03 July 2011

Unexpected sewing gift for Mom

This is above and beyond the bag of scraps I would have snuck into Mom's house (and conveniently "forgot" to take back with me).  For the record, Mom not only liked the cotton scraps I brought her, but also wants the purple cotton flannel scraps I forgot to stuff into the bag as well.

After having little sister try on my denim Victorian corset in the morning ... and having her want one of her own (that should have been my warning) ... I migrated over to Mom's house to spend the night there.  I had Mom try the denim Victorian on as well, and despite it not being fitted to her body shape she decided it wasn't uncomfortable (big warning sign) like she had thought up to that point.  Part of the try-on for both was showing them how to get in and out of it.

The next morning, Mom asked about the waist corset and how it was different from the overbust.  I figured the easiest way to explain would be to let her try on the waist corset ... it didn't come back off Mom until after two hours of sorting through the old boxes, and the main reason Mom took it off after that was because we worked up a sweat and she wanted to let it dry.  At this point, I had already told her it was now hers.  She put it back on for pics later in the afternoon:
Mom in M4861 front (I rolled the front)

Mom insisted a side view be included to show how the curve up fits

M4861 from the back, showing why we call it a pretty backbrace
The number one reason this is now Mom's backbrace?  It fits her better.  What I had thought was just sloppy patterning is actually a fitting issue: Mom has a longer back waist length than I do, by almost two inches, and the M4861 does not slide up or down on her at all ... even after two hours of rooting through old boxes and lifting.  Mom also declared it is more comfortable than the backbrace she got from her chiropractor ... not to mention it looks better.

Given all this, how could I have NOT gifted it to her?  Like the tops I gifted to little sis, this waist corset fit Mom perfectly.  I'm just glad the denim Victorian didn't fit either one well ... after all, I did spend ten days fitting it to ME!  However, the denim corset inspired Mom to look through Jill Salen's Corsets book with me, and she wants a "Pretty Housemaid" one (page 58) because it is lighter boned to allow more movement as it was marketed to working women in the 1890s.

2 comments:

SewCool21 said...

OMG, the fabric is beautiful!
Nice Job!

dfr2010 said...

TY, SewCool ... I still have some of this cotton duck left, even after making my apron from it also (M6051 tag).