Early Victorian Unmentionables

Grommeting is fun but should not be done before 11am on a Sunday morning

 I was determined to get my underpinnings (corset and chemise) done this weekend.  This proved to be an....aspirational goal, to put it mildly, though not for the reasons I anticipated.  I had thought that getting the corset busk and eyelets in place would be massively time-consuming, but in fact it was about two hours in total.  Indeed after diligent work Saturday evening and a little of Sunday morning, it's ready to have the bones taped in one mo' time and the thing laced on for a final fit check.  (I did, however, realize that I made my pen marks on the right side of the lining fabric, because I was thinking of it as the fashion fabric, and...eh well.  No one will see it but me.)  Anyways the tasks remaining...if I have not screwed it up completely...are:

• Sew together the cotton sateen outer layer, attach to the center-front and center-back pieces on each half of the corset (quick machine work)
• Tack the fashion fabric and lining together along each seam (hand work, but still relatively quick?  But there are a lot of seams)
• Sew the boning channels (quick machine work)
• Insert bones (10 seconds)
• Bind the top and bottom of the corset (eh...probably hand work)

...Then I realized how much work that all adds up to, and a slow tear rolled down my cheek.

ANYways.

I had set the corset down for the time, because I wanted to have the chemise ready in order to fit the corset over it; not strictly speaking necessary, but I figured it would help me confirm that I had the look reasonably correct.  Also, I thought it would be a quick and easy win.  HA HA HA no

The chemise of the mid-to-late 19th century has a form that I was not expecting, though many of today's nightgowns are not dissimilar; there is a yoke piece that covers the upper torso, front and back, and then the rest of the body is a wider piece of fabric (front and back, again) which is thus full over the belly and hips but is gathered into the yoke piece.  And then you can have sleeves, or not, as you choose/your decade dictates--and if you do, they are also gathered.

I expect the corset pushes
the bQQbies up into
those curvy front parts of
the yoke.

That's a lot of gathering.  Also, gathering is time-consuming.  Also, easing all of this crap into all of these curves is super-time-consuming.  And finally, a lot of that really should have been hand-sewn, because trying to get all those curves in a reasonably small space without catching folds of one of the layers was something I kept failing to do by machine, leading to lots of cussing and seam-ripping.

However!  It is mostly done; I have only to sew down the facing all the way around (more hand-sewing, but relatively quick) and do whatever weird finishing you're supposed to do on the center front, which I am having some issues visualizing from the directions but I'm sure it'll work out. I should, of course, also hem the sleeves and the bottom, and maybe make some pretty tucks on the skirt, but at this point I am madly tossing requirements overboard like lead bricks from a sinking lifeboat.  

But it's actually looking like a garment.