Pewter and steel

My latest lovely . . . 

. . . a pewter coloured silk underbust with a pretty low hip and long busk.

I decided to revisit the 'all in one' construction method (that I'd found too bulky before) this time using silk flatlined to cotton and a slightly less stiff herringbone coutil than the one I used before. The cotton used to interline the silk is dense enough that it can double as a second strength layer so no need to add another layer to the bulk.

This is quite a curvy pattern and even as I was stitching I was loving the curves!

Following each seam a row of topstitching was added to give a super-sharp edge.
The whole effect is quite sculptural, long before the boning (or even the boning channels) are added.

It's so curvy it really doesn't want to lie flat at all!

This sample is a 22" 12-panel corset and, with two bones per seam, there is very little space between bones at the waist.

All to do now is finish the back, bone, floss and bind.

I'm working on flossing designs and will post pics of those later, although looking at these photographs makes me have second thoughts – I love the smooth curves so much.

P.S. Verdict on construction method:

I'm not keen on how bulky one side of the seam becomes and, once made up, there is absolutely no way to modify the fit without completely deconstructing. On the other hand, the two layers are precisely lined up and it's possible to add as many boning channels as you like since it is basically a sandwich method minus the 'lining up' hassles.

The joy of corsetry

I've been cutting and tipping the boning for the sample with the external boning channels.

The gripping and squeezing action with two pairs of pliers is a bit tiring for the hands and wrists so I'm having a wee break to rest my hands since there's a fair bit of steel involved.

Tipping boning is probably my least favourite part of making a corset but I love the look of the piles of steel – especially when finished!

Trying something new (for me)

In the last couple of weeks I have been testing my standard pattern for modern victorian overbust with variations on torso length and top and bottom edge shaping. As I'm making test pieces I thought I'd try out various seaming methods.

Paper corset

Last weekend was another round of fantastic rugby games in the Six Nations. As I prepared to watch Scotland v France at Murrayfield on the TV I knew I wanted to have something constructive to show at the end of almost two hours in front of the box.

I decided to try out a pattern from de Gracieuse, which has an absolutely fantastic on-line resource for patterns for Victorian clothes and underwear. I downloaded some pages of the magazine with corset images and patterns, imported the pattern page into photoshop, started removing lines I didn't need but soon tired of it and decided to just persuade my partner (who has an A2 printer in his office) to print out the pattern page for me at 'human' size and trace off that.

More cording

The most recent canvas corset I've been working on has cording panels at the front and diagonal cording at the back, running from the waist to the top edge.

The diagonal cording was created once the panels were sewn together. I marked up the angle I wanted and top stitched five channels 4mm wide. Odd numbers always seem to look best – I think it's one of those things that mimics nature.

To insert the cording I used an awl to ease open the weave and inserted a loop turner with a nice small head (the stitching lines running parallel to the edge are for the boning for the lacing panels, grommets still to be inserted).

The cording was then hooked onto the loop turner, pulled through and left with a tail at both ends.

Wrong side, showing 'tails' of cording

Right side, showing tails at edge and external boning channel

Once I had checked I was happy with the cording the cord ends were trimmed. I put a few stitches through each for extra stability but they probably don't need it. Once the top edges are stitched and bound the cord can't escape!

The trimmed cords and stabilising stitches

The cording panels for the front were created separately before cutting. This ensured the panels were accurately sized (cording distorts the size and shape of the fabric so, when cording a larger area, some size is lost).

Only the top of the front panels was to be corded so the panels were sewn to the rest of the front using a flat felled seam.

Cording panels in place, showing exterior boning channels and watch pocket on the left

The inside

I love the effect of cording and it's relatively simple to do (even if time consuming). No doubt it will appear again soon!

A sight for sore eyes . . .

I decided to make a waspie/riding corset to my standard pattern (same as this white one but without the cording or black fanlacing) using a nice red and white woven stripe cotton I bought a wee while ago.

At the time I bought the cotton I'd been thinking about circuses and I suppose that leads indirectly to the idea of burlesque and showgirls . . .

So, no vertical stripes for me, I envisaged diagonals so that was what it had to be! The stripe on the fabric is woven so runs with the grain, making the pattern pieces run off the grain when cut as diagonals and therefore a bit stretchy. I knew this would happen so the cotton was flatlined to coutil before making up.

I used a bit of advice from Foundations Revealed (the trace the fabric pattern onto your paper pattern trick – although my pattern is considerably easier to match than the example in the article!) and it worked an absolute treat. It does take a shocking amount of time and pernickety-ness (is that a word?) to get it all working well but the sense of achievement when the diagonals work is fantastic, even if it does make your vision swim!

I thought it was particularly cute seeing the inside seams all trimmed and full of arrows.

So, much, much later this is how it looks. Cute?

Gratuitous pretty flower . . . 

It's been a wee while since I last posted a pretty flower pic and this flower is one that is currently brightening up my kitchen windowsill. It's a type of lily I was gifted by a friend and for the last two years it has just been a pot of leaves. I have no idea what it is but it certainly qualifies as pretty.

Etsy Finds

My steampunk canvas corset has made it into the Etsy Finds e-mail today. Very exciting!

This comes at a time when I have spent a day sewing and hand-basting pieces for my clients 'steampunk corset' – with watch pocket, cording (yes, I was allowed to put some in) and some exterior boning channels. Should be finished tomorrow and hopefully she'll let me take and post some pictures soon.

Sneak preview: corded panels ready for insertion into front panels. The one on the left has one cord more at the top but that's okay because it disappears into the seam allowance anyway!

If you look at the sample cording there really wasn't enough definition to make it work. Here I've used a stiffer backing fabric and, instead of sewing the channels and then threading the cord, placed the cord between the layers, run my nail along the side of it to create a crease and then used a piping foot to stitch hard against the cord (I didn't take any pictures). This means that the curve of the cord shows on the front fabric and the backing is almost totally flat. I don't know how other people do cording but I think the effect is pretty dramatic.

Now I have to work out how to cope with the bulk, especially for binding.

It's been a challenge, trying out new ideas, but good fun so far!

Utility in drab

I've been working out the next stage of my client's 'steampunk' inspired corset. She likes the 'drab' of the explorer and a fairly utilitarian style so I've been putting together a sample cloth with some options.

We discussed adding some external boning channels, for visual interest, but keeping the bulk of the bones hidden from view. We also discussed the possibility of some cording detail and some useful straps and 'd' rings.

I did get a bit carried away and added some flossing – just to show what a little simple embellishment would look like. I've got some coarse weave linen which I tried out as exterior boning channels for a fairly rustic effect and the main fabric is a distressed tea-stained canvas.

This has been a really good way to work through ideas and has illustrated what is and is not effective. i.e. cording on a heavy duty canvas isn't totally successful – the fabric is a bit too stiff to form a nice shape and shading (depends on how the light hits it) but the use of top stitching to suggest cording could still be pretty nice!