Finished Elizabethan Pair of Bodies!

It's been a long process, but my woefully historically inaccurate pair of bodies is done!

Note my vague attempt at Elizabethan fashion in the form of those collar ruffs, the lady's shoulder poofs, and the gentleman's elaborate doublet. They are obviously a pair, and the blood, the X-ed out eyes, and tongues sticking out indicate that they are most decidedly dead, and therefore are only bodies, a mere shell of a human, no longer possessed of their souls.

Just kidding. I promise I'll stop with the pair of bodies jokes; I just can't resist. I really meant that I'm finished with my conical torso-shaping "corset," although that term wasn't used until much later. Unfortunately, I haven't got any pictures of it on me since it's back-lacing, and I can't do it up myself. It will have to wait until the weekend of the faire when Elaine is here to lace me up. Until now, pictures on Cecily will have to suffice. It's not quite a true representation of what it will look like on me, since unlike Cecily, I am not made of foam, my bust is smaller, and my torso is longer and less cylindrical. But it still looks pretty good, at least to me...mind you, I am not sure what one is actually supposed to look like, but if I were to answer the Pattern Review question, "Did it look like the drawing on the pattern envelope?" I would say yes, almost exactly.

As I mentioned before, I used Drea Leed's Custom Corset Pattern Generator for the pattern; it was easy to use and her directions, while they could benefit from some real-life photos, are perfectly sufficient. Even the boned-tabbed version, which she describes as the most difficult, is not actually that hard to make, just time consuming. I did change the front busk into just more boning channels, as my initial experiments with a wooden paint-stirrer stick down the middle just felt weird and uncomfortable. Other than that, I followed her boning patterns, but with slightly more room between the pairs of bones where the tabs split in order to have space to cut and bind the tabs.

Here's what the inside looks like. It's the same upholstery canvas I used in my 1912 scalloped skirt.

Close-up of the tabs. I wasn't entirely successful at making all my stitches invisible, but I'll just file that under the "good enough" category. I also didn't know what to do about finishing the back edges, so I ended up folding over the outer fabric and stitching it down to make another boning channel. 

I am really happy with how the binding looks with the outer fabric! Even those hairpin turns weren't that bad!

Don't you like my anachronistic lacings as well?
All I had was a couple of mismatched shoelaces. Also, note the extra eyelet.

Summary:
Fabric: The outer fabric is a poly-cotton tablecloth from a bag of donated fabrics, the inner fabric is upholstery canvas of unknown content from the same bag. Not ideal materials, I know, but they were all that I had in my stash that wasn't stretchy.
Notions: Plastic cable ties for boning, narrow double fold bias tape for the binding, jeans top-stitching thread for the eyelets
Techniques used: Hand-worked eyelets, sharp turns with bias binding
Hours: Ummmm...let's just say a lot. I don't think I've ever done so much hand-sewing before! Just to give you an idea of how long it took, binding four tabs took me all of The Importance of Being Earnest.
Will you make this again? Even though this took forever, it was nowhere near the nightmare I was afraid it was going to be. I'm pretty sure it will be a while before I need another pair of bodies, but I would not be opposed to making another one (another pair?).
Total cost: The fabric was free, but the bias tape cost $2 and the cable ties were $8, so all in all, $10.
Final thoughts: I feel like I can't have final thoughts about this yet, seeing as how I haven't worn it properly, but so far things look good? I know that the waist could be smaller, and I accidentally made one eyelet too many on one side (asj&g#@!), but mostly I have decent thoughts about it?

Why, Cecily, how marvelously conical your torso looks today!

And for a poem from a similar time period, my favorite of Shakespeare's sonnets:

Sonnet 130, by William Shakespeare

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

And if you prefer your poetry read aloud, you can even have Severus Snape/Judge Turpin read it to you!