the front by theirselvage (finished) edges. The two tri-angular pieces marked B are sewn tothe large B back piece on their bias sides(the sides cut at an angle). Then the back

half is sewn to the front, the straight sel-vage edge of the B gore being sewn tothe bias-cut edge on the A gore.

This results in no bias seams being sewnto each other and eliminates the saggingwhich two bias seams sewn togetherwould inevitably experience. Once ev-erything is sewn together, the skirt isgathered to a waistband. As the trian-gular B gores are wider, and contain afew inches of fabric at the top, the backwill have more fabric to be gatheredthan the front. One would assume thatthis farthingale tied together at the sides,as the only seams are at the sides, theside front and the side back.

If this farthingale were worn by a wom-an who was 5’2" , there would be 10inches of fabric left to make the casesfor the osiers. Arnold suggests that oncethe farthingale was sewn together, thefabric was pinched together in a foldsevery few inches and a seam stitchedone and a half inches away from thefolded edge to create casings on theoutside of the skirt. The bottom edgewould be turned up, and a seam sewn1.5 inches away from the bottom hemto create a casing round the bottom. 2

Alcega’s Instructions for Making a Spanish FarthingaleTo cut this farthingale in silk, fold the fabric in half lengthwise. From the left, thefront (Piece A) and then the back (piece b) are cut from the double layer. The rest ofthe silk should be spread out and doubled full width to intercut the gores. Note thatthe front gores (A ) are joined straight to straight grain, and the back gores (B) arejoined bias to straight grain, so that there will be no bias together on the side seamsand they will not drop. The front of this farthingale has more at the hem than the back.The silk left over may be used for a hem. The farthingale is 1 1/2 baras long (49.5inches) and the width round the hem slightly more than 13 handspans, which in my

opinion is full enough for this farthingale, but if morefullness is required, it can be added to this pattern.”

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Farthingale Materials

FabricMost re-enactors use cotton duck or drillto make their farthingales, which ischeap and available in any fabric store.In fact, any non-strechy and strong fab-ric will do when making a farthingale.A farthingale of modest size requires 31/2 to 4 yards of fabric, depending onthe width of the fabric and the patternused.

If you wish to make a farthingale usingtaffeta, be forewarned that acetate taf-feta is much weaker than itspredecessor, silk taffeta, and will notsupport the wear and tear and strain putupon a farthingale unless it is backedwith a heavier fabric, such as cottonduck, drill, or canvas. If you do wantto use silk satin, silk canvas or silk taf-feta for a reproduction farthingale, ThaiSilks has a wide variety of fabrics suit-ed to this need. They are listed on theMailorder Resources. A woman of less-er means would likely make herfarthingale out of a heavy linen or lin-en-silk blend. Wool, as it stretches, isnot a good fabric for a farthingale.

BoningMost recreation farthingales are madeusing hoopskirt boning rather than caneor willow bents. Hoopskirt boning is1/2-inch-wide stiffened canvas or plas-tic with spring steel along the edges. Itis very stiff and can hold out the heavi-est of skirts, yet is lighter than otherboning materials. Because it is flat,rather than rounded, it doesn’t create thebumps or ridges sometimes seen with

farthingales made of period materials.It doesn’t crack, as osiers and bents cando. Hoopskirt materials can be cheap-ly bought ($10.25 for 12 yds of boning)from mailorder costuming supply hous-es such as Greenberg & Hammer, whichare listed in Appendix II (MailorderResources).

Many people choose to sew casings toa spanish farthingale and slip the hoop-skirt boning into the casings; ashoopskirt boning is a flat material, thisis possible. This allows the boning tobe removed and replaced if it gets bentout of shape. For round materials suchas rope and reeds, the boning materialmust be sewn into the tucks as you go.

You can find willow osiers from thefollowing basketry supply stores:

Plymouth Reed and Cane Supply1200 W. Ann Arbor RdPlymouth, MI 48170Phone: (313) 455-2150

English Basketry WillowsRFD 1, Box 124ASouth New Berlin, NY 13843-9649Phone: (607) 847-8264

W.H. Kilby & Co. Ltd.1840 Davenport RoadToronto, ON, Canada M6N 1B7Phone: (416) 656-1065Fax: (416) 656-1700

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Making a Spanish Farthingale

It is relatively easy to make an authen-tically cut farthingale based on the 1589pattern and instructions in Alcega’s Tai-lor’s Pattern Book. The instructionsbelow will give you a farthingale to fityour height, but the width of the far-thingale may be a bit small for your taste(It measures only a yard wide across thebottom) .

There are two ways one can make thebelow farthingale: one can make it withcasings sewn on for hoopskirt boning,or make it with tucks into which theboning material is sewn. This articlecontains instructions for making both.

MeasurementsTo make a hoopskirt using Alcega’spattern, you need two measurements:the length, and the circumference ofyour waist.

For the first measurement, measurefrom your waist to the ground. Add fiveinches to this measurement (As the far-thingale will be flaring out from yourlegs, it will need to be slightly longer).

If you are planning to sew the boninginto tucks, add 12 inches onto this mea-surement for the tucks; if you’ll be usingcasings with hoopskirt boning slippedinto them, don’t add 12 inches. Call

this final length measurement measure-ment A.

For the second measurement, measurearound your waist, add two inches, anddivide this measurement by two. Thiswill be called measurement B.

Lay Out the PatternSome people prefer to make a paperpattern first; I prefer to draw directlyonto the fabric, as the pattern is verysimple. It is basically two rectangles(for the front and back) and four trian-gles (for the side gores.)

For the front and back sections, take apiece of fabric that is the width of mea-surement B and twice as long asmeasurement A.

Fold it in half lengthwise, and drawslightly curved lines to divide it in half.(see diagram below.) Cut along theslightly curved lines. These will be yourfront and back sections.

For the four gores, cut out two rectan-gles of fabric the length of measurementA and the width of measurement B.Place the rectangles on top of eachoth-er, and draw a diagonal line from onecorner to 5 inches in from the other cor-ner (see diagram on the next page.) Thetriangle with the blunted, 5” wide top

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will be sewn to the back, creating a wid-er back waist which will be gatheredinto the back waistband.

Take your front square piece (as boththe front and back pieces are identical,either will do), and, starting at the bot-tom, sew a triangular A gore on eitherside. Important: Sew the triangulargore to the front piece using the straightside (the edge which was against theedge of the fabric) and not the diagonalbias side

Now take the back center squarish pieceof fabric, and sew the two B triangulargores to either side of it, starting at thewaist and sewing towards the hem.Important: Sew the B gores to the backpiece by their bias diagonal side, not thestraight side.

Now sew the front and back together at

the side seams. As the farthingale willtie together at the waist on either side,leave enough of the sideseam unsewnat the top on either side so that the far-thingale will be able to fit over your hips(6-12 inches ).

Here is where the instructions differ,depending on whether you are sewingon boning casings or sewing the bon-ing material into tucks.

Lay out the farthingale on the ground.Make sure the bottom edge is even allthe way round. You will have to trimthe point of the two triangles at the sideseams.

Using a pencil or marking chalk, mea-sure up 6 inches every foot or so alongthe farthingale’s bottom and mark. Con-nect these marks to create a line running6 inches above the bottom edge of thefarthingale. Starting at this drawn line,measure up 6 inches and mark, to cre-ate a second parallel line. Repeat thisthree times to create 5 parallel lines. Ifthe topmost line is higher than the sideopening, omit it and only mark 4 paral-lel lines.

Boning Casings

If you are going to sew boning materialinto casings, fold the bottom edge un-der and sew it down 3/4 an inch fromthe edge to create the bottommost cas-ing. Leave two inches unsewn at theright side seam, where the boning willbe inserted.

Take boning casing or twill tape. Start-ing at the center back of the farthingale,line the right edge of the tape up withthe bottommost line that you drew.Leave the first two inches unsewn, andstart sewing two inches in from the side

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seam. Sew the edge of the casing ortape down, keeping it even with the linedrawn on the farthingale. Leave twoinches unsewn at the end. Now sew theother side of the casing down to createthe first channel.

Take another piece of boning casing ortwill tape and repeat this process withthe next line above the casing you justsewed. This time, start at the left sideseam. With the third casing, start at theright side seam, and with the fourth,start at the center back again, and so onround the farthingale.

When the channels have been sewn,take hoopskirt boning, round off the endso that it doesn’t catch in the fabric, andslip it into the bottommost casing. Workit around until the boning has made itback to the opening. Cut off the hoop-skirt boning 1 foot past where it entersthe channel, and work the rest of thisinto the casing. This will create a 1 footoverlap in the boning, which will keepit from bending at this point.

Repeat the process with the remainingchannels, until your hoopskirt is entirelyboned.

Boning Sewn into Tucks

If you choose to use rope, hoopskirtboning or any other sort of boning sewninto tucks, first be sure that you addedthat 12 inches onto your farthingalepieces. This 12 inches will become 61” wide tucks. Next, make sure that youhave a zipper foot on your sewing ma-chine. A zipper foot is essential to createsnugly fitted boning casings.

First, turn your farthingale inside out.Starting at the bottom edge of your far-thingale and at the right side seam of

the farthingale, wrap the raw edgearound the boning material and stitch itdown. If you can, fold the edge underso that it is finished.

For the next channel, place the boningmaterial on the inside of the farthingale,and pin along the first drawn line tokeep the boning material in place. Con-tinue this until the entire channel hasbeen filled and pinned. If you are us-ing rope, cut the rope ends flush witheachother; if you’re using hoopskirtboning, cut a little extra and overlap theends.

Starting at the center back, sew alongthe pinned line. if you are using cane,rope or other wide boning material, youmay have to take the foot of your sew-ing machine off to get the boning casingunder the needle.

Repeat this process with the next threecasings, making sure that the boningmaterial breaks at the left side, rightside, and then the back again. This isespecially important with rope boning;if a rope-boned farthingale has the endsof the rope at the same location in ev-ery channel, the farthingale will bendat that location.

Finishing the farthingaleYou now have your farthingale finishedat the bottom, and boned. Now it’s timeto finish off the waist seam. First, you’llneed to mark where the waistband willbe. Step into your farthingale, prefera-bly with someone to assist you, and liftit to the proper height. The side seamsshould be unsewn far enough to let youget into the farthingale. If not, use aseam ripper to open them more.

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The front bottom edge should be fourto five inches from the ground. Adjustthe farthingale so that the hem is at theproper height front and back. It mayhelp to tie a string around the top of thefarthingale at your waist point, and tugthe fabric under the string until the far-thingale’s bottom edge is at the correctlocation. Once you’ve done this, markthe fabric where it’s even with yourwaist. This will be where the waistbandgoes.

Take the farthingale off, making surethe waistline is clearly marked all theway around. Trim the excess fabric off,1/2 an inch above the line you marked.

Turn under the edges of the two sideopenings, and finish them by machineor by hand.

Pleat or gather both the back and thefront sections until each measures onehalf of your waist measurement.

Take a 2 inch wide band of fabric orribbon and lay it, right side down,against the right side of the front sec-tion of your corset. Sew the two together1/2 inch down from the raw edge of thefabric. Turn the strip of fabric over sothat it covers the raw edge of the fab-ric, fold it under on the inside of thewaistband, and stitch it down. Repeatthis process for the back. This will cre-ate a very narrow waistband, more away to finish the edges than a separateband, as most waistbands of the 16thcentury were.

You can choose to sew ties to each sideopening, or use large and sturdy hooksand eyes. I recommend ties, as they aremore forgiving of weight loss and gain.If you will be wearing this farthingale

with your corset, you can opt to stitchsmall pairs of eyelets at the front andback sides, stitch eyelets at the samelocation on your corset, and thread nar-row ties through both pairs of eyeletsto tie the corset and farthingale togeth-er. This will keep the farthingale fromslipping out of place, will help distrib-ute te weight of your skirts more evenly,and helps your garments to move as one.

Other Farthingale patternsIf you would rather use a tested, triedand true farthingale pattern rather thanmaking your own, I recommend two:The farthingale pattern in Margo Ander-son’s “Elizabethan Underpinnings”pattern set, and the farthingale patternput out by Mantua Maker. The Mantuamaker pattern has instructions for sew-ing rope or boning into tucks; MargoAnderson’s pattern uses boning chan-nels sewn onto the farthingale. Bothpatterns are based on Alcega’s basicfarthingale pattern, and have clear anddetailed instructions. They are avail-able from several costume supplyshops, including Grannd Garb and Sew-ing Central (both listed in Appendix A.)

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Bumrolls & French Farthingales

A bumroll, which, as its name suggests,was a roll tied around the bum, was anessential piece of fashionable Elizabe-than underwear from the 1570s onward.It was tied around the hips to make awoman’s skirt swell out becomingly atthe waistline before falling to theground. Like all items of women’s fash-ion, it was the victim of scathing satireand clerical condemnation, but it wasnevertheless used throughout the later16th century and into the 17th, and con-sidered an essential aid to fashionabledress1 .

There is no mention of rolls or bum-rolls in the first half o the 16th century.Pictures show skirts which swelled no-ticeably out from the waist, but this wasaccomplisyed by stuffing skirt pleatswith padding or batting to make them

swell out, (there are mentions of “stuff-ing for pleyts” in some early 16thcentury documents.) This practice con-tinued throughout the 16th century, evenafter bumrolls appeared.

The “rowle” appears more an more fre-quently in inventory records and tailor’sbills from the 1570s onward. It was atfirst worn in conjunction with the Span-ish farthingale.

In the 1580s, a new, dome-shaped skirtbecame more popular. This style orig-inated in France, and the “FrenchFarthingale”, an large roll or series ofrolls sewn together, soon replaced theSpanish Farthingale. By the 1590s, thisFrench Farthingale had expanded toimpressive dimensions. A fashionablewoman’s skirt spread out vertically be-fore dropping straight down, giving theeffect of a walking birthday cake tomany noblewomen. Often a woman’sskirts were pulled up and pinned to thefarthingale with farthingale pins, creat-ing a pouf which lay on top of thefarthingale and created a yet more plat-

Fig. 14: Detail from Dancers at theLouvre, c. 1585, illustrating the new,

dome-shaped French farthingale.

Fig 15: Detail from a Dutch drawingshowing a french farthingale and

stockings. c. 1600.

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ter-like appearance to a woman’s skirts.

But what does this bumroll or Frenchfarthingale look like? An educatedguess can be made, based on examina-tion of existing portraits, references torolls and French farthingales in Tailor’sbills and inventories.

Cotgrave defined the french farthingaleas “ the kind of roll used by such wom-en as weare no Vardingales.” Severaldescriptions of these farthingales re-main to give us an idea of what theywere made of: they were stuffed withcotton and rags and stiffened withwhalebone, wire or ropes of bent (smallreeds.) Buckram (stiff canvas) is themost commonly mentioned material. Itcould be starched as well. Here are acouple of sample references to rolls:•“[for] making of thre rolles of hollandeclothe with wyers bounde with reben(1585)• making of a rolle of starchedbuckeram with whales bone (1586)

•“ itm for a Roll of bukram” (1590)

A Dutch print dated to the late 1590s isone of the best known pictures of whatan end-of-the-century French Farthin-gale, or “Rowle”, looked like. Thiswoman is trying on a tapered crescentaround her waist, with bands of stiffen-ing sewn around the roll to keep itsshape. Another portion of the sameprint shows a bumroll with stiffeningrunning along the outer circumference.

Sometimes narrower rolls were sewntogether to create the wide silhouette ofthe fashionable skirts. Below is a de-tail from a c.1600 dutch print of awoman in bed with her lover. On thefloor one can see her cast-off frenchfarthingale and stockings. A paintingdated to 1625 of dancers at the frenchcourt show them wearing somethingsimilar: a broad roll worn around thewaist, with several bands of whalebonearound the outside edge.

Fig 16: A Dutch print, c. 1600, showing women trying on rolls.

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Making a Roll

MaterialsTo make a roll, you need:

1. A yard of material. It doesn’t matterwhat kind of material you use, as longas it’s not too stretchy. The best mod-ern fabric to use is cotton duck or drillfabric, available at the local fabric storefor $4.99 a yard. For the more avid re-creationist, linen and silk are bothacceptable fabrics.

2. Stuffing. Cotton or polyester batting(available at the local fabric store) is thebest material to stuff your bumroll with.It gives a smooth, round and firm roll.You can also use scraps and cut-up ragsto stuff your bumroll with. This willtake a bit of work to make it non-lumpy,however. Wool batting can also beused, although this will produce a muchwarmer roll

3. One yard of ribbon, silk or cottonwhich is 1/2 to 1 inches wide, to tie thebumroll closed.

Making a Pattern:A bumroll pattern is very easy to make.You’ll need a tape measure, a cut-openpaper bag or large piece of paper, and apencil.

First, measure around your hips threeinches below your waist. The bumrollmust be worn around the upper hip,not around the waist, to achieve theproper look. Subtract four inches offof this measurement. This will be theinner circumference of your bumroll.

Lay the tape measure in an oval shapeon the paper, and trace around it

(smoothing all wiggles and lumps, ofcourse) so that you have a partially openoval which is the above measurement—hips minus 4 inches (see diagrambelow).

One tip for achieving the proper ovalshape is to take a length of tin foil,squish it into a tube, and wrap it aroundyour upper hip. Carefully take it off ofyour hips and lay it on the paper to useas a guide. This will create a bumrollperfectly shaped to you.

From the top of the oval, measure up 8inches and mark that point with a pen-cil; from the right, measure out 5 inchesand mark. Connect these two pointswith a smooth curve, and continue thatcurve until it almost reaches the frontbottom point of the bumroll.

Connect the inner and outer ovals witha line from point to point, and your pat-tern is finished.

This pattern creates a bumroll of sub-stantial size. I am 5’11” and not small;this pattern is in proportion to my size .If you want a smaller bumroll, make theouter back and side measurementspoportionally smaller to achieve theeffect you want.

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Sewing the Roll TogetherOnce you have a nice smooth pattern,cut it out and lay it on two layers of fab-ric. Pin it or trace around it, and cutaround the pattern edge, leaving 1/2 aninch or seam allowance between whereyou cut and the edge of the pattern.

Now take the two pieces of your bum-roll and lay them right sides together.Cut your yard of ribbon in half, andplace each half between the two layers,with the ends of the ribbon matchingthe edge of the fabric, and the body ofthe ribbon between the two pieces offabric. Beginning near the middle in-side of the bumroll, sew 1/2 an inchaway from the edge all the way around.Sew the ribbon and the two pieces offabric together at the points, but makesure that the ribbon doesn’t get caughtanywhere else. When you come backto where you started sewing, leave a 4-6 inch space unsewn. This is necessaryfor turning the bumroll inside out.

Once the bumroll pieces are sewn to-gether, clip the seam allowance. Makesimple clips along the inside, but cliplittle notches along the outside edge.This helps the seams to lay flat withoutwrinkling or puckering.

Now turn the bumroll right out, pullingon the ribbons to get the points com-pletely turned. Stuff it with batting.Don’t stuff it very firmly--To achieve anatural swell at the waist, rather thanthe effect of a continental shelf, stuffthe roll only about halfway full. Thiswill give a more authentic look at thewaistline.

Using a needle and thread, sew theopening through which you stuffed the

bumroll closed. You can knot the endsof your ribbon, wrap them in scotchtape, dip them in wax, or even put met-al points on them.

Making a French FarthingaleIf you are interested in making a late-Elizabethan French Farthingale, Youcan use these instructions but enlargethis pattern to one that is 12 inches indiameter in the back and 8 on the sides,

Instead of stuffing the bumroll looselyto compliment the bell-shaped spanishfarthingale, stuff it quite firmly, as it willbe the primary support for your skirts.Once the bumroll is complete, you canstitch rings of plastic boning or artifi-cial whalebone around the FrenchFarthingale to help the roll keep itsshape. You can also stitch a length ofwhalebone along the outer circumfer-ence of the farthingale.

Another alternative for a later periodFrench or Drum farthingale is to makeseveral narrower bumrolls and stitchthem together to create a wider profile.Make the first bumroll the size de-scribed in these instructions, and makethe next two rolls of a size that will fitaround the outside of the previous bum-roll. Sew two or three strips of artificialwhalebone around the edge of the out-ermost roll for a more sharply-definededge.

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Elizabethan Stockings:

During the first half of the 16th centu-ry, stockings, or “hose” for both womenand men were made of bias-cut fabric.Linen, wool and wool blends were usedby the lower classes, and silk fabricssuch as sarcanet, taffeta, and other richstuffs by the upper classes. Women’sstockings came to just above the knee,and were fastened below the knee witha garter. They could also be embroi-dered about the tops and at the ankle.

The first mention of knitted stockingsappears in King Henry’s Inventory, c.1545; but these were very likely rareand precious. Knitted stockings are alsomentioned in the Earl of Pembroke’sWardrobe accounts (c. 1561), and inQueen Elizabeth’s records: she was giv-en two pairs of knitted silk hose as aNew Years gift in 1562, and another twopair the following year as well1 .

Although cloth stockings continued tobe made for the queen throughout thenext two decades, knitted stockings be-came all the rage in England for bothmen and women; Stubbes, in 1583,describes the following:

They have nether-stockes to thesegaie hosen...of Jarnsey, Worsted,Crewell, Silke, Thred, and Suchelike, or els at the least of the finestYearne that can bee got, and socuriously knitte with open seamedowne the legge, with quirks andclocks about the anckles and some-time interlaced with golde or silver

threds, as is wonderfull to be-hold....2

Nobles had stockings knit of fine silk,but poorer people also had knit stock-ings, though they used bulkier yarn anda coarser gauge and servants wore clothstockings up until the end of the 16thcentury. Cotton ribbon seems to havebeen Mary Tudor’s garter of choice,which makes sense; it’s less slipperythan silk or satin. Queen Elizabeth andother nobles, however, had garters madeof silk. The garters were fastened witha small buckle, or tied together at theends.

White or cream was one of the mostpopular colors for period knitted stock-ings, as is brown or black. The nobility,however, wore more gaily colouredhose: Eleanora of Toledo had a pair ofcrimson stockings, and (as Stubbesmentions above) knitted stockingscould also contain gold or silver thread.It’s been recorded that Queen Bess’scousin Lettice shocked the nobility byflashing a pair of purple stockings dur-ing a dance.

The essay below on knitting periodstockings is courtesy of Lady Rosal-inde De Witte (MKA Donna FloodKenton)3 :

DESCRIPTION

Here’s a description of the Gunnisterstockings. I have no date for them, buta version of them is used by Plimoth

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length of the foot is about 11 inches,the circumference of the top 9 inches.The feet of both stockings are wornaway, and have been replaced by othermaterial. There are holes at the knees,some roughly mended. The woolen yarnis heavy, spun S, 2-ply. It is dark-brownin colour, a mixture of various shadesof brown fibres, including some black.The spinning and knitting are very even.“The work is done on four needles, 71/2 inches and 10 rows per inch. 114stitches are cast on at the top, and 7rows of garter stitch follow. The remain-der of the stocking is worked in stockingstitch, except for the clocks at the ankleand a panel down the back.

“One stocking has the foot replaced bythe leg of another stocking. The woolis almost identical to that of the wholestocking but the yarn is fine, 2-ply Z,10 stitches and 15 rows to the inch. It isworked in stocking stitch on 4 needlesexcept on the top, which is worked be-low the casting-on with 1 plain row, 1purl row, 4 rows of rib of 1 plainstitch,1 purl stitch, 1 plain row, 1 purl rowand down the back of the stockingwhere 2 lines of a single purl stitch isseparated by 2 plainstitches. 18 inchesof the length of the stocking remains. 63/4 inches below the top the decreasesstart, and increases and decreases forthe calf can be seen. There is no foot tothe stocking, and there are holes in theleg. It is roughly four layers thick on tothe bottom of the whole stocking by 3strands of thick S spun yarn.

“The foot of the other stocking has beenreplaced by a very coarse rep, foldeddouble. What is probably the warp is adark brown lightly spun 3-ply S yarn,the weft a heavier, light brown 2-ply Z

yarn. The count is 6 x 17. It is roughlysewn on to the stocking by a 2-plythread with stitches 2 inches apart.”

This description is from “The Proceed-ings of the Society of Antiquaries of

Scotland — Publication of the Nation-al Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh,

1951-52.”

From this description alone, you canprobably come up with some kind ofstocking, but just in case, here’s direc-tions on how to make stockings that fit.

STOCKING SIZE

First, you’ll need a bunch of measure-ments:

• Circumference of your thigh whereyou want your stocking to end• Circumference of your knee• Distance from the top of the stocking(where you took the thigh measure-ment) to knee• Distance from top of stocking - minus2 to 3 inches for the welting at the topof stocking• Circumference for thickest portion ofcalf• Distance from knee to calf measure-ment• Circumference of ankle• Distance from calf measurement toankle• Circumference of instep• Length of footShould you choose to guesstimate here,The Workingwoman’s Guide (1838)

offers the following proportions:

GENERAL PROPORTIONS FORSTOCKINGS

• Ascertain the proper breadth of the

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stocking.

• From the top to the bend of the kneeis one square, or the length of thebreadth.

• From the bend of the knee to the be-ginning of the calf is one square orbreadth.

• From the beginning to the end of thecalf, is one square or breadth.

• For the small of the leg, one squareor breadth; for the heel, half a square;for the narrowing on each side of theinstep, one quarter of a square; fromthe heel to the narrowing of the toe, oneand a half square; for the narrowing, aquarter of a square.

• Observe, that the squares always re-late to the breadth of the stocking, atthe time the next square is begun.

This same “guide” also says: “It is dif-ficult to make very correct scales fordifferent sized knit stockings, as somuch depends on the quality of theworsted and of the pins, as also on theknitter.” Hence, the thoroughness ofthese directions.

KNITTING GAUGE

Next, you need to figure your knittinggauge. Decide what yarn you intend touse, and what size needles you want.Knit a sample swatch by casting on 30stitches and knitting in stockinette stitch(knit one row, purl one row) for 3 inch-es. Do not omit this step — I canpersonally guarantee that you will knitto regret it.

From your sample, carefully determineyour gauge, both width-wise (stitchesper inch) and length-wise (rows per

inch). The most accurate way is to placea straight pin (it won’t distort the knit)into the sample about one third of theway across. Measure from that pointone inch. Place another pin, and countthe number of stitches. Do a similar pro-cedure to measure the number of rowsper inch. Don’t make the mistake of try-ing to make your sample smaller andmeasure from the edge. You don’t getan accurate measurement at the edges.You must measure from the inside toget the best measurement.

Convert Measurements to Stitches

This is pure mathematics. If you have ameasurement that is 10 inches wide,and you knit at 5 stitches per inch, youwill need 50 stitches at that point. If youneed to knit for 2 inches long, and youknit at 7 rows per inch, you’ll need toknit 14 rows to get 2 inches. Round outto even numbers for your widths.

Decreases and Increases

Thigh-To-Knee Decrease: Take thenumber of stitches at the thigh, and sub-tract from it the number of stitches forthe knee. That’s how many stitches youwill need to decrease when you workfrom the thigh to the knee. Because youdecrease 2 stitches at a time (one oneach side of the center back), divide thisnumber by 2 to determine the numberof times you must work a decrease row.Because you must knit 2 to 3 incheseven for stability and welting at the topof the stocking, you’ll want to look atthe shorter measurement from thigh toknee. Determine the number of rowsyou need to knit to get from thigh toknee. Now you have the number ofrows you need to cover the distance, andyou know how many of those rows need

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to be rows in which you decrease. Di-vide total rows by decrease rows to geteven spacing.

Knee-To-Calf Increase: Use the sameprocedures outlined above in reverse.

Calf-To-Ankle Decrease: This uses thesame principle as the Thigh-To-Knee,but you need to make a decision first.You may choose to evenly distribute thedecrease rows all the way down the calfto the ankle, or you may choose to putthe majority of the decreases near thecalf, and fewer (or none) as you get clos-er to the ankle. Either way isappropriate. Look at your leg, and fig-ure out the best way to handle it. Oncethe decision is made, you can proceedas above.

Welting

Welting is simply several rows of stitch-ing to help give strength and stabilityto the top of the stocking. The simplestform is six or eight rows of garter stitch,and is more common in the earlierstockings. By 1838, a knit 3-purl 3 ribwas common, as was any variation ofthat (knit 4-purl 4; knit 5-purl 3). Bas-ketweave (k 3, p3 for 3 rows; then p 3,k 3 for 3 rows) was also used.

Center Back Panel

Something has to mark the center of theback, so you can keep track of rows.The simplest way is a single purl stitchdown the center. They were often moreelaborate, to also allow for a little give.Some known variations:

• a six stitch panel (2 purl, 2 knit, 2 purl)or (1st row: k1, p1, k2, k1, p1. 2nd row:p1, k1, k2, p1, k1) or (1st row: k1, p1,p2, k1, p1. 2nd row: p1, k1, p2, p1, k1)

• a five stitch panel (1st row: p1, k1,p1, p1, k1. 2nd row: k1, p1, p1, k1, p1)

Feel free to design your own panel.

Clocks

Clocks are designs at the ankles. Some-times they are just on the outside of theankles; other times they are on both theinner and outer ankle. The Gunnistershave them on both sides.

You can put one design at the ankles,or you can put two or three on top ofeach other. The Gunnisters have 1) amoss stitch diamond, 2) an moss stitchinverted triangle, and 3) a broken knit2-purl 2 ribbing only on the sides of theankle. These are fairly common becausethey are nice geometrics. Floral motifshave been found, but are less common,probably due to their intricacy.

The easiest way to design clocks is tochart them. Using knit and purl stitchesfor contrast, basically just figure outwhat you want. From the chart and yourcalculations, you can figure out whereyou’ll need to start them on the stock-ing.

k k k k k k k p k k k k k k kk k k k k k p k p k k k k k kk k k k k p k p k p k k k k kk k k k p k p k p k p k k k kk k k p k p k p k p k p k k kk k p k p k p k p k p k p k kk k k p k p k p k p k p k k kk k k k p k p k p k p k k k kk k k k k p k p k p k k k k kk k k k k k p k p k k k k k kk k k k k k k p k k k k k k k

moss stitch diamond

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k k p k p k p k p k p k p k kk k k p k p k p k p k p k k kk k k k p k p k p k p k k k kk k k k k p k p k p k k k k kk k k k k k p k p k k k k k kk k k k k k k p k k k k k k k

inverted triangle

Heel and Foot

The only heel I am certain is an accu-rate style is from the same book, TheWorkwoman’s Guide from 1838. Thedrawings show it as a pointed flap.

One half of the total number of stitchesare knit as a flap long enough to godown and around the heel. At that point,several decreases are evenly spaced inthe same row, reducing the total num-ber of stitches by 20%. The heel isbound off and sewn.

Take up the instep stitches and pick upstitches all around the foot.

Decrease as needed along the foot to thetoe. Decrease for the toe resemble themodern mitten. Simply decrease even-ly until there’s only a dozen or sostitches left, then fasten off.

I do have reference to a similar heel ina Tudor stocking, which I am told is inthe V&A. I have not seen it, nor do Ihave any more information on it, otherthan it exists.

I can’t imagine that a seam under yourheel is going to be very comfortable.You’d have to be very careful aboutweaving it. Also, this will likely nevershow. This being the case, feel free touse your favorite heel, foot, and toe. Ifyou know of any more heels, please letme know so I can add it here.

Okay, now it’s time to put this all to-gether.

DIRECTIONS

I used just shy of 4 ounces of a mediumsport weight on size 4 needles for each25 inch stocking. Plan on eight ouncesfor the pair, but if you want them long-er, you will need to buy extra. It takesnearly the full 4 ounces for one stock-ing. This gave me a gauge of 5 stitchesand 8 rows per inch.

• 1. Cast on the required number ofstitches for the thigh. I cast on over twoneedles, just to make sure that the cast-on is loose enough. If yours is tight,like mine, you might want to do that.

• 2. Work 1 to 1.5 inches in your cho-sen welting. Start your chosen centerback panel and continue this panel un-til you get to the heel. Work another .5to 1.5 inches in plain stockinette stitch.

• 3. Start the decreases to knee. For anice, neat appearance, don’t decreaseimmediately beside the center back pan-el. Keep one knit stitch before and afterthe panel. You may want to decrease byknitting two together in the back of thestitches on one side of the panel, andin the front of the stitches on the otherside. This keeps both decrease stitchesslanted in the same direction (either to-ward, or away from, the center back).

• 4. At the knee, knit .5 to .75 inchesplain. Then start the increases to thecalf.

• 5. Once you reach the calf, knit .5 to.75 inches plain. Then start the decreas-es to the ankle.

• 6. Start your chosen clocks in the ap-propriate place. They will probably start

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about 2/3 of the way down the calf, andshould bring you right down the ankle,to the start of the heel.

• 7. Divide the stitches in two. Put halfthe stitches aside for the instep. Eitherfollow your favorite sock pattern fromhere, or continue along. Work the heelflap on the other stitches until the flapreaches under your heel, almost to themiddle of your foot. Decrease every 4thor 5th stitch in the next row, and bindoff. Fold the heel flap in half, and sewit up.

• 8. Pick up all the stitches on the in-step. Looking at your measurements foryour instep, figure out how many morestitches you need. Pick them up evenlyalong the heel rows. You’ll probablyneed to pick up one stitch every otherrow, maybe even 75% of the rows.

• 9. Knit plain for 2 rows. Then startdecreasing for the foot. Generally, youdecrease 2 stitches (one on each side ofthe instep) every other row until you areback to the number of stitches for theankle, then knit straight for the foot.Your foot may not be shaped that way,so decrease only as many as you need,or perhaps every third row.

• 10. Knit even until you are two inchesfrom the end of your toes. Start decreas-ing every other row, by knittingtogether every 7th and 8th stitch (orsomething like that), then every 6th and7th stitch, every 5th and 6th stitch, andso on, until you are down to only adozen or so stitches. Cut the yarn, leav-ing a 15 inch tail. Run the tail throughall the stitches, take them off the nee-dles, and pull tight. You may want torun the yarn through the stitches again,then weave in the ends.

1 Arnold, Janet, QEWU pg. 208

2 Stubbes, quoted in Queen Elizabeth’sWardrobe Unlock’d

3 Lady Rosalinde (AoA, OSC, OBT,and past editor of Tournaments Illumi-nated) has been a fiber junkie for aslong as she can remember, knitting, de-signing, and teaching variousneedlework for over 25 years. Current-ly, she’s working on small projects withhand spun yarn for purses and pouchesfor her three medieval daughters (andherself) and trying to build a 1280-ishspinning wheel. She’s also a part-timewriter and a full-time mom.

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Elizabethan Smocks

The smock, also called a “shift” in the16th century and commonly called a“chemise” by many re-enactors, was asimple linen garment worn next to theskin to protect clothing from sweat andbody oils. As the clothing of the mid-dle and upper classes was not the kindone could pound on a river rock or scrubregularly with ashes and lye soap, thesmock was vital to Elizabethan cos-tume.

Smocks were made of fine linen, as fineas the wearer could afford. Many ofthe better smocks were made of whatwe now call “handkerchief-weight” lin-en. Lawn, cypress and holland werethree 16th c. varieties of fine linen usedfor quality smocks. These smocks hungto just about knee to calf-length, on av-erage.

There were several varieties of smocksworn in the 16th century. Althoughportraits of the time only show the cuffsand collar areas of smocks, we are luckyto have several surviving 16th centurysmocks to look at. All of them weremade using basic construction tech-niques that had been used for centuries:two long rectangles (with triangular sidegores) made up the body, and two longrectangles formed the sleeves. Simple,rectangular collars and cuffs and dia-mond or square shaped underarm andneck gussets completed the smock.

NecklinesThe necklines of smocks varied wide-ly. Some had a low, squared neck,sometimes edged with lace and deco-

rated with blackwork. These necklineswere worn under the low, square necksof Tudor gowns (1530s & 1540s) aswell as the Elizabethan gowns of the1570s. Some smocks had higher, round-ed necklines, such as those worn bymarketwomen of the 1560s and 1570s.There are examples of smocks withhigh, flared necklines, such as the oneshown below; these were worn later inthe 16th century, and several examplesare found in Italian portraits of the1570s and 1580s. Low, V-shaped neck-lines (such as the one shown in Figurex) are more rarely seen.

Some smocks had wide rectangularbody sections which were gathered to aneckband, such as that shown in fig.19.

Fig 17: An example from Vecellio of anItalian woman’s smock, c. 1590.

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Ungathered smocks could also have aneckband attached. Examples ofsmocks with collars are seen through-out the 16th century. In the 1550s, asmall ruffle is often found at the top ofthis neckband; in the 1560s and 1570s,it grew to such a size that it was even-tually replaced by a separate ruff.Smalltriangular gores are sometimes found atthe sides of the collar band.

The low, gathered or pleated necklinewas, despite its popularity with re-en-actors, relatively rare in the 16thcentury. It is seen for the most part inItaly, Germany and the Netherlands,during the first half of the 16th century.

SleevesSmock sleeves ranged from the simpleto the complex. Working womenthroughout the 16th century woresmocks with simple, tube-like sleeveswhich they often rolled up while work-ing. In the 1530s, we see severalexamples of very full sleeves gatheredto cuffs. Often a ruffle was attached tothe bottom of this cuff band. The sleeveusually joined the body of the smock at

a right angle; in some cases, the sleevewas pleated or gathered to the bodypiece. Diamond-shaped or square un-derarm gussets are found in the majorityof surviing smocks.

Smock FasteningsSmocks with a collar had a slit up thefront, often decorated, and fastened ei-ther with laces on either side of thecollar or with hooks and eyes. The lac-es could be sewn into the collar, lacedthrough small eyelets, or laced througheyes sewn to the inside of the neckline.These same fastening methods wereused for cuffs.

There is no hard evidence that draw-strings were used for gathering smocknecklines or cuffs in the 16th century.

On some smocks, the cuff was gatheredand stitched to a ribbon that was usedto tie the cuff, which looks like a draw-string cuff until closely examined.

Some Italian portraits show neck gath-ering which resembles drawstringgathering, but there has, to date, beenno definite example found.

Fig 18: A woman’s smock, c. 1570.Made of fine linen embroidered with

black silk. V&A Museum.

Fig 19: A woman’s smock, early 1600s.Made of fine linen embroidered with red

silk. V&A Museum.

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Smock DecorationFor such a little-seen garment, the vari-ety of decoration used was quiteextensive. Smocks could be complete-ly undecorated, or completely coveredwith embroidery of some sort.

Although some smocks for richer wom-en were professionaly embroidered,embroidering a smock was a way for awoman to show her skill at needlework.Many decorated smocks were the resultof weeks of labor by industrious gen-tlewomen.

The neckband, neckline, and sleeveswere the areas most commonly deco-rated. These were the most visible partof the garment. In some cases thesleeves and upper body were entirelycovered with embroidery. Hems couldalso be decorated, although this is lesscommonly seen. Seamlines were some-times enhanced with simpleembroidery, for decoration and tostrengthen the garment.

Blackwork embroidery is particularlyprevelant on the neckbands and cuffsof smocks depicted in portraits. Othercolors were also used for monochromeembroidery of smocks, usually red andblue.

Thin strips of bobbin lace could be usedto edge the neckline and cuffs. Silkpolychrome embroidery is seen onsmocks in the later 16th century as well.

Couched cord, bullion and metal span-gles could also be used to decoratesmocks, although these methods of dec-oration were not used as extensively asembroidery. In some cases the neck andcuff gatheres were covered with a tab-let-woven or embroidered band.

Whitework and pulled thread work werealso used to decorate the neck area andsleeves of smocks. This gave a lace-likeappearance to the white linen fabric.Sometimes the seams of smocks wereenhanced by a band of needlelace in-serted between the two sections offabric being attached.

Fig 20: A 16th century Italian man’s shirt and woman’s smock.

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Making a Smock

A smock is, at its most basic, a T-tunic.Below are instructions for making asimple smock with a low, squared neckand ungathered, tube-like sleeves. The

MaterialsHandkerchief linen (3.5 oz weight) isthe closest we can get to the sort of lin-en used for Elizabethan smocks.Heavier linen can be used for a lower-class woman’s smock. Contrary to whatmany fabric store employees will tellyou, linen is as machine-washable ascotton.

If you don’t have access to linen, choosea cotton that resembles linen. For a veryfine smock, a cotton gauze is a possiblechoice; cotton broadcloth and sheetingare also good substitutes. Avoid poly-ester or man-made fabrics, as they willbe very hot and uncomfortable. Avoidsheer silk, as body warmth combinedwith sweat will discolor and break downthe fabric. In addition, silk smocks don’tstand up to washing as well as linen orcotton smocks.

You will need on average 3 to 4 yardsof fabric for an ungathered smock, and5 yards of fabric for a smock gatheredto a neck and wristbands.Always pre-wash your linen or cotton in hot waterbefore sewing a smock, as it can shrinkup to one quarter in size.

MeasurementsThe same set of basic measurements areused to make both smocks. Round allmeasurement to the nearest half inch.

A: Around the widest part of the hand.

B: around the widest part of the arm(usually the bicep)

C: Shoulder point to shoulder point.

D: Length from shoulder to mid-calf (orthe length you want your smock to be)

E: The length from shoulder point towrist bone.

F: Around the wrist

G: Around the base of the neck

Below is a layout of the smock pieces.The dimensions are based on the abovemeasurements. For instance, if yourmeasurement around the widest part ofyour hand (Measurement A) is 11 inch-es, the bottom of the sleeve (shown as“A + 2 inches”) would be 13 inches.These pieces include seam allowance.In fact, the shapes are so basic that youmay go ahead and cut them directly outof the fabric, rather than making paperpatterns first.

Things to Keep in MindIt’s advisable to finish the raw edges ofyour smock, to keep them from ravel-ling over time. This is especially truefor linen, which will begin ravellingquickly. You can serge the raw edges,use French seams, or use a 16th c. seamfinishing technique: turn the raw edgesin toward eachother, and whip-stitchthem closed. Flat-fell finished seams arealso very strong, and were used on 16thcentury smocks. If you plan to sew yoursmock by hand, both running stitch and

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backstitch are found on 16th centurysmocks. The underarm area is a goodcandidate for backstitched seams, whichare stronger and more resilient.

For the authentically minded, the un-derarm gussets should be one squareinstead of two triangles sewn together.The two triangles are easier to sew forbeginners, or when using a machine.Square gussets must be set in by hand.

Sewing the Smock1. Sew the Body pieces together. Placethe back and front body sections rightsides together. Stitch the short side ofthe rectangles together half an inchaway from the edge, all the way across.This will be the shoulder line. Don’tworry about the neckhole just yet.

2. Sew the underarm gussets to the

sleeves. Take one of the triangular gus-set pieces. Match up one of the straightedges with the top of the sleeve, asshown to the left. Sew the two piecestogether 1/2 an inch away from theedge. Repeat this on the other side ofthe wide end of the sleeve. Do this toboth sleeves. Iron the seams open.

Basic Smock Pattern

Step 2: Sew the underarmguessets to the sleeves.

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3. Sew the sleeves to the body. Lay thetop end of the sleeve against the edgeof the body piece right sides together,matching the center line of the sleevewith the shoulder line of the body. Sewthe two together 1/2 an inch away fromthe edge of the fabric. Repeat the pro-cess on the other side of the body withthe other sleeve. Iron the seams open.

4. Sew the gores to the body. Startingat one end of the body, match up one ofthe long triangular gores with the edgeof the body as shown to the right. Sewthe two together half an inch away fromthe edge. Repeat the process on the op-posite side.

Then sew the other two gores at theopposite end of the long body piece.Iron all seams flat. You will end up witha shape like that shown below to theright.

4. Make the square neck opening. Itis easier to finish the neck opening be-fore the smock is sewn closed. Take asquare of fabric and draw the finishedneck opening that you want upon it. Thesquare should be large enough that it isat least 1.5 inches bigger on all foursides than the drawn neck opening.

Place the square on the right side (theouter side) of the smock, locating theneckline square so that it is centered andso that the shoulder line on the bodycomes to around 2 inches inside oneedge. Pin the square to the smock alongthe neckline line, making sure that thetwo lie flat. Sew all the way around thisneckline.

Cut out the center of the neckline, 1/2an inch away from the seamline. Snipeach of the corners. Then turn the re-

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maining fabric to the inside of thesmock, iron under the raw edges, andstitch down.

5. Sew the Smock Together. Fold thesmock in half lengthwise, inside out.Starting at the wrist end of one sleeve,sew the bottom edge of the sleeve to-gether, then the triangular gussets, thenthe side of the body, then the triangulargores. (See diagram to the left.) Re-peat on the other side. Turn it right sideout, and you have a smock!

All that’s left to do is hemming the bot-tom and the edges of the sleeves.

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Books on Elizabethan CostumeIf you were stranded on a desert island with a needle, scissors and a lifetimesupply of fabric, what Elizabethan costuming books would you want? Here is alist of the most useful and popular books on Elizabethan Costume, for both thebeginner and the more advanced costumer. In print books can be ordered onlineat Amazon.com or similar stores, or ordered from a local book. Out of printbooks can often be borrowed through Inter-library Loan or found through onlinesearch engines such as http://www.bookfinder.com and http://www.abebooks.com

Elizabethan Costuming by Janet Winter. Pub. Folger Shakespeare Library,©1991 (in print)

This is the perfect book for someone who’s curious about Elizabethan costum-ing, but has absolutely no idea where to begin. It gives step-by-step instructionsfor creating undergarments such as corsets and farthingales, talks about alter-ing modern patterns into period bodices, and also covers headwear, sleevestyles,hair styles,jewelry, and accessories. Here you’ll find a list of the amountsof fabric needed for various garments, information on period colors, informa-tion on what peasants and middle-class women wore, and also information onmen’s Elizabethan garments for all classes. Accompanied with many, manyillustrations and full of practical advice, I would recommend this book to peo-ple who want to find out what Elizabethan Costume is all about before divinginto more detailed tomes.

This book is more of a hands-on, practical guide than an in-depth book onElizabethan costume research, and is aimed at those with little knowledge ofElizabethan costuming. Although it can be hard to find, it is in print at present.

Patterns of Fashion : the cut and construction of clothes for menand women, c1560-1620 by Janet Arnold. Pub. MacMillan, © 1985 (in print)

This is the essential book for those interested in authentic period recreation ofElizabethan clothing. Arnold shows photographs of actual garments from thetime, and gives to-scale pattern layouts of them accompanied by detailed notesabout on construction—number of stitches per inch, composition of the fabric,seam widths, and more. The beginning section is chock full of pictures andinformation about Elizabethan clothing. This is the book I use to check seamplacement, sleeve construction, and fabric composition for garments. I learnsomething new every time I read it. If you want more authenticity than Eliza-bethan Costuming can provide, you’ll find it here.

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Period Costume for Stage and Screen 1500-1800, by Jean Hunnisett.

Pub. Unwin Paperbacks, © 1988. (in print)Although this book is aimed at the theatre costumer, it contains invaluableinformation for the serious historical costumer as well. Hunnisett covers thebasics on draping and fitting bodices, how to achieve the proper silhouette fora given time period, tips for creating everything from corsets to ruffs, andpatterns for Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean underpinnings as well as thegowns and doublets seen in a number of famous Elizabethan portraits. Theauthor’s clear pictures and diagrams, as well as her step-by-step instructionsfor creating an authentic-looking garment, make this a real keeper for the Eliz-abethan Costumer.

This book assumes a basic knowledge of sewing and, aside from ruffs andloose gowns, concentrates on female garments. Although gowns and clothingcreated from the instructions in this book would look beautifully authentic, thestickler for “skin-out period authenticity” will want to cross-check the con-struction techniques described herein with other books as well, such as JanetArnold’s Patterns of Fashion (listed above). Period Costume for Stage andScreen is in print, and available from all major booksellers.

Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d by Janet Arnold Pub. Maney &

Sons, ©1988 (in print)This book is sometimes called the “Bible” of Elizabethan costuming. It’s huge.It’s expensive. And it’s worth every penny. Written by the same women whowrote Patterns of Fashion (listed above), this book discusses and documentsevery aspect of women’s fashion during Elizabeth’s reign, concentrating onthe Queen herself. It contains portraits and photos of period costume and ac-cessories, Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe records and accounts (transcribed andannotated), as well as a truely awe-inspiring glossary of period costuming terms.And that’s just for starters.

This books is aimed toward more serious Elizabethan costume researchers,rather than those interested in a basic intro to Elizabethan costuming. It wouldtake many pages to catalogue all of the information contained in Queen Eliza-beth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d. It is in print again, but quite expensive. It’s ratherhard to find, but can be ordered through Amazon.co.uk. If you don’t want toshell out $150, which is approximately what it costs, get it through interlibraryloan.

A Visual History of Costume: The 16th Century by Jane Ashelford. PubDrama Book Publishers, New York, © 1983 (out of print)

When I’m looking for inspiration and costuming ideas, I turn to this book. Itconsists of portraits of men and women, dating from 1500 to 1600, accompa-nied with a detailed description of the costume and accessories in each picture.

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Many pictures in this book aren’t found in the usual broad-spectrum “Historyof Costume” books, and depict everyone from washerwomen to queens. All inall, this is a really great research resource and idea book. It is unfortunately outof print, but may be found at used book stores, specialist bookstores, or librar-ies.

Tailor’s Pattern Book,1589 by Juan de Alcega. Pub. Quite Specific Media

Group, © 1999 (in print)After 36 years, it’s finally back in print! A longtime grail of Elizabethan cos-tume researchers, this book is one of the best sources for primary documentationof Elizabethan costume. It is is a facsimile of Juan de Alcega’s famous Tailor’sPattern Book, printed in 1589, containing the layouts for the entire range ofSpanish fashionable dress. The original pages, covered with pictures of pat-tern pieces for doublets, coats, kirtles and mantles laid out on lengths of fabric,are accompanied by English translations and extensive annotations by the ed-itor, Ruth Pain. It also contains information on fabric types/widths used duringthe 1500s, and equivalency charts for 16th century units of measurement. Thisbook is available from http://www.QuiteSpecificMedia.com

Tudor Costume by Herbert Norris. Pub. Dover , © 1997 (in print)A reprint in one paperback volume of the two-volume book on 16th centurycostume first written more than 60 years ago. It is a good summary book onElizabethan and Tudor costume, filled with hundreds of drawings of dress,jewelry, and other costume accessories. Some of Norris’ information is out ofdate, and some of his conclusions dubious; this is a good book for quick refer-ence and for general information on Elizabethan costume, but not a one-stopsource for reliable 16th century costume information. Norris does contain abroad array of information on headwear, hairdressings, shoes, equestrian trap-pings, and other aspects of 16th century dress which most costume books coveronly briefly. It’s best used in conjunction with more reliable costume historybooks for those interested in authenticity.

Costume in the Drama of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries,by M. Channing Linthicum. (out of print)

This out of print and hard-to-find book contains in-depth and extensively foot-noted information on Elizabethan fabrics and colors, information not containedin any other book on 16th century dress. It also covers stage costume andcostume in plays during the Elizabethan era, and diverges into such topics asthe textile trade, quirks of fashionable dress and the evolution of dyes in Eliz-abethan England. Once I’d read it, I didn’t know how I’d gotten along withoutit. More of a research resource than a practical book on Elizabethan costumeconstruction, this book is a must-have for the serious 16th century costumehistorian.

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Lost from Her Majesties Back, by Janet Arnold. Pub. Costume Society, ©1980. (in print)

This little book, published by the Costume Society, is a real gem. It lists itemslost off of Queen Elizabeth’s gowns during processions and the course of dailywear and tear, as well as gifts of clothing given to the Queen and by her toothers. Includes a very handy glossary of period clothing terms, insightful com-mentary by the author, and a fascinating look at Elizabethan taste in fashion.(orange and purple, with gold trim?) This book is hard to find. You can eithercontact the Costume Society directly (listed at the bottom of this page), lookfor it in University libraries, or try to find it through interlibrary loan.

Handbook of English Costume in the 16th Century by C.W. & P.

Cunnington. Publ. Faber and Faber Ltd (out of print)This books lays out English Tudor and Elizabethan costume simply and clear-ly, with several good-quality, attributed line drawings and footnotes. Althoughit’s a basic book, it does a good job of covering all bases and contains morereliable information than other “Introduction to Elizabethan Costuming” books,such as Norris’s Tudor Costume. It covers both men and womens’ clothing andfocuses more on the research end of the spectrum; there is little if any “how to”information in it. If you’re looking for a reliable basic book that’s not as daunt-ing as Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d, however, this is a good choice.It is out of print and quite hard to find to buy, but can be easily found throughinter-library loans.

For a complete listing of books and articles referenced during the writing of thismanual, check the Bibliography.

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Mailorder ResourcesAlterYears8960 E. Huntington Dr., San Gabriel,CA 91775 (626) 614-9400Sales@AlterYears.comhttp://www.alteryears.com/AlterYears (formerly known as Rai-ments) is the place to go for elizabethancorsetry supplies. They sell steel bon-ing of all sizes, grommets, woodenbusks, hoop wire, millinery supplies,and anything else the re-enactor couldpossibly desire. They sell patterns for avariety of elizabethan corsets and bod-ices, and finished corsets as well.

Amazon Drygoods411 Brady St,Davenport, IA 52801-15181-800-798-7979info@amazondrygoods.comhttp://www.victoriana.com/amazon/Amazon Drygoods is best known fortheir pattern catalog, but they also sella lot of sewing supplies for re-enactors.They have Spring steel boning in 1/4and 1/8 inch widths

Bevilacqua Fine FabricsSanta Croce 1320,Venice, Italy(39-041) 712-384bevilacqua@luigi-bevilacqua.comhttp://www.luigi-bevilacqua.com/en-glish/catalog.html$500/yd hand-loomed voided velvetsand reproduction silk brocades. Someof the most beautiful renaissance fab-rics in the world today.

Burnley & Trowbridge108 Druid Dr.,Williamsburg, VA 23185757-253-1644jasburn@aol.comhttp://www.burnleyandtrowbridge.com/CATALOG AND SWATCHES $4.00We have added to our inventory, linseywoolsey, several hemp products, manyfustians as well as the usual assortmentof wools and linens. Also available allmanner of notions (including boning)patterns and books related to costum-ing and textiles.

Corset Making SuppliesPO Box 15743,Philadelphia, PA 19103215-868-4274supplies@corsetmaking.comhttp://www.corsetmaking.com/They currently provide busks (includ-ing hard-to-find spoon busks!), corsetpatterns and books, boning, bone cas-ing, lacing, bone tips, grommets, andmore with new supplies constantly be-ing added.

Dharma Trading Co.PO Box 150916,San Rafael, CA 949151-800-542-5227catalog@dharmatrading.comhttp://www.dharmatrading.com/White & natural colored silk & cotton,all weights, at very low prices.

English Basketry Willows412 County Road #31,Norwich, NY 13815-3149

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(607)336-9031bonwillow@ascent.nethttp://www.msu.edu/user/shermanh/galeb/wcatwill.htmSells Willow reed for making real wil-low-boned farthingales

Enhancements CostumeSupplyPO Box 8604,Anaheim, CA 92812-0604(714) 638-4545 (FAX)12 bones of any kind (steel, spiral 1/4"or 1/2") for $4.00 or .35 each. Sizes canbe mixed.

Farthingales309 Lorne Ave. East R.R. #3,Stratford, Ontario N5A-6S4519-275-2374lsparks@farthingales.on.cahttp://www.farthingales.on.ca/One of the few carriers of artificialwhalebone and spoon busks on the con-tinent. They carry various types ofboning in both metal and plastic, as wellas corset fabrics, corset lace and hoop-steel. Catalogue & swatches areavailable. As they are from Canada,their prices are very good for Ameri-cans.

Fabrics-store.com6325 Santa Monica Blvd. #102,Hollywood, CA 90038 (323) 465-8050cs@fabrics-store.comhttp://fabrics-store.com/My current favorite online site for cheaplinen in all sorts of colors (as little as$5.50/yd)

Grannd GarbPMB #236, 555 Rt. 18 South,East Brunswick, NJ 08816

732-390-0506webmaster@grannd.comhttp://www.grannd.com/Some of the items they carry in stockare corset supplies including boning,hoop steel, steel busks, eyelets, trim,lace, buttons, clasps, patterns, jewelsand accessories. One of the few purvey-ors of Artificial whalebone in the US.

Greenberg and Hammer24 W. 57th St.,NY, New York212-246-2835 or 1-800-955-5135Steel and plastic boning, super-sizehooks & eyes for bodice closings, andevery theatricle costume item imagin-able. Their prices are the cheapest I’vefound anywhere.*

Hedgehog HandworksP.O. Box 45384,Westchester, CA 900451-888-670-6040An impressive array of hard-to-findboning, buttons, metallic thread, cos-tuming books and useful accessories forthe historic costumer or re-enactor.

JAS Townsend & SonP.O. Box 415,Pierceton, IN 46562(800) 338-1665jastown@halcyon.comSteel boning in 1/4 inch widths ($.35/ea), as well as a vast array of accesso-ries and supplies for re-enactors ofseveral periods.

Lacis3163 Adeline Street,Berkeley, CA 94703(510) 843-7178 9am-6pm pstFax: (510) 843-5018

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staff@lacis.comLacis is known more for lace, needle-work and other textile supplies, but theyhave a good selection of boning, busks,hoopskirt-wire, and other corset sup-plies.

Manny’s Millinery26 W. 38th St.,New York, NY 10036(212) 840-2235Best & cheapest millinary supplies I’vefound. Millinary wire and buckram inall weights, dozens of different hatshapes, head blocks, spray sizing,spring steel millinary wire, millinaryglue, hat racks, etc., etc. $25 minimumon all orders.

Silk Road Fabrics3910 N. Lamar Blvd.,Austin, TX 78756(512) 302-0844Webmistress@srfabrics.com

Textile ReproductionsBox 48. WestChesterfield, MA 01084(413) 296-4437Though they specialize in 18th and 19thcentury fabrics, they do have unusualand hard to find silk and linen fabrics.They also have linen, worsted and spe-cialty ribbons & tapes.

Thai Silks242 State Street.Los Altos, CA 940221-800-722-SILK ( 1-800-221-SILK inCalifornia)http://www.thaisilks.com/Their price list is free; for a $20 depos-it you can get samles of every kind ofsilk they have (@400 types!) If you or-der within a certain time, you’ll get the

deposit back.The best mailorder sourcefor rare silk fabrics, including silk-wooland silk-linen blends.

Timeless Textiles110 Mill St. Suite #9,Middletown, PA 17057717.930.0928info@timelesstextiles.comSpecializes in natural fabrics and his-torical cloth and patterns forre-creationists. EXQUISITE brocades.

White Fox Trading CompanyResearched & authentic printed fabricsfor period dress; they concentrate most-ly on 18th & 19th century fabrics, buthave some appropriate for Elizabethanclothing.

Wooded Hamlet Designs4044 Coseytown Rd.,Greencastle, PA 17225(717) 597-1782Ribbons & trim of linen, a variety ofsilks, metallic gold & silver, & wool. Iuse their silk ribbon to tie points, as it’sthe only silk ribbon I’ve found thatdoesn’t slip. They sell waxed linen cordand linen tapes (great for lacing cor-sets). They also sell linen & silk thread,buttons, and other old-fashioned nee-dleworking supplies. Catalog &swatches available.

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Fig. 1: Portrait of an Unknown Lady, c.1565-1570. School of François Clou-et. Taken from Ciba Review 69: TextileArt in Sixteenth Century France.©1948, Ciba Corporation.

Fig 2: Drawing after Hans Holbein theYounger's portrait of Jane Seymour, c.1535. Drawn by William Schmidt.

Fig 3: Drawing after a Portrait of Eliz-abeth Vernon, c. 1600. The originalportrait can be found in Janet Arnold'sQueen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'dand in Jane Ashelford's Visual Historyof Costume: the 16th century. ©2002Drea Leed

Fig 4: Drawing after a detail from Cor-neliusz van Rijck’s “Kitchen Interiorwith the rich man and poor Lazarus”,c. 1628, currently in the Rijksmuseum,Amsterdam. ©2002 Drea Leed

Fig 5: The corset worn by the Effigy ofQueen Elizabeth in Westminster, c.1602. This drawing was taken from aphotograph of the original in NoraWaugh's Corsets and Crinolines.©2002 Drea Leed.

Fig 6: Corset buried with PfaltzgräfinDorothea Sabine von Neuburg, 1598.This drawing is after a photograph ofthe original corset in Janet Arnold'sbook Patterns of Fashion 1560-1620.©2002 Drea Leed

Fig 7: Stomacher currently at the GlobeTheatre. Tentatively dated to the early17th century. Drawn from measurmentsand photos of the original item. © 2002Drea Leed

Fig 8: A recreation of the Effigy Stays(c. 1602) from the original pattern ofthe corset in Westminster Abbey, usingreed bents for boning. ©2001 DreaLeed

Fig 9: Effigy corset reconstrcted fromthe original pattern of the corset inWestminster Abbey. © 2000 Sarah Pow-ell.

Fig 10: Drawing of Salome after a de-tail from “Banquet of Harod” by PedroGarcia de Benabarre”, c. 1477. Theoriginal picture can be found in RuthAnderson's Hispanic Costume 1480-1520 and in Janet Arnold's QueenElizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd.

Fig 11: Claude de France. Gown styleis c. 1545. Collection Gaignieres, Par-is. Taken from Ciba Review 69: TextileArt in Sixteenth Century France.

Fig 12: Woman with Child from folio103 recto of Il Libro del Sarto, writtenbetween 1570 and 1580. This manu-script is in the Querini-Stampalia libraryin Venice, Italy.

Fig 13: Drawing after a sketch of QueenElizabeth by Nicolas Hilliard, c. 1588.Sketch taken from London MuseumCatalog No.1, COSTUME.

Fig. 14: Detail from Dancers at the Lou-vre, c. 1585. Taken from ElizabethanPageantry.

Fig 15: Detail from a Dutch drawingshowing a french farthingale and stock-ings. c. 1600. Taken from Krop ogKlaer. No information regarding thesource of the picture is given in thebook.

List of Illustrations

74

Fig 16: "The Vanity of Women",c.1600. Taken from Morse’s ElizabethanPageantry. Original print is currentlyin the New York Metropolitan Muse-um of Art.

Fig 17: Woodcut by Christopher Chr-ieger from Degli Abiti Antichi eModerni, 1590, by Cesare Vecellio.

Fig 18: A woman’s smock, c. 1570, cur-rently in the V&A Museum. ©2002Drea Leed

Fig 19: A woman’s smock, early 1600s,currently in the V&A Museum. ©2002Drea Leed

Fig 20: A 16th century Italian man’sshirt and woman’s smock. Taken fromLinthicum’s Costume in theDrama ofShakespeare and his Contemporaries.

Fig 21: Redrawing of Barend van Or-ley’s ‘Burgeres’. c. 1528. Taken fromKinderen-Besier's Mode-Metamor-phosen: de Kleedij Onzer Vooroudersin de 16de Eeuw.

75

Adams, Simon. Household Accounts ofRobert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.©1995 Camden Press.

Alcega, Juan de. Tailor’s Pattern Book1589 (ed. Jean Pain). Quite Specif-ic Media Group, ©1999.

Amman, Jost. The Book of Trades.©1973 Dover Press.

Anderson, Ruth. Hispanic Costume1480-1520. ©1979 Hispanic Societyof America.

Anduxar, Martin de. Geometria y Tra-zas Pertenecientes al oficio deSastres. 1640, Madrid.

Anon. An Inventorie of...warderobestuffe... belonging to the right hon-orable William Earle of Penbroke.1561. National Art Library, V&AMuseum, London, England.

Anon. A Tailor’s Book, facsimile of IlLibro del Sarto. ©1987 FondazioneQuerini-Stampalia.

Anon. London Museum Catalog No.1,COSTUME. ©1936 Museum ofLondon

Anon. , Leonfeldner Schnittbuch (TheTailor’s Book of Enns. 1590, BerlinLipperheide Library.

Arnold, Janet. “Effigy of Elizabeth 1:Stays or Corset”. Monograph in theCollection of Westminster Library,London.

Arnold, Janet. Queen Elizabeth’s Ward-robe Unlock’d. ©1988 W.S Maney& Son Ltd

Arnold, Janet. Patterns of Fashion:

The cut and construction of clothesfor men and women 1560-1620 .©1985 MacMillan Publishing

Arnold, Janet. “Three Examples of Late16th and early 17th Century Neck-wear”. Waffen und Kostumkunde1972. ©1972 Waffen und Kos-tumkunde.

Ashelford, Jane. A Visual History ofCostume: The Sixteenth Century,©1993 BT Batsford Ltd.

Ashelford, Jane. The Art of Dress.©1996 Abrams Press

Bestetti, Carlo. Abbigliameno e Cos-tume nella Pittura Italiana. ©1962Edizione d’Arte.

Broby-Johansen, R. Krop og Klaer.©1943 Gyldendal.

Buck, Anne. “The Clothing of Tho-masine Petre”. Costume 24 (1990),©1990 W.S. Maney & Sons, Ltd.

Carter, Alison. “Mary Tudor’s Ward-robe”, Costume 18 (1984). ©1984W.S. Maney & Sons, Ltd.

Cunnington, C. Willett and Phillis. TheHandbook of English Costume in theSixteenth Century. ©1970 Plays,Inc.

Cunnington, C. Willett and Phillis. TheHistory of Underclothes. ©1951Michael Joseph Ltd.

Dover Art Library. Holbein PortraitDrawings. ©1985 Dover Publica-tions.

Feuillerat, Albert. The Losely Manu-scripts. ©1914 David Nutt Pub.

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Endnotes

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