Corset

I’ve been working on making a corset.  I’m trying to make it comfortable enough to dance in, yet sleek and sharp looking at the same time.  The great thing I’ve found about making them is that they are incredibly flexible.  The design has tremendous possibilities, and it can really be personalized to the customers wishes.   Here are some photo’s of it as it comes together.

This is the underside of the front.  I’ve marked each piece to remind myself which is top and bottom.  Seems clear when it is all together, but when you have 7 strips  for the front, and 4 for the back, laying on the table things can get quite topsy turvey!  Each piece is interfaced with 100% cotton fusible.

This is the interior lining.  The black strips are the boning pieces sewn in.  It can easily take two more strips.  It is interesting that the boning goes on the lining rather than the fashion fabric, but thats what this pattern calls for.  This pattern is Simplicity 2966.  It’s a very close fitting, sleek look.  Most other patterns I found went more towards either Renassaince or Goth.  Not what I was going for here.

Front of the fashion fabric.  The size of this piece is a 12 according to the pattern.  It is meant to fit a 34″ chest and 26 1/2″ waist.  I can tell you it comes out much bigger than that!  Those are pretty much my model’s measurements, and there is about 1-2 extra inches in the chest, and 3-4 extra inches in the waist.  (But that is why we test right??)  Even though this is lined, I took the extra step of serging each piece before sewing them all together.  I wanted to see if that gave it extra support, and would keep the many edges from disintegrating.  I stitched each piece together with the suggested seam allowance.  In the end, I think it is an unnecessary step.  The interfacing will do that job just fine, and it will keep the labor cost down.

Laying out the ribbon.  This is just a suggested layout.  Like I said the design possibilities are endless.  I like the ribbon done vertically on each seam.  I think it really elongates the torso, and is very flatterning….if you have to wear a corset!

This is the ribbon sewn down.  It was easier than I thought to sew through the seams.  I can see this with tons of crystals.   I have put the whole thing together, and it looks great.  Need to find a new model to try it on and take some final pictures.  I tried it on mine with some clips in the back…..but the photos did not come out that good.  So I’ll wait and get some better ones before I post them.