A small selection of some of our historic corset collection.
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This year Period Corsets® collaborated with two Tony Award nominated shows "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" and "Oliver!". One of the many thrills for Period Corsets® is getting the chance to work with theater productions. We've been honored to work with lots of shows and companies throughout the years, be they big or small. What is always rewarding is when we help outfit the cast of a runaway hit.
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| c. 1905 Mae Corsets in brocades coutils |
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| "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" |
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| brocades in many shades |
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| Our c. 1905 Mae creates S-curve shape of the 19th century. |
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| Oliver! at the 5th Ave. Theatre |
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| Our c. 1835 Ada mock-up and finished corset in brocade |
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| from design sketch by Doris Black to brocade |
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| constructing in dusty rose brocade |
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| ready to go |
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| c. 1835 Ada Corset in Paisley |
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| 3 views of another c. 1835 Ada Corset |
What is Steampunk?
“The Steampunk Aesthetic: 
Period Corsets! That ever-fascinating part of our attire that has shaped women's history....
For our Northwest colleauges:
Here is a link to “The Politics of Women’s Underwear: 1790-1950", a lecture this weekend at the Clark County Historical Museum in Vancouver, Washington, Saturday August 28th, given by historian Rebecca Morrison-Peck. (sited from The Columbian newspaper).
This lecture is part of the exhibit “Road to Equality: The Struggle for Women’s Rights in the Northwest” which runs through December 2011.
See below for examples of Period Corsets® corsets from the era's c. 1750 and c. 1950. Our corsets are used by theatres, operas, universities and colleges, historic re-enactors--anyone and everyone who is interested in recreating a particular historical era.
c. 1790 Marie corset
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What do people wear under their corsets? A chemise, of course. Early on, we added the Short and Three-quarter length sleeve chemises to our line of undergarments. The Sleeveless chemise followed shortly after. The most recent addition is the Romantic Chemise. The extreme fullness in the sleeves compliments those romantic Tudor, Elizabethan and Renaissance styles. And finally, we have our basic full length Shift for that simple medieval look.
Regarding period correctness: our chemises were developed with basic shapes in mind so they can be worn with a range of eras. For easy adjustability, the necklines in all styles have an elastic drawstring which can be tied tightly for a more demure neckline or loosened completely for an off-the-shoulder, more revealing look. A chemise adds a finished look to the period silhouette of an undergarment ensemble. When worn under a corset it helps decrease the number washings the corset might need during the run of a show, thus adding to the longevity of the corset.
Our stock chemises are made from a fine 100% cotton Batiste, available in either white or black. But don’t stop there! As with our corsets, petticoats and skirt supports, think of our chemises as a blank slate for the basis of your design or your custom fabric. Pictured below are examples of how our chemises have been styled in custom fabrics.
This is a wonderful example of what a little, or more accurately, what a lot of lace can do to our simple short-sleeve chemise. Pictured below is a chemise with a two inch wide lace insert on the sleeve hems, and a six inch wide gathered ruffle, creating this classic 18th century look. The neckline also has a slightly wider lace trim.
Compare our stock Shift on the right to a custom styled Shift on the left made in a creamy bamboo/linen blend, with 2"wide cotton accent trim at the neckline, sleeves, and hem.
This Romantic chemise, made in a shiny satin, becomes a rich addition to this Tudor ensemble.
Before we were Period Corsets by Kaufman-Davis Studio, we were plain ol’ Kaufman-Davis Studio, an independent costume house located here in Seattle, Washington. Our customers were both local and national, and we made custom costumes of all shapes and sizes. While we constructed both men’s and women’s costumes (and even costumes for monkeys if that’s what was needed), one of our specialties was tailoring, a skill that both Becky and Susan, co-owners of the business, learned while working in other costume shops.
Some of our favorite projects involved tailoring multiples of things, where we could really fine-tune a technique in a set of costumes. Santa Fe Opera’s “Ermione” required an “army” of civil-war era uniforms for the chorus. At designer Isabella Bywater’s request, we tailored them from a rich dark blue English cotton moleskin, finished off with rows of shiny buttons.
Another favorite project was a set of uniforms in non-matching colors for New York City Opera. Designer John Conklin chose the identical silhouette for all the characters in the opera “Macbeth”, a single-breasted tunic with stand collar, but each character was unique, in woolens ranging from pale gray to a deep aubergine. We loved the coats so much that a photo of one became part of our “logo”, incorporated into our letterhead, business cards, and postcards.
We have a long-time interest in sharing what we know—we often hire staff for a good match with our shop, then train for the skills needed to do the work successfully. Becky has taught pattern-making in an apparel design program, and currently teaches pattern alterations, art quilting, and use of Bernina machines classes. Susan has co-taught two tailoring master classes, held at Utah Shakespearean Festival, and presented on draping and costume construction, all through USITT.
We know that while our main mission at Period Corsets® is to establish period silhouettes, we want to help you construct high-quality costumes for all your performers. If everyone looks good, the show benefits—and we want to help you make this happen.
All this to say: don’t be surprised to see the topics of tailoring and costume construction in upcoming blogs!
How the Period Corsets® Late 19th Century Petticoat came about:
When we started Period Corsets® , we were focused, as the name implies, on corsets and nothing but corsets. After continued requests for coordinating garments, we decided to expand our line to include petticoats, skirt supports, chemises and bloomers. We designed each additional item with the others in mind: each size and silhouette to fit perfectly together. Our goal is to be able to offer the complete period silhouette for all our corset time periods.
The Late 19th Century Petticoat was the first addition to our growing line of historic corsets. It was originally designed to go with the c. 1890 Theodora Corset; worn over our 19th c. Bustle the hem of the petticoat falls evenly to the floor and when worn alone the hem has a gentle sweep in the back. This petticoat compliments the c. 1880 Alice corset and the c. 1905 Mae Corset as well. Wear it with our 19th c. Bustle pad and the Mae corset and you’ve captured the signature S-curve of the Gibson Girl silhouette of the Edwardian era . It is an extremely versatile petticoat to keep in your costume stock because it is so successful with all these era’s silhouettes.
How we achieved this classic Late 19th c shape with our patterning:
This petticoat is relatively flat in the front, with slight fullness in the back. It is cut in three panels, with the tradition of “bias-to-straight” on the side front seams. For those of you unfamiliar with this expression, petticoat and skirt shapes of this time period use a pattern technique as follows: the center front gore is cut with the straight grain at center front, the next gore is cut with the straight grain parallel to the front side of the gore, the bias seam on the back side, and so on. Using the grain in this fashion pushes the fullness towards the back of the skirt. In fuller skirts of this time period, the final gore might switch grains so center back would be on straight-grain, and the two further side-back seams would be bias-to-bias.
Our petticoat includes side front darts for some shaping over the hip. Also, true to our “let’s make this useful in a costume stock” techniques, we developed a waist band that incorporates the flexibility of a drawstring (across the back of the waistband) 
with the security of a flat waistband (across the front to side back). That way, our size ranges of small, medium, large, etc., still work, but the shape is held in place on the waistband.
The petticoat has a ruffle at the hem, which finishes in a slight sweep on the floor—about four inches. And in keeping with our usual “easy-to-alter” philosophy, the petticoat is constructed with two one-inch tucks that can be let out for taller women, or made deeper for shorter lengths.
How we customize the Late 19th century petticoat to our designers needs:
For The Metropolitaon Opera's "Lucia Du Lammermoor" 
Petticoats pictured above in shades of grey
Our stock Late 19th century Petticoat is made in a medium weight polished poly/cotton blend. We keep it in stock in white, off-white and black. But, there are a myriad of colors available in the same quality. Some of our clients have taken advantage of this color selection opportunity.
When the Metropolitan Opera was building the costumes for "Lucia Du Lammermoor", they wanted our petticoats in something more than our plain black polished cotton...something to compliment the tone of the opera. Maybe suggesting the dark and dreary palette of the rainy Scottish Moors, they picked out a range of very subtle tones of grey.
For The Public Theatre:
The Late 19th Century Petticoat also lends itself well to almost any fashion fabric. Our designer clients send us fabric of their choice. In contrast to Lucia’s dark feel The New York Shakespeare, Public Theatre sent us a beautifully lightweight embroidered stripe eyelet cotton. It turned out wonderfully delicate and airy for summer Shakespeare in the park.
For A Theatre For New Audience:
Whatever the designer wants! Early on one of our designer clients Elizabeth Caitlin Ward paired the petticoat with great success to our c. 1860 Julia corset. We made both of the items to match in her choice of hot pink shantung silk. She had us leave the ruffle off of the bottom of the petticoat, yet keep the tucks. She achieved a vibrant new look.
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But whether the corset shows or the corset is truly underwear, a basic coutil fabric--herringbone weave, usually cotton--works best as the base. Coutil is strong yet flexible and can be used in either one layer or two, with a fashion fabric top-layer for a more decorative corset. One of the most common questions we are asked is: “where do you get your patterns?” And the answer is: “we make them ourselves.” As all of you costume-makers know, commercial patterns are relatively “modern”, coming into use in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. For earlier time periods, there are few if any records of what pattern shapes for period garments looked like. What do remain are some garments, primarily belonging to the wealthy; the further back in time you go, the fewer extant pieces there are.
Luckily for those of us with a passion for costume history, historic garments in museum collections have been documented beautifully in photographs (the Taschen “Fashion” book of the Kyoto Costume Institute collection). Other garments have had their style lines and details drawn out in a scale fashion (Janet Arnold’s wonderful series of books, for example). There are also paintings in museums and art books--portraits and group tableaus from various time periods. All of these sources serve as our inspirations when we are developing the historic-inspired undergarments in our line.
There is no one source that we draw from, but rather a combination of inspirations, as well as our background as theatre costume technicians. (In the case of late 19th century corset styles—like the c. 1890 Theo and c. 1905 Mae--we also own a small collection of period corsets that have inspired us.)
Once we’ve gathered our visual inspirations, Susan creates a pattern for the first sample. Our goal is not to recreate any one specific garment (although we can, and have, for clients requesting a very particular custom garment)—our goal rather is to capture the essence and flavor of a time period. As we study the first sample garment, we are looking at both the shape the garment created on the woman’s form, as well as the seam placement, comparing them with our inspiration material. We work and re-work the seams, fine-tuning the fit and shape, often making three and four samples, before arriving at the final pattern for a style. We know we have succeeded when you, our customers, look at a shape and respond: “the Gibson Girl!” or “it’s Marie Antoinette!”
In celebration of Spring we are featuring our Lilly c.1900 corset for the month of May.
The Lilly corset is inspired by the corsets designed for "ladies of action" at the turn of the century. During this time period, women increased their participation in sports and adventure activities. A shorter corset such as this style enabled them to better ride horses, play tennis, and travel to exotic lands while still keeping a gentle-but-firm shaped waistline. This corset is used by customers wanting a distinct waist shape, while maintaining a more natural line in the bust and hip.
Savannah College of Art and Design dancers wore this style of corset with our chemises and bloomers in a piece called "The Crossing" (an excerpt from their dance is on their web site in the video montage of performances).
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