Pink bodys and purple dress - Part 5

[janestarz]

Welcome back! Previous posts in this dress diary:
The prelude;
Part I;
Part II;
Part III;
Part IV;

I love historical costuming, but please note that this dress is in no way intended to be historically accurate, although it is historically inspired.

Comments

[degracieuse]

Your bones do look sharp, I take a sturdy glove to hold the bones and then my Metaal Vijl from the Praxis to make them rounded -- the glove is for when I slip (I'm so handy :P) so I don't get nasty scratches on my hand.

[degracieuse]

Not one of those small key ones either, the good Handarbeid kind ;)

[janestarz]

I know! There are books with chapters on how to tip your bones, and rest assured, I'll follow their methods to the letter from now on!

[archerpren]

brilliant. love this post. thanks for sharing not only what worked but what didnt :0)

[janestarz]

Making a mock-up of the bodys and wearing them to an event really identified the problem-points for me. The place where the first bones poked through in my armpit is a sure problem-spot! Luckily both characters (Antoinette who wore the red mock-up, and Marianne who will wear the pink dupioni ones) are alike. Their activities are similar.

[katexxxxxx]

Thank you for such a detailed assessment. It points out things to avoid as well as things to do.

Just a note on the eyelets. I see you sewed them over metal rings or grommets? That might be where the problem lies., especially if they are sen over grommets with a corner. I just sew mine by machine, and so far no-one has complained of one wearing away or being a problem.

With my metal bones, we cut them much rounder than yours: no corners. Then Himself filed them down smooth before we tipped them with ptf tape...

[janestarz]

That's almost exactly what Steelweaver suggested. She also suggested flat laces.
I knew that extant bodys and stays sometimes had the rings, but there are also examples without. The coutil should be strong enough to keep the eyelets from stretching, even with sewn eyelets.

[unclrashid]

Additionally, I wouldn't expect silk thread to help with the wear on the eyelets. Silk does have excellent tensile strength, but it's resistance to abrasion is poor.

[katexxxxxx]

I haven't found that, but then I use silk filament machine embroidery thread for eyelets, rather than Gutterman type spun silk, which may be labelled 'long staple' but still isn't as fine and glossy as the filament from Coates or YLI.

[eggies_red_dres]

Hey, a post about wear on a corset! Lovely. If they are garments meant to be worn as they can be in the history set they can become quite battered.

[janestarz]

They just get all the abuse, don't they?

[eggies_red_dres]

Some of the input is fantastic. Prototyping is important from a fit standpoint, but when you start to take wear into consideration it takes on additional importance. Corsets don't like being engineered to fight the harder parts of the body, and you can only tell after torturing yourself with them for a little bit. ;)

[sstormwatch]

A possible suggestion for the boning. I use Tool Dip to tip my bones, after I've curved & smoothed the ends with my husband's grinding wheel. I do tip one side at a time, and tape them to a cupboard over paper to allow them to dry. They do the same bubble to begin with, then it ends up at the end, before it flattens to a minimal bump. It takes me two days to do them, one day for each end to fully dry them (they don't need that much drying time, it's just what I do). I also cover the tube of Tool Dip with a piece of aluminum foil before putting on the plastic lid. This helps to keep the moisture in longer. I got the Tool Dip at a local hardware store, and they have online sources also

[janestarz]

Thank you for your tips!
In the Netherlands, tool dip is a little harder to come by, but by now I've acquired some from an online source. Sadly, this was too late for my bodys (even the silk ones, which I will post about later).
I did change my dipping method to something similar to what you describe, and it worked better.

I really learned a lot from looking at the bodys after 30 hours of wear, but mostly I learned where the problem areas were when I wore them. My armpits were quite sore until the bone decided to make a run for the exit. s