Corsets
I love corsets. I love doing them, and I love wearing them. However, I'm not that kind of girl who dresses nicely every day, so I rarely use corsets. Thus far, I've made two, one for myself and one for my friend, who saw my corset and wanted me to make one for her too.
My own corset was made back in 2005 for an masquerade ball where I wanted to dress as a Absinthe Faerie. I used L. A. Palmer's corset patent from April 17, 1877 that I found from this
site. Unfortunately, I can't find it there anymore, so here
is the link to United States Patent and Trademark Office's picture. In case someone doesn't have Quicktime, I also post the picture here.
This corset was made in four days, without much of a knowledge about corsets. Luckily, I had some spiral wire from Vena Cava, but all the other materials were very much improvised. I used two layers of some kind of cotton fabric as a lining, and silk dupioni as a cover. I used strips of fabrics cut in bias to bind the edges, but as you can see, I went for the non traditional way. Despite all the imperfections, I love this piece, and since this is for costume purposes only, the inferior materials don't really matter.
When my friend asked me to make her a corset, I was really insecure, since I had done only this one not-so-well-done corset. I promised to do it for free, on the condition that the corset would be "a practise piece", and that I could not guarantee the quality. I was super nervous, since I really wanted to make her a beautiful corset, especially after she had bought this gorgeous embroidered silk and talked her grandmother into making her a lace for the corset. I spent countless hours reading
corsetmakers and plannig a perfect corset. I don't think the corset ended up being perfect, but in the end, my friend loved the corset so much that she and her boyfriend made me a really beautiful knife as a payment.
I am really happy with the outcome. The corset is Laughing Moon's Dore, and it's made of one layer of cotton coutil, cotton batiste lining and silk cover. I used spiral steel, but I put spring steels next to the lacing. Waist tape is situated between lining and coutil, and I bound the edges with ready made satin bias tape.
My own corset was made back in 2005 for an masquerade ball where I wanted to dress as a Absinthe Faerie. I used L. A. Palmer's corset patent from April 17, 1877 that I found from this
site. Unfortunately, I can't find it there anymore, so here
is the link to United States Patent and Trademark Office's picture. In case someone doesn't have Quicktime, I also post the picture here.
This corset was made in four days, without much of a knowledge about corsets. Luckily, I had some spiral wire from Vena Cava, but all the other materials were very much improvised. I used two layers of some kind of cotton fabric as a lining, and silk dupioni as a cover. I used strips of fabrics cut in bias to bind the edges, but as you can see, I went for the non traditional way. Despite all the imperfections, I love this piece, and since this is for costume purposes only, the inferior materials don't really matter.
When my friend asked me to make her a corset, I was really insecure, since I had done only this one not-so-well-done corset. I promised to do it for free, on the condition that the corset would be "a practise piece", and that I could not guarantee the quality. I was super nervous, since I really wanted to make her a beautiful corset, especially after she had bought this gorgeous embroidered silk and talked her grandmother into making her a lace for the corset. I spent countless hours reading
corsetmakers and plannig a perfect corset. I don't think the corset ended up being perfect, but in the end, my friend loved the corset so much that she and her boyfriend made me a really beautiful knife as a payment.
I am really happy with the outcome. The corset is Laughing Moon's Dore, and it's made of one layer of cotton coutil, cotton batiste lining and silk cover. I used spiral steel, but I put spring steels next to the lacing. Waist tape is situated between lining and coutil, and I bound the edges with ready made satin bias tape.