Doing stuff

Um so you may have noticed that my shawl still isn't done and is way late for the HSM Travel challenge. I am OK with this because, well, partly because I am easy-going about self-imposed deadlines, and partly because I have been working on this darn corset. Oh, and I had a cold. I cut myself a lot of slack when I am sick. But the shawl is still slowly progressing. I am in the last cream-coloured stripe now. Then it'll be maroon edge and fringe!

As for the corset, I went back to not-quite square one. I used the pattern from mock-up #1, made a couple of alterations, and did a mock-up #1B (since the first mock-up is #1A). It needs a couple more small alterations, but is actually looking quite good. So my faith in my corset-making abilities is restored. I don't know, maybe I just suck at hip gussets? I figured out bust gussets enough to make a good set of Regency stays, so it might just be troublesome hip gussets. Anyways, I want to let out the back hip a bit more and raise the underbust a bit plus make the bust rounder. Expect pictures of mock-up #1C that are (hopefully!?) successful.

Also, I made scones today. :) My dad and I searched 3!!! different grocery stores for clotted cream/Devonshire cream but none of them had any. But we got some pretty tasty jams to try. Nothing beats homemade scratch baking!

Mock-up #1C

The waist and hips are pretty good, I think. But my bust adjustments aren't quite right. It probably sounds crazy after all my gusset trauma, but I think bust gussets might give a better shape. However, while there are 1880s corset that have just bust gussets, the earlier styles of the sort that I'm trying to copy don't seem to have this and I really don't want to mess around with hip gussets. I probably just have to fiddle a bit more with the seams at the bust. I'm definitely getting a rounder bust, but there are some weird pull lines making a V-shape to the underbust. Any thoughts on how to fix these?

Maybe I raised the underbust a bit too high. Hmm...

Edited to add: I changed how I was tightening the lacing, tightening from the waist instead of the bottom and got a better waist reduction. The bust still has wrinkles though.