We have corset! And a quilted petticoat!

First, my camera died -in a graveyard- on Sunday. So, it's going to be these horrible, grainy, phone pics for at least a month or two (Umm, Santa? Camera please!).

Anyway, as prep for Gettsyburg in a couple of weeks, I needed proper undies. I do have one outfit done so it's not complete chaos yet.

The corset. I wanted a front lacing corset. I cannot stand back lacing corsets/stays/pairs of bodies of any kind. Although rare, there are some extant examples of front lacing corsets in the 1860's.
The inspiration.

I did do a couple of things differently - I have boning at the very front and I have it cross laced rather than spiral - but the shape is correct for the 1860's.

For the petticoat - well, it's going to be cold later in November so I wanted a quilted petticoat. However, I do not have the time nor the patience to quilt a petticoat myself. So, I went to thrift store. There, they had a lovely lavender king sized quilt that I cut up. I cut it long ways so I have 41" by 106" piece of quilted fabric. I then unpicked the top two inches (which was interesting because the stitching isn't straight across, it's zigzagged), cut out the stuffing from those two inches, folded the fabric in, and added a drawstring. This is actually pretty period as they did have drawstring quilted petticoats - my extant one is upstairs has a drawstring. I thought I posted the extant one online but I can't find it anywhere. Oh well.

So, I will have the proper shape and I will be warm!