Well, it only took me *six months* in the end - shocking!

Here is Lottie's corset, intended as underwear for her mostly, although hopefully smart enough to be seen at times too:-)








Specs

- Double-layer corset in black herringbone coutil
- Double-stitched seams
- Silver busk and grommets
- Front and back modesty panels
- Based on TV110 pattern
- Machine flossing


Good things about this corset:

- Much better construction than the last one
- Generally neater, much straighter grommets
- Bones are the right length! (cutting them myself is a definite improvement)
- Modesty panel appears to be better design


Not so good things about this corset:

- Strange wrinkliness at the end points of the bones
- Not enough boob room (possible boob-size-change issue)
- Notched seams visible from the outside


Hopefully Lottie is happy with it, she did look very lovely:-) This would have been a much longer post, but I'm tired and have just been distracted by a very flamey discussion on Corsetmakers (forgotten how to mark communities/users again). Now I am a) worried I've been asking too many questions on the community and b) thinking that I really shouldn't be offering to make corsets for other people yet. I have a cross between this face :-/ and this face :-( because of it. Doom biscuitry!

Anyway, hooorah for finished corsets and a sense of completion and accomplishment I've not had in an age!

xxx

Although it is massively shameful that I started it in may, I do feel that I might genuinely finish this corset for Lottie in the next week or so. We've had another fitting (and it fitted beautifully) and now it's finishing the binding, flossing and modesty panel.

I decided to do machine flossing (see here for an example) to save a bit of time and because Lottie intends to use it as underwear rather than for show. I've got the machine stitching for the binding and flossing done on one half, so it just needs the handstitching to finish it. This coutil (from fabricland.co.uk) is very stiff so I have a feeling it will be a bugger to sew, but hopefully my love of handsewing will win the day.

The main problem I've hit upon today is that I seem to have lost about half of the bias I made, and that means I will have to make some more (not my favourite task) before inevitably finding the original stuff *sigh*. It'll be worth it though, and I am soo looking forward to completing this trade, not least because I've been really low recently and completing a big job like a corset will boost my confidence, but also because Lottie is an awesome lady and has been very patient with me, and deserves to get her corset the same year she asked for it!

The bf is calling me for an episode of the Mighty Boosh before bed, so I'm off. I'll be working on this in the morning, and *trying* to get my fabric design project for college done too. If I'm well-behaved, I'll keep you updated on progress:-)

Ooo, and next week Lottie and I are trading reflexology for chutney, so I will take pictures of it on her - woop!

xxx

i sometimes think that making corsets feels a little pointless. i try to be a practical minded person most of the time but whatever i do i cannot resist the lure of this most impractical of items. well, actually it's less impractical than it might seem, provided you get your shoes on first:-) anyway, in a minor and probably pointless act of self-justification i include below pictures of the public outings my corset has had to date. seeing them reminds me not only of how fucking gorgeous it is, but also of how much fun i seem to have whenever i put it on...



phwoar:-P i am looking forward to making my stripey underbust - just as soon as i stop offering to make other people corsets first:-D

i'm posting this mostly for the eyes of miss lottie lodge to help motivate you through your lace knitting knowing you'll soon have a corset to wear it with! it looks a little wrinkly because a) it's on a pillow and not your gorgeous self and b) there are as yet no bones (apart from the busk) in it anywhere and the whole point of them is to stop it wrinkling. but still, it exists! i'm going to get making the bias binding out of the way first, then sew the boning channels, and then cut the bones - i'll keep you updated!

my friend lottie has been extremely patient in waiting for me to get on with her corset, it being that i measured her and made the mock up some time in early february (it might even have been january - shocking!). however, i have got there in the end and today i started cutting and sewing. i only got three and a half hours done (one hour cutting and two and a half sewing the first half) but i was pleased with the progress.

i am again using the TV110 pattern which i have tweaked slightly to lottie's requirements. it is only going to be for underwear (lottie has a hatred of bras) so i am using two layers of coutil (plain herringbone from fabricland) and it has no planned detailing (though i am tempted to suggest coloured flossing since it looks so good on plain black corsets). it is more lightly boned than the corsets i have made for myself (one bone per seam) - spiral steels all around except one either side of the eyelets, and a busk of course.

today i got the first half sewn together. i am cutting the bones myself so i'm waiting until i have the body of the corset sewn together (using the truly victorian sandwich construction method - that sounds bizarre, and more replete with cucumbers than it really is :-) ) before cutting them to length. this way i hope to avoid my usual problem of having some bones too long and some too short. fingers crossed anyway!



so there we are - that's the right hand side all sewn together and the left hand side which has the busk and front modesty panel in but didn't get any further. i was knackered - but there's always tomorrow when i should be able to plough on with the left hand side... until lloyd arrives that is;-)

today my fabulous friend whytney and i started work on her pirate waistcoat, based on this wonderful waistcoat by khaoskomix . i have never ever made a pattern from scratch, let alone with such epic asymmetry and complex shaping (for whytney is a marvelously busty lady), so this whole project is a complete adventure for me.

we started with whytney's drawing and some basic measurements. using the images of the pattern making process on the above post, we made a pattern which to both of our eyes looked unlikely to ever fit.



then we made a mock-up and lo and behold... it fitted!  obviously there were a lot of alterations to make but we had actually made a pattern that fitted the complex 3d shape of a human being's body. for that, we were delighted!



it is hard to appreciate from my crappy pictures but it really does fit very closely. i wish i had had some boning so that it was easier to see the structure that the bones will give to it, but i am planning to make another mockup (with bones) before cutting any fashion fabric. i'll post more details of the construction as the design progresses, and many more pictures:-)

this is a super-exciting project and i firmly hope my skills are up to it...

just to show you something i'm really pleased with, here's the corset in the outfit i made it for (which i have also made). obviously i am going to wear  it with other things too, but this outfit dictated my colour/style choices.



i am going to make *so* many more costumes in the future:-)

well the last few bits of getting this corset finished have been very sketchy and much less organised than the first three. i had  quite a few things planned for sunday, and monday just seemed to slip by without anything productive happening at all. then on tuesday i was meeting up with someone to play recorders int he morning and by the time i left i had the makings of a horrific migraine which lasted until i went to sleep last night, so again nothing got done.

today though i woke up migraine free and determined to get the modesty panel made - and so i did! so here are some pictures of the corset on me. it is still not done up very tightly, although tighter than the first time i put it on. at the minute it is only taking 2" off of my waist but i'm hoping when i can get it done up a bit more it will take 4" off. also i should be able to get the back done up so the lines of eyelets are straight when i'm feeling a bit braver with it:-)



specs:

• black floral pattern coutil two-layer corset
• 28 bones - 22 spiral steel, four spring steels at the back, two 13mm spring steels under the busk
• truly victorian TV110 pattern
• double stitched seams
• stomacher (is that the right name?) and floating modesty panel
• lace trim
• drawstring top
• flossing (ha! it's black, so it is quite forgiving for my first attempt)

i'm really pleased with a lot of things about it - it's a massive step up from my first corset - but of course there are things i'm not so happy with. i'm wondering how to stop the slight bubbling between the layers - which to be fair i didn't even notice until i saw these photos. also some of the bones are clearly too short (hence my needing to floss them in place) because evidently i am not very good at deciding bone lengths when buying pre-cut, so maybe next time i should buy a roll of spiral steel and cut it myself. also the modesty panel clearly needs an additional bone in the middle, which i will put in to this one at some point.

on the plus side though, i am pleased with the drawstring, modesty panel, stomacher, and general construction. i am definitely improving and hope next time will be even better.

and frankly, the main reason why this corset is so much better than the last is the wonderful people on
corsetmakers and all of their invaluable advice and tutorials. many thanks to everyone who contributes:-)

i woke up this morning after a terrible dream in which somehow the corset DIDN'T FIT ME! when i say dream, it was more of a nightmare as you can imagine, so i was determined to get it wearable today even if it wasn't completely finished.

and i managed!

it was a few hours getting the binding on the left hand section finished and then i realised i did not have any grommets! i have no idea why they weren't in my vena cava order. next time i am ordering the whole lot together, rather than getting things i think i can't get in my local haberdashery online, then turning up to the shop and finding i can't get half of the things i thought i could get there. one of the many things on my list of things to do differently next time.

anyway... <drumroll> here it is!



(i have it with and without bra to see the different effect on my breasts, and as usual i prefer it with a bra underneath)

that's it laced as comfortably as i could the first time wearing it, which is to say, not very tightly. the gap at the back was about 5 inches which is not the aim in the end, but i didn't want to push it. i'm hoping to wear it for a few hours every few days so i get used to it, as the first time i wear it out properly is to a club night and i want to be comfy and able to dance:-)

sooo, what's left to do? i need to stitch the lace down so it stays flat, floss some of the bones and make the modesty panel. i'm out all day tomorrow so it will be monday before i get those things done. i just thought i'd keep you up to date with the progress!

i had a great time swimming today and went out for lunch with friends, so i was quite late getting started, but i made great progress! i had two bones left to sew in and soon got those done, then made the bias binding (it's also made from the coutil) and set about binding the top and bottom edges of the right hand side.



i also had the lace trim to add, which was more challenging than i expected. for some reason i had expected it would have at least a modicum of stretch to it, but alas no, so persuading it around the breast area was very tricky, and it turned out the best way to do it was to let the lace run horizontally along the front so that it tailed off in the curve down to the busk. that may not have made any sense but hopefully the photos will explain it!



i have also added a drawstring along the top to stop the CF from gaping open. this is a problem i have had on my last corset. tomorrow i will stitch the lace down near the bottom of the design as i want it to sit flush with the corset. i love the way it looks though! i spent nearly three and a half hours on the corset today, and about an hour of that was finishing the boning and making the bias - which means it took me two and a half hours to sew and hand-sew the binding! no wonder i'm knackered:-)

i'll be doing the other half tomorrow, and hopefully setting the grommets (and making the modesty panel). and you know what that means... it'll be finished!! i can't believe it as i only started it on wednesday! i am so so happy with this project - it's been an utter joy so far. but then, i haven't done the grommet setting which is a bugger. following tips on here though, i'm going to not cut the holes with the die, and instead open them out with an awl. i suspect it will take a lot longer but it'll be worth it for a stronger and longer-lasting corset.

much love to everyone,
hannah xxx




end of day three - right hand completed :-)
 

so whilst talking to lottie about her corset yesterday, it was determined that she really wants to wear it for everyday use, but for it to be smart enough that she can wear it visibly if she fancies it. the other issue that came up is that it would be great if it was reversible - a black side for wearing out and a white side to go under clothes so it won't show up as much through them. a quick google and corsetmakers search has made it clear that reversible corsets are actually a thing that exists, but i couldn't find any answers to my niggling questions...

• what happens with the busk? surely it would rub and pinch your skin if it was facing inward? could you solve this by having a flap on both the outside and the inside which secured across the busk with , for instance, hooks and eyes, so that it was concealed on both sides but thus wouldn't rub? would it be a bugger to do up when it was facing to the inside?
• do you need to re-lace it when you turn from one side to the other? is there any way to tie the lacing that would mean you didn't need to?

if it turns out this would be too ambitious a project for me, that's totally fine, and we can start off making a corset of one colour, but i must admit i am massively intrigued by the idea and would like to know, at least theoretically, how it's done.

sooo... anyone got any ideas on the above issues? have you made one and know all the answers? i'd love to hear:-)

xxx

i realised i forgot to mention yesterday a funny thing about the way i sewed the boning channels. whichever side they were sewn from (right side facing up for instance) they were more prominent on, much more in fact, although the back remained completely flat. i had gone to great lengths to ensure that the outer layer and lining didn't have any bubbling, so i'm at a loss to explain how they're flat on one side and poke out on the other, as presumably the side where they poke out would need very slightly more fabric. mysterious!

however, i love the appearance this gives them - i am the kind of lady who likes exposed structure in things that i make so to see all the bones as ridges running up the corset (see picture in previous post) is gorgeous! i'm glad i changed the intended pattern of the boning slightly too. i also realised after i'd sewn the right side (which i did first) that being the mistress of slapdash that i am, i had paid no attention as to whether the bones were sitting on top of or below the waist tape, meaning that on some boning channels you could see the ridge made by the waist tape, and on some you couldn't. it too quite a lot of fiddling to rectify that, but on the left hand side i made sure i had them on top of the waist tape (looking at the outer layer) before stitching the second edge of the bone channel.

i'm probably going swimming this morning, so won't be working again until after lunch, but i am thinking of doing the bias first, mostly because it's not a process i adore and it'd be nice to get it out of the way.

oh! and because i've moved the boning some of it is now slightly shorter than i might have wanted so i have come up with a scheme to floss it - in black thread. i think this corset is going to be called "shadow corset" because it will be so many layers of black over each other! i have been dying to try out flossing too, so it seems like a plan. and at least if it's not perfectly even, it'll be subtle enough that it won't show!

mmm... so much work left to do - but all so exciting!!

xxx

today i woke up and got stuck straight in. i had nearly finished the boning on the seam lines yesterday, and had just a few of those and the bones in the centre of each panel to add next. i had plans to go and see my friend lottie at 2pm (to draft a pattern for a corset for her) so i knew i wouldn't get loads done, but i did make progress.

i'm keeping a log of the time i spend on this project, so i have a realistic idea when people ask me how long it takes to make a corset (as they often seem to do - they're one of those items that seems really mysterious until you know how it's made). yesterday i spent 3 hours and 40 minutes on it, although for some daft reason i posted that i'd spent five hours, and today it was 3 hours. i managed to get all but two of the bones sewn in, so the corset is really starting to take shape now...



i wasn't sure how to go about sewing the boning channels in the centre of each piece because i'm terrible at parallel lines and i haven't yet found somewhere in town to buy one of those things that quilters use, so i came up with a technique which i haven't seen, but imagine others must have done too. basically i sewed one line of stitching where one side of the bone channel was going to be (i drew these lines on with fabric pencil first - by eye, which is perhaps a terrible idea but seems to have worked!), then lay the bone between the layers of coutil and pinned it up against the stitching. then i changed to my zipper foot and stitched right next to the bone. this worked a treat for me - giving me nice parallel lines just the right width for the boning in the easiest way i could come up with.

i'd be interested to know though if anyone can see any problems with me using this technique - i can't think of any so far, but you never know, and there are much more experienced people on here than me :-)

tomorrow i'm going to sew the last two bones in and then i might either crack on with the grommet setting or start making the bias binding which i'm hoping will be easier than the taffeta last time! seriously, i think the coutil is the loveliest (and most obedient) fabric i've ever used. it's delightful. anyway, since all i have planned is going swimming, i'll hopefully get quite a bit done:-)

oh! and lottie and i got the pattern traced and cut out, the mock up made and the alterations pinned in, so now i just have to transfer the alterations back to the pattern. i think i might be distracted by my corset for a bit longer first though!

i finally got started on my third corset today (the second for myself) and in only five hours of sewing i feel like i've made awesome progress!

these are the specs:

• black floral patterned coutil fabric
• two layers
• 26 bones (4 flat steels, 22 spiral wire)
• truly victorian pattern (TV110)
• opening busk with extra flat steels underneath
• stomacher and modesty panel
• (planned) wide lace trim secured under top binding

yesterday i got all the pieces cut and scrupulously labeled, which took a while but was well worth it. every piece had a number, a name, which side it was for and whether it was the lining or the outer, since they're the same fabric.



then today (after nipping into town to buy waist tape, which i'd completely forgotten) i got to the sewing, and compared to my previous corsets (see my first post) it has come together in lightning time. already i have the panels of each side together, the busk in, and have started on the boning.



you can see that the waist is quite nipped in - i'm going for a 4" reduction on this one, but have enlarged the bust slightly so that my boobs end up less under my chin and a bit more out front.

i'm going to rest tonight and watch a film with joe, but i'm hoping to get a lot more done in the morning before i go to lottie's to draft a pattern for a corset for her.

how exciting!!!

xxx

i forgot to say, as well as poring over the corsetmakers community here, i have also recently purchased two corset- related books.

• the basics of corset building by linda sparks
• corsets: historical patterns and techniques by jill salen

the former hasn't really told me anything i haven't picked up from corsetmakers, but it's handy to have diagrams and such for when i don't have my computer on (ha! which is not very often!). the latter has sooo many beautiful corsets in it and is really inspiring, even if for me, the idea of scaling up the patterns and then adjusting them to fit is utterly terrifying!

has anyone else got any book recommendations relevant to corsetry?

much love

citrus

xxx

hi there!

i have been reading the corsetmakers community posts on here for ages and they have been totally invauable in the construction of my last corset. as i'm now starting on my third, i thought it was time i started posting pictures and thoughts on construction...

so, this is the very first corset i made, years ago now for the lady wearing it in the picture. at the time, i seriously didn't have a clue, i was much more slapdash in every aspect of construction than i am now and i had no idea about adjusting the pattern to fit.





last october/november i decided to have another go and made a corset for me. this is a three-layer corset (heavy canvas, cotton lining and taffeta outer). i like it, and i have worn it quite a lot already, but it is riddled with mistakes. mostly choosing to use taffeta in the first place!

so the main thing i would change about this is the massive wrinkliness. and i'd be fascinated to know if this is just because of using taffeta (and perhaps not pulling the fabric taught enough as i stitched) or because i wanted the stitch lines of the bone casings to be visible... it's a mystery! one thing's for sure. i won't be using taffeta again if i can help it!

by the way, this pattern is a truly victorian one - and it's a brilliant pattern with fantastic instructions, i'd recommend it to anyone.

i'll post my progress on the third corset i'm making (also for me) with step-by step photos. it's also going to be from the truly victorian pattern, but with a few adjustments (my first attempt at altering the pattern - i hope it goes ok!). it's in black floral coutil (from vena cava).

much love to everyone!

xxx