Corset Design, Drafting, Construction Pt 3

My corset supplies arrived at the end of the summer, but with a couple other projects queued up before, I am now finally getting to the corset! I ordered a busk, spring steel bones (the flat ones, to put next to the laces for extra stability), and a coil of spiral steel and tips so I can cut the lengths myself. I also ordered a metre each of black and white herringbone coutil (the sturdy material for my strength layer, this is fabric specially designed for corset making and has no stretch). For my first one, I think I will make it with the black coutil, but I still  have time to make the final decision on the colour I plan to use for this first corset.

I want to state first of all, many of the tips and tricks I learned are thanks to Lucy and her wonderful Youtube videos on how to make corsets. Her instructions are excellent, and I do not wish to rehash them here. I will share my experience with following her instructions, as well as any other sources I my have found along the way. Where I have something to add to what is already existing, I will. So, the following will skip over some of the specific details in the actual construction:

First, I want to make a mock up. I keep my fabric in boxes sorted by colour, as that is usually how I determine what I am going to use. There are fabrics that I have that I would never use for a wearable garment, so I keep those in a separate box, regardless of colour. That is my "scrap bin". I will use these materials for linings, under garments (like petticoats), and mock ups. I found a light blue cotton with very little stretch (almost any fabric you find will have some small amount of give to it, even if it isn't "stretch" fabric). This will do for the mock up.

This is the line traced from the pattern piece. Seam allowance must be ADDED to these, as these lines will become my guides for sewing the pieces together. The idea is to sew exactly along the lines.

I cut out my pattern pieces. These are cut right to the actual dimensions of the final piece, and I have to add the seam allowances to them when I trace them out on the fabric. This is because I want to be able to trace the actual size, so I know EXACTLY where my sewing lines will be. Corset making is a very precise craft, and as Lucy says, 1-2mm added to each side of each piece, on a pattern with so many pieces, can add almost an inch to the total waist measurement!

You can see where the waist line is. I used that to line up the pieces when sewing them together, so I knew the waist would match up all the way around. I can always trim the top and bottom to create a smooth line later.

Important little tip - Something I learned many years ago: I number all my pieces and put an arrow pointing to the top of the corset. This makes sewing them together much easier. Once they are all cut out, it is hard to tell which piece goes where, and what direction they should go in. I have sewn a piece in upside down before, and it was a huge pain to take it out and put it back in. I also kept my left and right sides in separate piles so I didn't mix up my panels.

I did put a waist tape in the mock up. The fabric I am using is really cheap, flimsy, and has some stretch, and a waist tape would help keep the waist line as accurate as possible.

Once the pieces were sewn together, I had to make the boning channels. I just tacked down the seam allowance for this purpose. I used plastic boning I had left over from other projects. I won't cut my spirals until I know exactly what sizes I will need, and this is mock up so it doesn't need to be pretty!

With the left and right halves of the corset done, I can start doing the laces. I don't plan on using this for wearing, so I am not at all concerned about the grommets. And, at this point, I am feeling kinda lazy! So, I am using my punch, and I will just punch the holes out! No grommets! Lets see how well this works.... with the bones sandwiching the laces, I am hoping that they don't tear when I lace this up. I marked them 1" apart and used my punch to make all the holes. This was slow going, because the fabric is kind of flimsy, but much faster than hammering grommets!

I can now lay my corset out, lacing panels together, and start inserting my laces. For a great videos on different ways to lace your corsets, check out the videos on this Youtube Channel.

With the laces in place, I can now try on my mock up for the first time!

The shape I am going for is a little more dramatic that the gentle hourglass shape. This is because I want to have it as comfortable as possible in my ribs and hips. I have broad hips, and those won't move, no matter how small I make the corset. I also don't want much compression on my ribs, so I have designed the corset shape so it is snug around my ribs, with little reduction there. I will see how that feels.

The shape I am getting is

The top half of the corset has the peak in the front,  and comes up higher in the back. The bottom of the corset comes down right over my hips, and low over my lap. I did do a sit test to make sure that this was not going to dig into my legs! You can see it nips in at the waist, but otherwise follows the natural shape of my body to maximise comfort.

A side note, Pixel, my cat, decided to make a guest appearance.

There were a few things I wanted to change. I found it to be a little loose in the front over my tummy, and I wanted to change up the curve in the waist a little. I traced my pattern pieces onto a sheet of card, altered the lines where I felt was necessary (The original pieces are left un-altered, in case these changes don't do what I intended), and made another mockup.

I see more changes that I would like to make, but I think I have the overall shape down. 

The top back is a little loose and the gap isn't even all the way down.

So, overall, I am quite happy with the results. With the minor adjustment to the width of the back, I think I am ready to start cutting the actual materials for the final corset! I am still working up the guts to do it... the rational part of my brain tells me, "It is just fabric, you can buy more. Get over it." The perfectionist in my brain says, "One more mock up. No, just one more. Ok, just one more." Perfectionist, if I let you take over, I will NEVER have my corset finished! 

Please excuse me while I give myself a pep talk, and hopefully I will have a completed corset to share in a couple of weeks!