Steampunk Corset (Bustier)

My niece wanted a steampunk corset and I was delighted to volunteer. Always looking for a new challenge! One big consideration in the pattern choice is that my niece does not have a lot of experience wearing restrictive garments, such as ren faire bodices, tight-lace hourglass corsets, etc. I decided on a simple bustier type "corset" (in quotes) to get her started.

I chose Simplicity pattern #1819, the steampunk bolero outfit.

It's a solid wraparound piece that laces up the back, so there is no busk.

My first step was to trace the pattern pieces according to her measurements. I used my trusty French curve from the dollar store.

Then the cutting happens. My niece purchased some very nice black coutil, which cuts like a dream...

...and I marked the pieces with chalk to keep myself from going crazy.

For the fashion fabric, she bought this heavy vinyl pleather-type stuff with a felt backing. It's gorgeous but it had some challenges for the pins and the scissors. I ended up tracing on the wrong side with chalk and cutting, instead of trying to jam a pin through the pattern paper.

Getting it through the sewing machine also required some adjustments. I used my trusty office supplies to clip the vinyl pieces together instead of trying to get a pin into it.

A great trick I learned from a Carol Wood corset workshop, I used a cardboard form tube from the hardware store that is usually used as a mold for cement pillars. It approximates the curve of a human body, so I draped the vinyl over the black coutil lining.

I had some fiddling to do with making the 2 different textures mesh together. When I stitched-in-the-ditch to stabilize the seams, the one on the end did not quite synch up. But it only shows on the inside!

There it is laid out before I put in the grommets and the boning channels. I can't wait to visit her and try it on! We'll talk about the embellishments.

Oh, and I made a little top hat to match.

White and Gold Corset

I have been promising and promising my daughter that I'd make her a white and gold corset. I got this fabulous white brocade from a friend taking down her curtains. I've lined the inside with the beige coutil I had leftover from another project.

The mail order busk arrived yesterday, and I put it in the seams last night. It looks really lovely so far.

Now it's ready to try on, and make any last fitting adjustments before I do the boning channels. This is my first attempt at a "nice" corset using the Silverado style in the Laughing Moon pattern -- yeah, the one with the intimidating gore inserts. I've tried it before with plain denim for my friend to wear under her Dickens Fair gown, but never something nice enough to be seen. The pressure is on!!

Hello Kitty corset

I must say, as a side project the "Hello Kitty" corset turned out well. Originally it was cut from scrap fabric as a mock-up for sizing the fancy turquoise brocade corset that I've been working on the last month. I'll post photos of that next week after I try it on my friend.

But the mock-up was too cute to just toss away, and my daughter encouraged me to finish it up. I put in 24 steel bones, tiny pink bows, made a bias strip of the Hello Kitty fabric to finish the top edge, laced it up properly in the back with a modesty panel, and luckily had a scrap of pink lace trim that fit just right!

Look for it on sale at Etsy soon!

Almost There!

It's been a busy weekend with other things.... but I managed to get the corset bones!  I sorted them out on the floor, of course, and swapped out the plastic zip ties according to my list.

Now the last step is to finish the edges. A while back, when I made my first attempt at a corset, it took some adjusting to the idea of how different it is from your ordinary dress bodice with a lining. You're not sewing the two halves with "right sides together" and flipping them around to make a clean edge. No, you sew them with "wrong sides together" and the raw edges are raw.

Instead, I'm using packaged bias tape to sew onto the raw edge. OK, they do make a thinner size, but it wasn't at my nearby JoAnn's in brown. I wanted brown! My daughter is skeptical, but it syncs with the overall steampunk theme, and it picks up the brown highlights in the brocade. I just trim down the excess.

So, despite the many interruptions, it looks like I'll have the edges finished today! Great excitement here. But I'll have to wait a couple weeks until I can try fitting it on my friend. Oh, I'll just have to do other projects in the meantime.

Boning Channels... Done!

Euphoria! It was one of those rare Sundays when - aside from scrubbing the kitchen counter and sink - I had no urgent "life" business to deal with. So I hunkered down in the sewing room and made huge progress today.

First, after hand basting down all the seams like the instructions said, I went down the same lines with the machine. What I really like about my Kenmore Ultra Stitch is that part of the base slides off to make a narrow extension around the pressure foot. The design is for doing sleeve cuffs, etc. This allows me to get my right hand underneath and make a sandwich with my left hand. (For taking the picture, I had to use my left hand.) I can really feel and control how the material feeds into the needle.

Actually, in this picture I am stitching the line across the bottom, but you get the idea.

I stitch the boning channel on the seam lines from the outside, because the seams of the lining don't exactly sync up with the fashion fabric. I had to do a little scooching here and there. Not much. But like I said, 1/8 or 1/4 inch can really make a difference.

It doesn't matter so much if the seam lines don't line up on the inside. Nobody sees the inside.

The instructions tell me to make all the vertical lines for boning channels by neatly stitching in meticulously measured rows. OK, now, this is supposed to be a fun project. Measuring and marking precise lines does not come naturally to me! Instead, I used "hem tape" which has markings on it already at 1/4 inch widths.

I went into a kind of Zen meditation mode to put them on -- one by one by one by one -- stitching slowly and neatly down each line. By the afternoon, I had all the boning channels installed at last!

The last step will be to insert the actual steel "bones" but since I don't have a corset workshop full of buckets of all sizes, I'll need to buy what I need. That involves measuring each bone channel and making a list. 

My sort of goofy way to aspire toward accuracy uses 1/4 inch plastic cable ties from Home Depot. This also checks that the hem tapes are sewn in correctly. You can't see in the picture, but I used a small Sharpie pen to write on the plastic tips:  1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Then I'll make a list on paper and write down exactly what I need. When the order comes in the mail, I won't have to fiddle with a jumble of 2 dozen little sticks to figure out what goes where all over again. 

So, tomorrow is Monday which means back to the office job. Once I acquire the bones, I'll be able to finish it up pretty shortly thereafter. I can't wait to try it on my friend "C" - she's going to look fabulous!

Big Progress on Saturday

I got a lot done today - it being Saturday and I don't have to go in to the office. Although I had other things to do in my life, and I worked on my Regency gown a little too, I still got in some time on the corset.

First, I used this kind of funky checkered grosgrain ribbon as the waist binding. Don't worry, it won't show on the outside! Even though I know my friend won't be "tight lacing" into an extreme hourglass figure, and the seams are not likely to split, the waist tape is there as a horizontal stabilizer just the same.

Then I attached the 3 middle pieces to the lining flaps.

I gotta say, the pattern instructions were a little vague on this point. Due to my stubbornness at not watching the accompanying DVD, it took me a bit of study and thought to have an epiphany. It sews together at the edges - right sides together - and flips inside-out like a pillowcase! Then you'll have a tube of panels all connected. This way all the raw edges are buried inside, and seams will appear clean both on the outer side and on the lining.

After this, we'll be on to make boning channels. Oh boy! But first, the pattern instructions are telling me to pick stitch, by hand, down along each seam to keep the lining and the outer fabric from shifting. True, it seems like a fussy detail. Can't I just shove it into the machine? I've got it pinned using my trusty concrete form tube as a dressmaker's dummy.

The Laughing Moon's pattern instructions literally say, "You will be tempted to skip this step but it is important." So, remembering my past failures, I decided to obey and do it. I'm not sure what pick stitching is, so I just did a running baste stitch. Does it show up in the photo OK? This is the coutil lining side. You can see my clumsy hand stitches running down the seam.

 Let's see if it makes a difference in the end.

Grommets... Done!

For a little over $100, there's an industrial strength, table mounted grommet setting tool. If I were making corsets professionally, I might invest in one. But for now, I still do the grommets by hand -- one at a time. This is an enjoyable hobby, a stress releaser, and a way to exercise my brain.

Here is my funky little tool set:  a tack hammer, a grommet setter, my new ergonomic awl, a chopstick, and of course the lovely antique brass 00 size grommets + washers.

I did a few last night and finished the rest early this morning. I'm sorry, neighbors, for the incessant "tink-tink-tink" noise! There's a total of 26 holes in this corset. I timed myself and it took roughly 45 minutes each side. Each hole is tenderly pried open with the awl, expanded with the chopstick, and grommet + washer is gently tapped in.

This is a view of the inside (the coutil) layer. The advantages of the special corset grommets are that they are smaller than the jumbo ones sold at JoAnn's or Hancock Fabrics, yet larger than the hideous eyelets that need to be squeezed with the hand-hurting pliers type tool. Also, they don't split open like a daisy, but fit really nicely into the washers so they are smooth on both sides.

Of course there are mistakes. I won't point them out because they're not so bad. It still looks really good from the outside.

And I am loving the color of the antique brass grommets on this turquoise-brown satin! 

Busk Knobs... Done!!

Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you can use any ol' thing to poke holes in your fabric, such as, knitting needles, chopsticks, an ice pick from the hardware store, etc. No!!!! I used my 40% off coupon at JoAnn's and got an "ergonomic" tailor's awl. What a difference compared to the sadness and frustration of using the ice pick a couple days ago.

I brought the project to the office and used a little of my lunch hour. Comfy in a brightly lit room, full of coffee, I had the serenity to pry clean holes into the fabric. The idea is not to punch or cut big holes but to squeeze the fibers apart enough to slip the busk's knobs in like very tiny buttons.

Thanks to Bishonen Rancher's YouTube channel, I got the tip of poking one hole at a time and inserting the knobs up the line. Instead of poking all the holes at once and then getting frustrated with trying to force them all through. This polyester nylon brocade is kind of like glorified plastic wrap, so when you pry open a hole, the fibers want to close up right away.

I used my big paper clips to hold the busk strip in place while I poked each hole up the line. I also folded cut-up bits of old business cards so the clips wouldn't snag on the brocade.

I tested the fit, and wooo-hooo!!! It works!  The fabric looks weird in the photo because I took it outside to the parking lot in the sunshine.

One Grommet At A Time

For fixing the mistake from yesterday, I cut a new center front piece of fancy brocade and prepp'ed it by attaching to the saved piece of coutil. Blank slate, just like before. I marked again where holes should be poked but stopped before going at it. One shouldn't do precision work when one is tired! I'll bring it to the office and do it tomorrow on my lunch hour.

Instead, I worked on my Regency gown a little.... yes, I have a project on the side for myself! It's the old standard Simplicity 4055 that I've always wanted to try. I stopped at where I'll need to make a placket for the back opening of the skirt. I've never made a placket before! And let's not even think about the button holes right now.

Then I decided to whack at things with a hammer. After all these years of Ren Faire bodices, pounding in grommets is something I know how to do. I made a tool for myself of hole punches in pattern graph paper and used it to mark in chalk where grommet holes should go. Boy that coutil is a dense tight weave! I had quite a time coaxing those threads open before I managed to put in just one. One is enough for now.

The "antique brass" color grommets match up with the "antique brass" color busk hooks. They're going to look really nice on the turquoise-and-brown brocade. 

Fixing Mistakes

At the workshop I attended in February this year, Carol Wood (who is brilliant!!) advised us all, "Every stitch you put in, you may someday rip out."  Boy was she right. I keep 2 seam picker tools nearby in a cute little plastic case from Daiso that was designed to hold a kid's chopsticks in the lunch box.

Only the cheap polyester/nylon satin brocade is ruined. I can save the coutil, yeah! I'll just cut another piece and try again.

Yes, I went to YouTube and watched the Bishonen Rancher channel about how to insert a busk. If I wasn't so cheap and stubborn, I would pony up the $19 for a DVD that accompanies the Laughing Moon pattern that I am making right now. It's the pattern's designer going through it step by step by step. Probably more stubborn than cheap. Anyway, the YouTube video explains it pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcqOgBncg0k

The Busk is Half Done

OK, things were going so well this morning. I used a half hour before I had to leave for work to mark out the spacing for the busk's hook side. So far, so good. The Hello Kitty pencil comes in handy again!!

Cool and calm first things in the morning, with a good strong cup of coffee nearby, I zipped through this part of the task. Yes, mom, I can follow instructions. You're supposed to sew little stop-and-start dashes.

And then the busk's hooks go sandwiched between the seam allowances, once you turn it around. Sorry for the blurry photo, but I had to leave for work! 

But then, in the evening, after a long busy day at the office and an hour+ commute through rush hour, I should have known better than to try and finish it up. I measured and poked holes for the knob side... out of alignment, too deep away from the edge. Plus, this fake silk brocade frays like crazy! When I poke a hole with my awl, the threads shrivel back up. I put a dab of FrayCheck around the hole, and that sealed them like glue! It didn't do this on the other test corset I made of cotton.... Grrrrr!!!  I am now debating if I should poke new holes when I am calm and rested, and try to cover up the other holes somehow. FrayCheck could work to my advantage instead of causing more frustration. Or, I have plenty of leftover fabric that I could re-cut this one piece and poke new holes. What to do? Maybe I'll watch a video of Bishonen Rancher and see if she has any tips. 

The Magic Begins

My dad bought me this Kenmore Ultra Stitch machine when I was in high school. Solid and durable, this lil' machine and I have produced many wonderful things together... and some not so wonderful.

I put the blue masking tape there to help me see where the 5/8 inch mark is on the presser plate.

I use the big paper clips to keep track of the "top" and "front" and "back" of the pieces. It makes them easy to unclip and move around, and I got the color ones to match up "left" and "right" sides of the corset.

Tonight was gym night, and there's other things going on in the house. Our refrigerator conked out and was leaking icky rust colored oily ooze, so we had to buy a new one that was delivered today. We're dealing with reorganizing and throwing out old jars that we forgot we had. (How old is that Madras curry paste?)  

I only had a little time to work on the corset this evening. I managed to stitch the boning channels on the Center Back pieces, though I'm still learning to make the lines exactly straight and 3/8 inch wide... not. 

And I stitched together the other 3 middle-ey pieces of the brocade. 

I'll do the middle bits of the coutil tomorrow. I hope to get to either the busk or pounding grommets this week. We'll see how it goes.