theladyrebecca | Entries tagged with corset

Thanks for the advice - I decided not to do a waist stay. I got more thread today, though, so now all of my seams are finished, as are all of my boning channels. Tomorrow, I plan to do my grommets, and cut and insert all the boning. If I can, I'd love to move on to binding as well, but I also have a lot of errands to run, so I'm not sure that will happen. I think I'm going to use bias strips made of twill, but I'm not positive. I think I have more studying of extants to do before I decide.

Here's a couple pics of the outside and the inside at this point:

By the way, did you know that German Plastic Boning is flammable? I tried using a flame to melt the ends so they wouldn't be sharp, and the first time I did, it caught fire. If you just pass it through a flame for half a second, it gets soft enough that you can use sandpaper to smooth the ends, but be careful about trying to melt it for any longer than that!

Oh, also, I ordered ice skates today. I've wanted my own pair for forever, despite only going skating once or twice a year, and the Little House Party is what made me finally decide to bite the bullet. So I guess I need to go skating more now, to make the investment pay off! I'm really excited. :)

I hate Murphys law of sewing.

I ran out of pink thread for the corset. Or at least, I'm out of the shade of pink I've been using for all the boning channels. I guess in some ways it's a blessing, though, because I realized I had also totally forgot to put a waist stay in, so at least I didn't get all the channels done before I realized.

That said, I'm also a bit confused on whether this corset style should actually have a waist stay or not. It's not super nipped in in the waist, at least not in front. Do I still use one?

In any case, I have a caroling gig early afternoon tomorrow, but afterwards, I definitely need to go to Joanns and pick up more thread and grosgrain for the waist stay.

All I managed to accomplish today was figuring out the boning pattern for the back of the corset (which took me way way too long), unpicking one of the back boning channels I had already done, because I didn't like it, and sewing down one seam. And I serged all my skirt pieces.

In non-sewing news, I finished the Disney puzzle, and bingewatched the next seven episodes of Timeless while doing so. So at least I won't have those to distract me now. I'm determined to finish this corset (minus flossing, I'm sure) in time to wear it for Thursday's gig, since that's the last gig of the season.

I had a fair amount of time to work on the corset this evening. One half of the corset is now completely assembled, almost all of the boning channels are in, and I've marked the grommets. The other half is assembled, but only one stitch line on each seam is done, and no boning channels yet. I should have even more time tomorrow evening, so hopefully I'll finish all the boning channels, and maybe even move on to the grommets.

Here's a pic of the inside of the half I was working on today. I realize it doesn't look like much:

Also, I started watching Timeless today, and I'm totally getting sucked in. I've only done three episodes so far, but I'm excited to see where it goes!

I got one more gusset and seam done today, but that's it.

But rehearsal was sooo much fun! We choreographed the Bombie Samba (I'm playing the Baroness), and I don't think I've danced that much in a long time. It is so fast and so much choreography, but our director/choreographer is amazing, and all the other dancers are incredible, and it is going to look so good!

Hopefully I'll have some energy to work on my corset after my caroling gig tomorrow, though it's probably unlikely.

I worked on the corset this evening. I cut out the facings, finished flatlining all my pieces, and got half of it partly assembled. I'm using the technique that

the_aristocat posted about here, which requires two rows of stitching on every seam, and I've done one row of stitching so far. My plan is to hopefully put the grommets in before I do the other row of stitching, so that if I have to tweak anything, it's easier. I already had to redo four of the gussets I had put in, because I put them in wrong, and I'd like to avoid doing that sort of thing again!

I do like how it's looking so far, though:

I have my first rehearsal for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tomorrow, so I likely won't get much, if any, sewing done. And then I have a caroling gig after work on Wednesday, so likely not any then either. Ideally, if I can actually crank out this whole thing by Saturday, and I can wear it to my gig that day, it would be amazing (albeit unlikely).

Thank you all for your advice! I've decided to treat the two layers as one. But what does that mean for the CF and CB pieces? I think I have to make a facing for these pieces, but do I make the facing out of the strength layer? That is what makes the most sense to me, but I don't want to accidentally make those pieces more bulky in the process.

Anyway, I started serging the corset pieces - I got the gussets done, but that's it. However, I did find the right blue cotton at my other Joanns for Princess Anna, so I made the tiny Anna dress today. I also worked on a Disney map puzzle that my bf and I got at Disneyland. It's hard to focus on sewing when I want to work on the puzzle!

I finished cutting out all the pieces for the corset, which means it's ready to sew together. But I can't decide what technique to use to make it! I can't do the only technique I've used in the past (sewing the inner and outer layers together all in one seam) because the bones go across the seams.

So would it be better to sew together all the outer seams and all the inner seams at once, then sandwich the boning in between the layers? Or would it be better to treat the two layers as one, have all the seams on the inside, and use twill tape for the bone casings?

I'm leaning towards the latter, because it would be easier to tweak if I need to. I know people made single-layer corsets all the time, but I don't want this to be just canvas, which is why I'm doing the outer fashion layer as well. Also, if I do the latter technique, how are the seams finished inside? I can serge everything, but I kind of wanted this to look more historically accurate..

Any advice?

I also cut out my skirt panels. I was really hoping to get my Princess Anna order done today, but the fabric store I went to only had ugly shades of blue cotton. So tomorrow I'm going to try another Joanns, and hopefully they'll have what I'm looking for. Otherwise, I guess I'll just have to make do.

I have finally achieved waist reduction. I decided to forget (somewhat) the exact curved lines of the pattern, and take

fairegoddess's advice, and curve in the front pieces at the waist. I did it at the seams between front and side front, and between the side front and side back. And it worked! I think I actually curved in somewhere between 2-3" total, but the lacing gap stayed the same, and I still have the rounded stomach look (just now it's below the curved in waist).

Here's a few pics.

I've decided to just save all my mockup pieces as the pattern, and recut them all for the interlining, so that I can skip retracing a paper pattern. I've taken them apart, and maybe I'll have time to cut out the pieces tomorrow? I have two caroling gigs though, so it seems somewhat doubtful.

I did also cut out the pieces for my new Disney skirt, but I don't have enough elastic left for the waistband, so I'll probably swing by Joanns on Monday or Tuesday.

I increased the width of the back seam of the side hip gusset, but I'm still not getting any additional waist reduction. It does make my hips look wider, so I think there might be a little bit of an optical illusion going on, but I swear, it's the curve over the stomach that is preventing me from getting the waist reduction. I just don't think this pattern is capable of it if you don't already have a pretty tiny waist. But hopefully this will at least give me the line I want under the two bodices I'm going to be making this winter. And then I'll make the 1860s corset afterwards, and see how different that turns out.

Here's a couple pics:

I'm now going to take it apart, redo my paper patterns, and cut out the actual fabric. Then I'll switch to the bustle skirt, or to the elastic waist skirt I'm making for my Disney trip next weekend, since my busk hasn't arrived yet.

I finished corset mockup 2.5 last night and tried it on this morning (when I wasn't full of Thanksgiving dinner). I think we have a winner? Or at least, I'm tired of mockups, and this one is close enough. I'm not getting the waist reduction I was hoping for (in fact, I'm not getting any waist reduction at all), but I tried on my Ravenclaw bodice, and it still fits over this corset, so I guess that's good enough? I'm starting to think that unless you have Merja's figure to begin with, you don't get a very nipped in waist with this pattern. ;)

My only real worry is that with the actual amount/type of boning in (as opposed to taped in cable ties), and with a properly boned/grommetted lacing area, I'm going to be able to lace it tighter, and it's going to wind up too big. But I have no idea how to account for that... I have about a 4" lacing gap right now, and it's pretty much even all the way down the back, which was my goal.

If anyone has any pointers about how I could get more waist reduction without redoing the actual mockup, please share. Otherwise, I'll probably be cutting out the actual pieces this afternoon, and the only change I'm making from this mockup is cutting down the top of the front by .5".

Here's a bunch of pictures:

The first picture here shows how I'd like it to reduce on the waist where I'm pushing it in. The second picture shows the lousy tightening I'm able to do with the bad lacing strips combined with super slippery cording (ie: the wide section of lacing is actually fairly loose, but the cords are too slippery for me to tighten that section on my own).

I also took the time last night to go through all the math for my green wool bustle gown, to see how careful I would have to be with my fabric cutting. And the good news is that since wool can be cut in any direction, and the fabric is 64" wide, I don't have to scrimp at all! In fact, if my math is right, I think I'm going to have about 50" of solid length leftover. So maybe I can even make a piece of matching outerwear with this fabric. If I finish cutting out all my corset pieces before my busk gets here, I'm going to start on the skirt. I'm so excited to finally be able to work on this dress!

After two months, I finally get to return to my corset!

I had so many issues trying to lace this up. First, the tape I was using for lacing snapped. (In fact, it snapped in two different places, two different times). So we used some of my bf's heavy duty paracord. Unfortunately, that cording was stronger than the stitching holding the eyelet tapes in place, and one side of the eyelet tape ripped off. I fixed it, put it on again, and the other side started to rip. Finally, I fixed that, and was able to actually get the mockup all the way on.

Mockup 2.0 is closer, but the lacing gap is way too wide starting a couple inches above the waist, and going down. I was aiming for about a 4" gap, and it's actually 6.5" at the waist. Not sure how that happened. I can tell that the seam that wraps around my side is supposed to hit the center of my side right at my waist, and it's about .5" too far forward, so I'm tapering that in. Also, it seems like the back piece needs to be .5" wider at the waist in the middle of the piece, and continuing through the hip gusset, so I'm adding that in, too. I'll have to recut two gussets and two pieces on each side - I really hope the next one can be the final.

On the plus side, the length was perfect this time, so I know how long of a busk I need to order. Unfortunately, the ideal busk is 17.5", which I don't think exists. If anyone knows where I can find one, please let me know!

Here's some mockup pictures:

I'll go buy some more pink canvas tomorrow so that I can get mockup 2.5 done as soon as possible. Until I do, it's back to caroling sewing.

Seriously. This morning, I cut out mockup 2.0 of the corset, out of pink canvas. If it works fine, I'm going to use it for the interior layer of the corset, with the spotted pink cotton-blend upholstery fabric that I used on my Ren corset, stays, and pocket hoops for the outer.

But instead of putting it together, I've also been planning out my Halloween costume, which is going to be Mary Poppins' Jolly Holiday outfit. I went to Joanns today, hoping to find an embroidered bridal organza that might work, but no such luck. And since poly organza from Joanns is basically the same price as Dharma's silk, I'm going to order silk instead. I think I'm going to blend the movie version and the parks version together. Right now, for the skirt, I'm thinking I'm going to do a base layer, possibly of organdy if I have any, and then three, if not four, layers of organza over that, with the top layer having appliques attached. I like that in the movie, a couple of her skirt layers are that dull red color, so I'm planning to dye one to two layers of the organza, and then attach lace around the hem of those layers.

And somehow, I actually found the exact large applique on her skirt in the parks on etsy - but the seller thinks she only has three, and I really need at least 10. It's kind of killing me, knowing that it's out there, but not knowing how to get more. Any ideas? https://www.etsy.com/listing/293996545/cotton-flower-lace-applique-for-garments. I don't really feel like trying to digitze this and make my own...

And of course, if that wasn't enough, I've also decided to go to Dapper Day this year! On Sunday, I'll probably wear a toned down version of Jolly Holiday, pairing the skirt with a red belt and a white blouse, but on Saturday, I'm planning to wear a cotton printed villain dress. I'm in the process of cutting it out right now, using Vogue 9000, but this pattern has a terrible cutting layout for directional patterns! So here's my dilemma - should I use 6 yards in cutting the skirt alone (and wind up with tons of waste), or should I forgo keeping all my fabric facing in the same direction, and cut each piece in the opposite direction, therefore only using 3 yards for the skirt. I have plenty of the fabric, but I have it listed in my etsy shop, and if I use it all on this, I'll only have about one yard left. As it is, I'm really worried this is going to turn out looking like nurse scrubs. Even just looking at the front bodice pieces, it all feels so much.

This is the fabric - so far I've cut the bodice fronts and one of the skirt front/back pieces with Ursula facing up.

I took in the corset fairly significantly in the back and side-back pieces (1.5" out of the back piece, and .75" out of the side-back piece) at the side-back seam. It did fix the lacing gap issue, and surprisingly, it made the bust tight enough that I decided to go back to the original size CF bust gussets.

However, (and I don't know if this was a change or just something I somehow did not notice before), I realized that I am getting almost no reduction in the waist, and literally no reduction or even compression around the stomach. In fact, not only is there no compression, but from just below my belly button and down, the corset is not even touching my stomach, even though the CF boning piece is curved to create the natural form belly. I swear it wasn't doing this before, or else I'm sure I would have noticed. And of course, I have absolutely no idea how to fix it, but obviously, this isn't right!

Where my finger is is where I stop feeling compression. Notice how this is still quite a bit above my waist!

If you see the yellow/red dots (or where my finger is), this is where the corset is basically leaving my body. I don't know if this is a boning issue, a "this corset is stretching with each successive try-on" issue, or actually a patterning/fit issue. Any ideas?

I also realized I need to be really careful with my lacing gap, because I can pretty easily close it all the way at the very bottom, but then it won't give me the right shape in back. I think it's just that I'm too squishy. It was more comfortable once I loosened the lacing and evened out that gap. That said, I'm pretty sure all of these pictures were from before I fixed that gap, except for the very last one in this post.

Thanks again to everyone for the tips! I made my smallish changes to corset mockup #1 tonight. I tapered in the CF bust gussets up to 1" by the top of the gusset, took in the side seams .5" (tapering it out to nothing by the hip hem), took in 1" at the CF, and 3/4" in the middle of the center back pieces (where I had added in .5" from the original pattern, tapering that out to nothing by the hip hem as well). I also put a duct tape boning channel (containing cable ties) in all of the spots that the original pattern called for boning.

What a difference! Honestly, it's a pretty good fit as is at this point. However, it's still nearly nearly lacing closed all the way at the top of the CB. This is a problem I almost always have, and I'm not really sure how to fix it. My first idea is to take out about .5" at the top of the side back piece (at the SB/B seam), and taper out about 1.5" at the top of the center back, since it's both those places that seam to be pushing it wide. I'm worried that will really mess with the lines of the pattern, though! Any advice?

The only other changes I'm planning to make are to the top and bottom edges. The CF needs to come up farther at the top - it's below mid-bust right now, and it's not doing any good at preventing spillage. I think adding .75" at the CF, tapering that out to nothing as it rounds the side of the bust (plus seam allowance all the way around the top) will do it. And the bottom hem is a bit low on either side of the belly (it pokes my legs when I sit), so I'm going to curve that up a bit. It also needs to have seam allowance added from just in front of the side seams through to the CB at the bottom, because it's a perfect length as is.

I did have a bit of a hiccup lacing myself in. I used ribbon this time, in the hopes of having it slip through the eyelets better than the corset lacing, since the eyelets are so small. But instead, they wound up cutting through the ribbon at one point. I caught it, took several pictures with it as it was (without tightening it further), then tied the ends of the break together and tied it a little tighter. I think I could still get the waist a little tighter with better eyelets/lacing, but the rest of the corset felt good, and I'm happy with the lacing gap even as is from the hip to a bit above the waist.

I think the shape looks right? I believe the first and third pictures were taken with the waist a bit tighter, and the second was with the broken ribbon.

You can see the two lacing gaps - the first with the broken ribbon, the second where I tied it off and got it a bit tighter and more even.

If you look closely, you can see some pink marks near the top of the CB - this was where I was thinking of just making the CB - it seems like it would basically make the lacing gap straight up and down, but I'm not sure that this is how things are supposed to be done...

You can see the spillage issues here. I'm hoping 3/4" higher in the CF will fix that... Unfortunately, adding to it will also mean that I have to find a 17" busk! :/

Ideally, I'd love to do my next mockup in a way that, if it works, it can be used for the final. I'm not springing for coutil for this, so what works best? I have some taffeta remnants I could use for the outer fabric, but I know they also used twill and even denim. Any advice on fabrics?

I finished the corset mockup today, and tried it on. It's definitely too big - it closes all the way at the bottom, just about all the way at the top, and there's only a small gap at the waist. So it needs to be significantly smaller. I think I want to take about .75-1" out at the CF, because the bust seems rather spread, but maybe that's how it should be? I'm struggling with where to take the rest out (I think I want at least 3" taken out total), because, though it's closing all the way at the bottom, the hip gusset shapes feel pretty right, and I like the curve they give. I'm thinking I can maybe take back out the .5" that I added in the middle of the back piece, which I had continued through the gusset piece as well. And maybe the other .5" should come out of the side back piece at the side seam?

I'm also thinking I need a little more length in the bust area. I made it with seam allowances (including at the top and bottom), and while I think the bottom will still look fine .5" shorter, the top dips down quite a bit, and seems to me to need at least the seam allowance added, if not .5" more. I may even decide to add additional seam allowance to the bottom, too. What do you all think?

The other most noticeable issues are that it gaps a bit under the arm, and should probably taper in up to 1" starting about 3" to the top on the side seam. The most center front bust gussets are also way too big. I tried pinning out some of the excess, and it's looking like I will need to take as much as 1" out of the top of those gussets.

I'm hoping with the plethora of pictures, you all can help me with fit issues! I only have one flat steel at the CF, and one at each lacing edge in the CB, the rest is just one layer of somewhat lightweight canvas, unboned. (Do I need to bone corset mockups?) I curved the CB bone around the tummy, to get the natural form look. I do have the area in the back at the waist and side where it kind of wants to crunch in at the waist. Is this normal without boning, or is this a fit issue?

And yes, I realized that I should have used an unpatterned fabric. This is really hard to see!

I'm wondering if the curve around the side at the bottom hem shouldn't go up quite as far. Also, I think the weird wrinkle in the top of the back was because I was wearing my bra in these pics. I forgot to take a pic of the back once I took it off, so I'm hoping it went away! The corset felt a little loose in that area, though, too.

Closeups of the hip gusset shapes, and that wrinkle at the waist:

I realized part-way through my photos that I was wearing it with my bra on, so these are without, which actually made the corset top even gappier.

You can see just how gappy the bust was at the top here. I think in the second photo, I had pinned it smaller. There was a definite curve under the bust, which you can see in the second photo - not sure if that's a shape issue, or if it's just a lack of boning. Any ideas?

I would love any and all suggestions!

In between my audition/callback and my rehearsal tonight, I made my headband sample for work tomorrow. It was really easy! Then after rehearsal, I came home and went right into the sewing room to start working on the corset. I got all my pieces cut out, and assembled my back and side-back pieces, and their corresponding gussets. I'll do the front pieces tomorrow after work, and hopefully try it on. I'm also hoping to get to see Florence Foster Jenkins tomorrow, since it's $5 movie night, and I somehow don't have rehearsal. :)

Amy Galles was wonderful enough to trace off the De Gracieuce corset pattern for me, and blow it up, so I'm going to attempt this one to begin with, and hopefully it will work out! So far, I printed out her blown up pattern, and taped the pieces together to see what it would look like. I like the shape, but a) it's super tiny, and b) it's incredibly short-waisted. So I added 3.5" of length between the waist and the bottom of the bust, and I also added at least 1-2" of width to the various pieces. I taped together this new sized up pattern to see what it would look like, and I tried to pin it to Antoinette. Obviously, it looks weird because it's paper, but I feel like the gussets are particularly strange. The front-most bust gusset seems huge, and possibly because of this, it also makes the corset want to spring away from the "body" at bust-level under the armpit. Which seems weird. Hopefully I'm assembling the pieces right!

Nevertheless, I'm tempted to actually use my enlarged paper pattern to actually cut it out and assemble it in fabric, just to see how far off it is. I really want to try Luca's thing of making the body conform to the corset, not the other way around (I think that's what he said?). That's why I wanted a really distinct shape for this era.

I'm also going to attempt it with a 15" busk. It's possibly I need a 16", but that seems like it might be too long once I sit down, and I happen to have a 15" on hand already. I'm hoping to order boning in the next couple days, so that I can really get started on this. I got a sample of the Wissner plastic whalebone and the other German plastic boning from Farthingales, but none of it is quite what Luca recommended, so I'm waiting on a couple samples to come from Hallie Larkin, since hers is Wissner as well.

Here's the pattern. If anyone else wants to try it, I'm happy to share the pdf!

And this is what my weird paper version looks like. You can see the 3.5" of length I had to add!

So other than the Ageless Pattern 1876 and the De Graciuse pattern sheet of insanity, are there any other specifically mid-1870s corset patterns out there? I like the shape on the Ageless Pattern, but I'm having a hard time finding any reviews on it. For those of you who have used multi-sized patterns from that company, what are they like?

Also, how on earth do you attempt to blow up something like the sheet from De Graciuse? I have a feeling that's a wormhole that I don't even want to attempt to open.

So what else is out there? I need something with the longer, curvier front, because the front of my bodice is defiinitely a cuirass-style bodice. I also really love the dramatic shaping in the picture for the Ageless Pattern one - I definitely don't want a straight panel (or even straight mixed with gussets) style corset - I feel like I want something more dramatic.

And finally, is there any way to really know how long of a busk I need for a corset style that I've never made before?

I got back from CoCo late last night, and have spent much of today recuperating and dreaming about projects. Most particularly, I desperately need a new Victorian corset (or two). I'm aiming to make one from about 1875 first, which will be appropriate to wear with the skating dress and the other winter dress I'm making in my hopes to attend the Little House party. Does anyone have any recommendations on a good 1875-76ish pattern? I'm going to use the german plastic boning, and I'm really excited!

As far as a CoCo wrap-up goes, I'll get to that slowly, probably. But I did get all my photos up on facebook while waiting for my connecting flight. It might be my fastest CoCo photo dump ever! Overall, though, I felt CoCo this year went by faster than any other year. It was great getting to see everyone, but I felt like I only got to see a few people for more than about 10 seconds the whole weekend! I'm just glad that my laryngitis, or whatever I had this weekend, waited until last night to really turn into coughing fits. Sorry if I sounded like a dying frog all weekend, though!

Oh, also, on an almost completely unrelated note, all of Luca's amazing classes prompted me to take out my antique garments today to do some studying, and my cotton 1860s dress is starting to have some major issues. I realize now that when I thought I was protecting it by moving it out of my dresser drawer into a plastic underbed bin, I was really harming it by cutting off it's airflow. So I know I need to get one or two acid-free boxes to store my antique stuff in. Does anyone have any recommendations on sources for these boxes that don't cost an arm and a leg? I'd love a 60" long one, because then I could lay it completely flat, but if I have a 40" one, I should be able to get away with just folding at the waist (which is how it's been lately). But the ones I found online today were insanely expensive. Help!

Happy Independence Day!! My parents and I are celebrating right now with our usual tradition of watching 1776. And tonight we're going to go to Lake Union and watch fireworks! I hope everyone else is having a great day, too!

For those of you attending CosCol, does anyone know when people are planning on wearing Redingotes/Riding Habits? I feel like I keep hearing different times being discussed.

We had our first rehearsal in the theatre on Tuesday night, and yesterday, my parents and I explored the Olympic peninsula. In a little antique shop up in Port Townsend, I bought a 1950s (I think?) corset, made by Bon Ton. Can anyone else can better help me date it? It's an underbust, and comes down over the hips and has small elastic panels/gussets under the bust on each side and on each hip. It's boned with steel, and has a corset busk closure in the front. I also bought two pewter-type mugs.

Tomorrow, my parents head back to CA, and we have our first tech rehearsal for Gondoliers!

And on the sewing front, this not having time to sew thing is driving me crazy with CosCol coming closer and closer! I need a gala gown!

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Rebecca Maiten

Lady Rebecca Fashions

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Diary of a Costumer

Entries tagged with corset

Corsety stuff

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Corset Progress

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Corset Progress

Another Corset Question

Corset Advice

Success!

Corset Mockup 2.75

Corset Mockup 2.5

Corset Mockup 2.0

Major CADDing going on

Corset Mockup Struggles

Corset mockup 1.2 - Or, "How do you even out a weird lacing gap?"

Please help me fit my corset!

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De Gracieuse Corset

Need Help Finding an 1870s Corset Pattern

Corsets, CoCo, and Antique Storage Advice

Antique store finds!