corset fitting! (because this is me)

Jan 02, 2014 21:15

that's what, two and a half years? and (unsurprisingly) this entry will be about the same thing as the last one (attempting to fit the silverado corset).

i decided it was time for me to just suck it up and accept the fact that i'm a different size and completely differently proportioned than i was five years ago. no wonder i haven't been able to make myself anything; i went back a few days ago and looked at the adjusted measurements for the last corset mockup i did. for the sake of experimenting with tight lacing i did 38-26-38, assuming that my bust is 36 and my waist is 28...which is total bullshit. my current measurements are 39-31-37 for reference. i've been putting on weight the last few months, but my normal measurements are along the lines of 38-29-37. i obviously have acceptance issues with my boobs.

another issue i'm trying to come to terms with is that the arthritis in my ribcage just doesn't allow for serious shape manipulation or tight lacing. when i make a corset it needs to be merely structural rather than altering. this isn't, in theory, such a hard change for me because it wasn't something i was crazy about before, but i do have a corset in my drawer that has a 24 inch waist and which i did, twice, lace entirely shut.

in any case, a few days ago i decided i needed to make a corset. it started out as a simple project i would never use for anything because, of course, i'm just going to lose all the weight when i go off my meds again (which i've been saying for months now, and perhaps you can see from where my refusal to make any costumes stems). i'm currently in a very pessimistic mood about my weight, which is good from a costuming perspective because i spent a lot of time at roughly this weight/these measurements but never have anything to wear. i'm tired of this, so my Trash Project has become a At Least I'll Have Something To Wear The Next Time I'm Chubby Project.

trying to fit a corset with A Gigantic Rack has been quite an experience for me. i'm not going to claim overwhelming skill in fitting garments, but i do assume i have basic competency. previously i could fit a corset in one mockup and then go straight to my fashion fabric. today i'm three (?) mockups in and have at least another.

one change i had to make right from the start is the fabric choice for my mockup. since i was never...curvy enough to really distort my shape i could get away with using muslin for my mockup, but since i knew flub was going to be shifting and boobs were going to be lifting i opted for antique sailcloth (basically canvas that is incredibly stiff) of which i have seemingly endless supply.

i wanted a little compression at the waist so i chose the pattern size with a 30 inch waist (remember mines clocks in at 31). but because i'm compressing there i let out at the bust and hips; i went with the pattern size with a 40 inch bust and 38 inch hips. when i traced the pattern pieces onto tracing paper i traced (bust-waist-hips) size 20-16-18. i didn't bother to trace out the bust gores included in the pattern because i figured it would be easier just pinning fabric into the gaps and tracing them out (in retrospect i think this was the smarter decision -- my gores don't look anything like the pattern's).

after i attempted and failed to close the center front of the mockup i went back and sewed hook and eye strips to the center fronts (i had previously made these for corset fitting and so they each have three bones in imitation of a busk closure). because i make absolutely The Stupidest Mistakes Possible i sewed the eyes side on upside-down and this has caused me no end of frustration because now the hooks hook on from the inside out.

first mockup: it puckered at the front waist. yes, i know i have a pregnant lady tummy. i let out the 2nd-4th seams by about 1/16 inch between the green lines i scribbled on myself. since i have no butt, i took in the side back seams by about 1/4 inch. because i had altered the size lines on the corset, i no longer had an obvious point at which i stopped the seam for the bust gore (the silverado corset has the gores entered between the front seams). I pinned each piece up to the underwire on my bra as an indication of where the point of the gore would be. there was a lot of puckering in the back but since i didn't think it was an issue of fit i decided to put boning along the center back to see if that solved the issue (it did).



second mockup: since the fit through the body was much better and there weren't any seams that still needed to be changed, i added a bone to the outside of the bust and sewed in fabric squares along the straight of grain lines for each gore. i pinned the mockup and the gore fabrics to my bra and then drew the seam lines for each gore. as i knew before, my left breast is larger than my right, but the gores are fairly noticeably different sizes, which surprised me. i also decided that the corset was too short along the front neckline (this is another fitting issue i've never encountered before).



Look at the size difference between the bottom two!

when i drew out the gores to sew into the mockup i added an inch at the top and then added an inch to each corset piece (i shaped things entirely incorrectly, which i discovered in my very short-lived third fitting). i traced the gores onto canvas, added seam allowance and smoothed the cutting lines with my itty bitty curve and then sewed them into the mockup.




i honestly thought at this point i would try it on, smooth out the neckline, and then be ready to start on the coutil version.

-_____________-

Silly Me.

for my third mockup i abandoned the bra to see how the gores worked. apparently boning is useful with big boobs. it became entirely apparent immediately that until i put in all the boning i planned to use (and i was going to need more than i initially anticipated), the corset wouldn't fit at all. i also will need to take in at least one of the pieces at the neckline (in retrospect this makes sense because the upper edge of the corset is above the apex of the breast). i'm going to start by taking in the seam at the outer edge of the outer gore by about 1/2 inch.

when i went out to sew boning channels i discovered that my aunt had set up a clever trap wherein she was putting away christmas decorations (which she had asked me to help with) right in front of the entry to my sewing area. more to come later (but the olive wood creche set is all packed up!)

in conclusion, here is a picture of a cat:


costuming, mockups, corsets, victorian, sewing, underwear

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