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Of Corset is! #5

Progress and cock-ups…

After all that fiasco in the week, I posted one of the pics of me in the finally-fastened corset on one of the Facebook steampunk costume-making pages, to see what advice was forthcoming.  Not a lot, apart from the statement that it should not flare out at the hips and bust, but should fit as closely as a singlet.

I know that those bust cups are not looking like they come anywhere near fitting  me at the moment, but I’m still [pretty] sure that the boning and upper drawstring will do most of the work.  I’m also going to be doing that padding of course:

Now I’ve been browsing around, drifting from blog to blog as you do, and on the way I found a BRILLIANT piece on padding corsets to get the authentically outrageous shape of the era.  Then of course, I didn’t bookmark it so i couldn’t find it again.  Two days of googling and random blog drift, and I found it again.  Cop a load of this article from Cathy Hay

The FABULOUS image that’s inspiring me is this one

Now she’s a lot slimmer than me, but that amazing waist-to-hip ratio is mostly padding, she’s only reduced her natural waist by 2″ which is absolutely average, comfortable corset compression.

The padding will be attached under the corset, and should be easily removable for laundering, or to add/reduce padding at will.

Now look at this beauty from Wearing History.

I’ve seen similar all over t’internet, but here she shows how to make it AND the effect it gives.  Fab huh?

I may make a proper ‘bust improver’, I may just cobble up my own version to round out those bust gores, but I’m very keen to get to that stage of the proceedings.

Now back to the sewing:  I looked closely at the busk, and decided that my less than perfect topstitching wasn’t helping matters.  I ripped it all out, and was able to smoosh the busk pieces a tad closer to the front edge, and also make the casings tighter.  Good.

Next, I found some cotton tape and sewed in the waist stay.  Good.DSCF7439

Then I sewed the lining pieces together, they all went together really quickly, and pressed out like a dream.  So of course, when I attached lining to corset, and started basting the seam lines together, I found I’d sewn the hip gores between the wrong two pieces.  Bugger and Bum!

Also of course, I’d already clipped the ruddy seams.  So that took longer than it should have.

DSCF7440All turned and pressed, then I decided that I really should backtrack and catch-stitch ALL the seam allowances down so that nothing buckles up inside the boning channels.  Sigh.  Now my finger is bleeding again.

This ruddy thing had better look AMAZING when I’m done!

5 thoughts on “Of Corset is! #5”

  1. I don’t think that I would assess the final fit of your corset, and finish of your internal seams, until at least some of the bones were in. As they are 3-dimensional they will take up more room that you think. The bust does look quite loose too. I think that it will need a lot of padding. When you have the bones in get some super-long laces and get into your corset when it is fastened but loose. tighten it a little bit, just enough to stop it slipping down and with the narrowest point sitting on your natural waist bend over and arrange yourself into the bust area of the corset. Tighten it up then as all your bits are in the right places, you might need to repeat. If you are going for a “Gibson Girl style silhouette then I can heartily recommend Past Pattens No.106. It is well drafted and a quick sew. Xx

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    1. Fab! Yep the bust looks way bigger than it actually is- when I ‘scoop’ the fabric round my boobs, it looks a pretty close match…because there are no bones in the sides yet, averything flops outwards, and it all looks odd. One of the trials of corset making is of course that you really don’t get ‘the look’ until it’s practically finished. I shall look out the past patterns one, I’ve already followed your previous recommendations and bookmarked the site. Ta!

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