The Queen Elizabeth I Effigy Corset

Click here to see the New & Improved Effigy Corset! (5-25-01)

Sheep that I am, I jumped on the effigy corset bandwagon and this was the result. It's made from a light green linen table cloth I bought from the Purple Heart and edged with a chamois I bought at Target. The boning material is a type of decorative reed that I got from Michael's, although I can't remember the name of it, unfortunately. How's that for creative costume shopping?

I had first seen this corset in Norah Waugh's Corsets & Crinolines and it was dated as being 18th century, so I never really considered making it. Then Drea Leed made he's and cited it as being 16th century, which I thought was a little odd, considering virtually every source I'd seen for the corset was putting it in the 1700's. Her documentation wasn't enough to convince me otherwise: It consisted of a reference to an article written by Janet Arnold a few years ago but was apparently impossible to get a hold of, as well as the book The Effigies Of Westminster, which, as luck would have it, was out of print. So, I just put it in the back of my mind and went about my business.

Then, several months later, I came across an old entry from 1993 in the Florigileum archives, written by a woman who had attended a lecture given by Janet Arnold that discussed this very corset! Apparently, when the effigy of Queen Elizabeth was undressed in the 1930's, the authorities at that time proclaimed the corset to date from the 18th century when the effigy was redressed. Well, it took a good 50 years or so before anyone went back and actually examined the corset and did a little research and found that lo and behold, the corset was very much 16th century, predating Elizabeth's death! I dropped everything and went running to the thrift store to find some good linen so I could make my own.

I used Drea's research as a starting point and printed out her line drawing of the corset onto graph paper. As luck would have it, the ratio was just about perfect: 1 sq.cm = approx. 1 inch. I then calculated the measurement of the original garment: Waist-22 inches, Bust -28 inches and so forth. As even more luck would have it, these measurements are about identical to my own corseted measurments. I had to do a minimal amount of "tweaking" to get the pattern scaled up to size and then re-sized to fit me.

As I was following Drea's lead (no pun intended) I made some mistakes in the process. First off, she makes up the three pieces to the corset separately, finishing each piece and then whip-stitching them together. Unfortunately, my handstiching isn't the strongest in the world, so I will definitely forego that method next time. The second thing is that the original corset does indeed stop the boning an inch from the top edge of the corset, but the original corset uses whale bone and no reed, which loves to poke its way through fabric if given half a chance. I will be adding trim to the top edge of the corset to prevent the reeds from poking through the fabric. The last thing is that the boning runs all the way up the back of the corset, which has a rather high neckline. I found that this was the primary reason the neck stuck out at the back and made my bodices do the same. I can't stand not having a smooth line, so I cut the reeds down by about 6 inches in the back piece, so now it fits smoothly.

Finally, the chamois was a bit too bulky around the neck and arms, so I removed it. It's a small problem, but I'm nit-picky about bulky undergarments.

All said, this corset is actually one of the most comfortable I've ever made or worn. Because of the "breathability" of the reeds and the stretch in the linen, I can actually get a deep breath of air while wearing the corset. The reeds are exceptionally strong... I was warry about using this method to bone something that needs to be so sturdy, but I was amazed to see how flexible, yet strong they are. None of the reeds has snapped or bent yet.

The side of the corset. Notice how the front of the corset comes down almost below the bust. This gives you an alarming amount of cleavage as a result... Very cool for us otherwise smallish individuals.

The Back. Note how the boning stops mid way down the back. This eliminates the gapping at the back neckline.

My undying gratitude goes to my wonderful boyfriend for assisting me in boning this corset. ;)