Making Edwardian Combinations

Hello everyone, welcome to a new video. This one is about the making of my early Edwardian combinations. Combinations came into fashion at the end of the 19th century. There are all sorts, from practical to frilly, and since I like to add lace to anything I can, I decided to go for a more frivolous look. My main inspiration was a pair of combinations held at the Met in New York. I didn't like any of the patterns that I found, but I did find a reference that indicated that joining a corset cover to a pair of drawers was perfectly acceptable, so I found this pattern for drawers in the Voice of Fashion. This book has original patterns and instructions on how to draft them, using especially drafted rulers based on bust or waist measurement. I started off with the top. I simply draped this on my dress form and cut the pattern out of my fabric, a striped white cotton. I also spent a lot of time playing with this new magnetic pin thing. I love it. At this point I realised that though all my lace sort of matched, my factory white cotton was way too white, so I had to make a massive cup of tea. Or two. Or three. I boiled some water and threw in some tea bags, then sucked my fabric for a few minutes. I then rinsed it and put in a bath of water and white vinegar to set the tea. Then I rinsed it again. The perils of online shopping. I was much happier with the result. Instead of dyeing a whole chunk of fabric, I only did my cut pieces for the top and drawers. Then it was time to start on the lace insertion. The method I used for this seems a bit complicated, but it worked out great. It is very time consuming and has clean, lovely results. The first step is to place the lace where you desire. I pinned it and basted the lace in place. Then I sewed it with a small straight stitch in a discreet bit of the lace. I put the top on my dress form to figure out the placements of the lace, and then I cut down the middle of the fabric in between the stitches, being careful not to catch the lace. Then I pressed the fabric outwards. I sewed along the same stitching line, but with a zigzag stitch now. I then used small embroidery scissors to trim back the raw edges of the fabric. This is the same method I used for all of the lace insertion, and boy there was a lot of it. And more lace insertion. The next step was to sew two rows of gathering stitches across the neckline and the waistline of the top bit. I gathered them slightly down until the bottom matched my waist measurement, and then I pinned it to the piece of lace I decided to use as a waist belt. I then started working on the drawers. I drafted the pattern according to the instructions and altered them by making them shorter and angling the bottom cuffs more. After cutting them out and tear staining it, I started by doing the small crotch seam and flat felling it by hand. Then I turned the large seam allowance at the front of the drawers, hiding the raw edges, and sewed it down by hand. This is a sort of placket that reinforces the front. I cut out strips of the cotton and joined them to make a flounce for the bottom cuff of the drawers. I put my lace through a machine with the rolled foot attachment, which finished the top of the toe. Though this doesn't fray, I wanted a nice finish there. I flat felled the seam in the flounce and hemmed it by hand. I sewed some gathering stitches on the top of the flounce and gathered it down to match the drawer's bottom edge. I pinned it into place, basted, and sewed by machine. I also placed the drawer's lace insertion now, following the method I described earlier. I added the eyelet lace over this. The best way to pin it into place was to put the drawer on my ironing board and pin the lace into place. I basted it into place and then sewed it by machine, using the lace insertion method. This was super stressful and slashing across the fabric. I added the lace to the center front and sewed that into place. I also added the eyelet lace to the gathered neckline. At this point, I was confident enough to sew the waist belt down. To finish the center front, I added strips of cotton organi with the raw edges ironed inwards. I sewed this on by hand to back the lace at the center front. Then I used my machine to sew on some buttonholes. This was super quick, but I cannot for the life of me explain why I sewed on horizontal buttonholes for this. A very professional way of picking buttons. I sewed the buttons on with a little stem decorative stitch, which I saw in the Singer sewing book. I'll insert a close-up here. Then I sewed two rows of gathering stitches on the waistline of the drawers. I lost the footage of this, but I also sewed the two halves of the drawers together for like an inch at the back. There are no instructions to do this, but it felt right to me. This was gathered down to match my waist measurement. I stroked the gathers to make them lay nicely, and then I basted it to the bottom half of the belt. I sewed it by machine with the same lace insertion method as before. I finished the center front edges of the belt by hand. I decided to add one more buttonhole on the waist belt. I cut a length of the eyelet lace for the straps and backed them with strips of cotton organee as for the center front. I pinned them into place and sewed them down by hand onto the top edge. I took some close-ups of the finished combinations while I waited for the ribbon to arrive. I decided to go with a teal sort of blue for this, like on the pair in the Met. This took forever to weave through the lace, but I love the outcome. I'm very happy with the combinations. I think they're beautiful and comfortable and I would wear them every day if I could. Thank you so much for watching!