15th time's a charm

I attended a corset making workshop over two weekends. We made the Laughing Moon Dore corset in twill and silk dupion.

Despite this being my 15th corset there were a lot of firsts for me. First time using silk, first time using spring and spiral steel bones, first time having someone in the room who knew what they were doing.

The corset was made using a method where the outer and lining layers are constructed separately, which allows for a final opportunity to tweak the fitting once you have the front (busk), back (lacing) and all the lining together. I didn't find that last fit particularly useful as there was still no boning so I will probably continue to use the welt method in future. The welt method ensures that your seams line up and that the panels on both layers are the same size. It is also a faster method.

I was surprised at how unscientific the fitting was. Measurements were only taken to choose a pattern and the rest was done by adjusting mockups. Mine had to be made smaller than the smallest pattern size (because of course it did) and also an inch longer above and below the waist. This solved a problem I've had in the past where the hips fit ok and the bust fits ok but the corset can't reach both at the same time.

A lot of the course reaffirmed that what I had taught myself was right but I did pick up a few valuable new techniques. One was seeing how the fitting was done. Another was inserting the waist tape. I also learnt that I don't want to use spiral steel boning again. I had so much trouble getting the ends on and then several came off in the boning channels anyway. Just cutting the bones to length was a challenge. I think I will stick with cable-ties for the time being.

I had been hoping to learn flossing which is something I've heard about and tried for myself but never had a clear understanding of. Sadly that wasn't covered by the course. Still, I have bought thread to do some flossing with and will attempt to educate myself further. I was lucky enough to find in the limited range of topstitching thread the perfect colour to match my lace. Eyelet lace and ribbon was included in the class kit; however since I was making a proper, purple, silk corset nothing but gold would do. So I bought a metre of hand-dyed guipure lace to use instead.

Attaching the lace was a precision exercise. The top of the lace is two rows with an indent between them. One of the rows had to be under the bias binding to secure it and I wanted the other outside the bias to be a neat edge. If I unfolded the bias I wouldn't be able to see what I was doing. So I lined up the fold of the bias on the edge of the lace and used a zipper foot with the needle a bit further over than usual.

Going fast with this setup was an accident waiting to happen so I disconnected the foot pedal and used the hand wheel. By the end my wrist was very tired.

It turned out perfectly.

The corset gives me a more defined waist than I was expecting, which I think pushes the silhouette a bit later into the century. That said, given my hip-to-waist ratio, I really shouldn't be surprised. Lacing it up gave me a two inch waist reduction without my barely noticing. I haven't made a corset fit well enough to get a reduction before so that took me by surprise too.

The fit I ended up with was pretty much right (insert celebration here). The hips are snug but in a good way, I've got a reasonable lacing gap and the top half fits right too.