Friday, February 16, 2007

Saved by Fabric Surplus!

My regency corset project continues thanks to an extra yard of cotton coutil in my fabric bin. I honestly have no idea where it came from. It must have been extra from another corset kit.

So, I've started the Corset over again, this time one size up. I think I've finally gotten the hang of putting in the gussets. I guess the first one was kind of like the rough draft (I know, I know, that's what the mock-up is supposed to be...but this project took two rough drafts).
I toyed with adding an additional hip or front stomach gusset, but in the end I felt that it wouldn't be needed. If the gussets made the corset too big at the hips it would be ruined. I can always go back and add a gusset later if I still need one (though it would really be a nuisance!).
The picture above shows the corset lining (in the front) and the outer corset (in the back) before I sewed them together. All of the bust and hip gussets seem to be lining up nicely. The gussets were an issue with the first version and I wound up having to reinsert most of the gussets. Here's the assembled lining and shell pinned together. Now I'm reinforcing the corset's seams using a technique known as 'stitching the ditch.' You sew the lining and the shell together by carefully stitching though all the layers along the seams. Here's an illustration:
Up next is adding the boning channels. Then come the dreaded hand-bound eyelets.

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