Saturday, February 17, 2007

Finished Corset

The corset is all finished! When we left off, I was sewing in boning channels. Here's a picture of me inserting the boning:
And next I pinned on the binding to finish the corset's edges:

Next came marking the eyelet holes with washable ink:Then I used an awl to make eyelet holes:And then I sewed eyelets by hand for hours and hours. About six hours if I add up the movies I was watching in the background (Casino Royal, Harry Potter, and Memoirs of a Geisha). Thank goodness for the three day weekend!So here's the final product. The neckline is definitely doing what it's supposed to do:The fit is much better, though it's still not perfect. I can't figure out exactly what's wrong, but the bust line isn't fitting quite right, and the shoulder straps are too big or set too far out (you can see that they're wanting to inch to the left off my shoulders in the picture below). I'm not quite sure how to fix that.
Overall a pretty good fit. I hope it looks accurate underneath a regency gown. I'm concerned about the corset line on the bust showing through the gown, and what those straps are going to do...

Maybe the bodiced petticoat will resolve these issues. The only way to find out is to make up the petticoat!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have my respect for making up the 2nd corset. I would've thrown the first one out the window, blamed it on the cat and then switched periods again so I could avoid fixing the problem. Can't wait to see more!

Anonymous said...

I don't know if you'll see this since it's an older post - or if you've fixed the problem since - but yes, those straps are too wide-set for you, as well as too long.

I would cut them off in the back and reset them further in, at a slight angle. The angle will help keep them on, as well; because your shoulders slope down from your neck, a straight strap doesn't cling smoothly to the shoulder line.

18th-century gowns and corsets use an angled shoulder strap always (on the gowns of course a sleeve is sewn into it) so I think you'd be perfectly justified in continuing that practice into the early 1800s.

Hope this helps!