The 1891 habit is almost finished - I wore it out to an event in September but I see so much wrong with it in the photos that I'm waiting until I can get new photos of it once it's altered a bit before I post any here.

I'm attempting a full modern habit now having finally got hold of the only pattern commercially available for a riding jacket. Already confused as it seems to have 9 inches of ease at the waist! There aren't any finished garment measurements on the pattern so maybe I measured it wrong. It's hard to make a mock up when you can't even work out which size to start from!

Edited to add, I've measued the bust and that comes out at 9 inches bigger than the body measurements too. That seems like a lot of ease for a fitted jacket?

Thank you all for your kind comments! Although to be slightly pedantic I feel I should point out that the recipient of the coat is the partner sort of girlfriend, not a friend-who-is-a-girl sort of girlfriend

@Elnnina thanks that is really helpful. I've got plenty of the velvet as the minimum cut I could get was 50cm x 150cm so I think I'll make several collars and either use the best one or find a more straightforward contrast fabric if none of them are good enough. The pile doesn't crush very easily on it so fingers crossed it might be ok.

@Greybird of course, I'll work out the postage cost and pm you

Having a big destash of fabric I won’t use now I only really sew historical things. All measurements and descriptions are approximate but done to the best of my ability. Postage at cost with Royal Mail dependant on weight. Happy to take offers for multiple pieces to get it gone! Also happy to take more photos of any of it.

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1. Dark pink wool blend, 100cm x 165cm, £2
2. Purple unknown composition stretch fabric, 50cm x 150cm, 50p
3. Purple faux fur, 100cm x 150cm, £2
4. Silver metallic floral unknown composition knit, 120cm x 270cm, £4




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1. Pink black cream blue purple synthetic chiffon, 120cm x 150cm, £1
2. Purple and red butterfly synthetic chiffon, 110cm x 148cm, £1
3. White green orange yellow animal print synthetic chiffon, 110cm x 148cm, £1
4. Black poly crystal organza, 100cm x 110cm, 50p




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1. Green blue shot poly taffeta, 100cm x 150cm, £1
2. Blue red shot crinkle poly taffeta, 100cm x 145cm, £1
3. Blue poly taffeta, 150cm x 150cm, £1.50
4. Pink poly taffeta,150cm x 50cm, 50p




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1. Red synthetic satin back dupion, 100cm x 110cm, £1
2. Purple synthetic satin back dupion, 110cm x 110cm, £1
3. Dark pink heavy synthetic satin, 300cm x 150cm, £4
4. Black pink synthetic floral brocade, 100cm x 145cm, £4
5. Black blue synthetic floral brocade, 150cm x 145cm, £6

(Split over two posts for photos)

Thanks @Iminei haha! It's a combination of a small-ish natural waist corseted down 2" and the slightly full sleeves making the shoulders look bigger.

I let the hips out 2" overall at the side seam and got another 1/2" at the front darts. Then I added some snaps and tried it on again and it looks like it's actually the lower ribs and waist that are a bit too small so I need to find somewhere to let them out - I'm not sure how much more I can get out of the darts. But it definitely seems like it is meant to be fastened all the way to the lower edge and it was just the poor fit stopping it earlier. (slightly silly pose in the photo - the curved sleeves need bent elbows!)
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Working on the bodice, and I've hit a few problems.

There are little to no markings on the pattern. It has curved, two piece sleeves - where does the straight grain go? I'm vaguely aware that getting a mismatch of grainline on the two pieces could mean the sleeve twists(?) so it's important to get it right, but I can't work it out and haven't managed to find any information online yet.

The lining is also confusing. Most extant garments from the period are flatlined but the instructions (if my translating skills haven't let me down) mention lining twice. Once before any sewing: "line the fronts, the collar, and the sleeves up to the vents" which seems like it might actually be referring to interfacing of some sort? And then after construction: "equip the bodice with a satin lining up to the waist". My gut instinct would be that this is too modern but these are the original instructions so it must be correct, unless I'm interpreting them incorrectly. Does anyone have any ideas?

The corset is finally finished!
This version has an increased hip spring from the mock up which means that I can get a waist reduction of just under 2 inches. I'm really happy with it and I love the silhouette.
Photos aren't the best but they're all I can get for now.
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Hopefully I'll be able to ride in it in a few weeks time but it needs to be worn in slowly before that.

Altering a corset is hard!

I've tried doing some alterations on the flat pattern pieces, but when I tape them back together the waist line is about 1/8th - 1/4 inch off at each seam. The reasoning behind doing them flat was to be able to take different amounts off each piece to retain the shape of the panels - there's one piece where there's room to take an inch off and it joins to a panel where I can only take 1/4 inch and if I tried to do this on a fabric mock up with a seam I don't know how it would be possible to get it uneven like this. I know the waist discrepancy has happened because the reductions have altered the curves at the sides of the pieces slightly, but I have no idea how to sort it... maybe it will be best to make a mock up with these initial alterations and just see how much of an issue it is with fabric rather than paper / how it sits on the body?