In my last article I explained how I accessed the pattern, the changes I made to it and how I cut it. This time I will be going through construction and embellishment as well as noting what I think of the finished piece.

So I already noted that this is being made from a fairly eyewateringly expensive fabric – it’s probably the most expensive fabric I will ever use in terms of materials. So it stands to reason that I want this to be as close to perfect as possible, right? Well, satin can be a bit of a pain to work with in corsetry because it is prone to wrinkle - and to show up those wrinkles pretty clearly - so I had to come up with a way of making sure this didn’t wrinkle.

The solution I came up with was to mount the satin to a layer of coutil, and so my first step after cutting the corset out was to pad-stitch the satin pattern pieces to the coutil.

 

 

To do this I used a special basting thread, which is 100% cotton and differs from standard thread in that it is very easy to break with your bare hands. This makes it significantly easier to remove when it is time to unpick the stitching.

I stitched the pieces around their edges and also across the main bulk of them, making sure I held them over an appropriate curve to see where wrinkles might bubble up and taking great care to add extra stitches on these panels or places. This meant that some panels had less stitching than others (I found the bust gores, in particular, needed quite a lot of stitching).

 

 

After this I marked the seam allowances in pencil on the coutil/ wrong side of the outer silk layer. I did this for all of the panels, on both sides of the corset.

 

 

I made sure to pay particular attention to the “points” of the gores so that the markings would help me sew them in accurately – this is important in this corset because a couple of millimetres difference on each side will make the corset look very asymmetric.

 

 

Next I sewed the fashion layer together. I used a stitch length of 1.5 and stitched each seam twice. I left the hip gores out. To sew the gores in I highly-recommend consulting Laura Loft's article, which explains brilliantly how to do this accurately.

 

 

The next step was to press open the seams. This is to make sure there is not too much bulk at the seams and also to make sure the corset looks cleanly sewn from the outside. I highly-recommend pressing the seams on your work if you do not do this already, as it is a simple way to make your work look a lot neater and more professionally-made. Although I am not sewing boning channels onto the outer layer of this particular corset, pressing the seams open or to one side also helps to prevent the seam allowance twisting when you are sewing the boning channels on, which can be a real pain otherwise.

 

 

To prepare for the next stage; inserting the hip gores, I pressed the seam allowance around the hip gores to the inside of the corset.

 

 

I pinned the hip gores in place, making sure I matched the balance mark, and then stitched the hip gore in place. I took my time and made sure this was neat because it was going to be the only topstitching visible on the outside of the corset.

 

 

At this point it was time to move on to the lining/strength layer. This is the layer which has the boning channels sewn on to it. The centre front of this layer consisted of two layers of fabric, and so my first step was to sew these together along the seam allowances, and then to sew two channels for flat steel bones at the centre front.

 

 

For the remaining panels I marked the seam allowances, sewed the seams and pressed them open as I did on the previous layer.

 

 

However, at this stage the construction differed to the fashion layer as I top-stitched on either side of the seam. In retrospect, I think I should have done this on the fashion layer too as it already had topstitching at the hips and it would not have altered the seam lines.

 

 

Following this, I inserted the hip gores as I did on the fashion layer.

 

 

At this stage I had the outer shell of the corset complete and the inner shell of the corset complete – so the next step was to prepare them for sewing together. This meant stitching the boning channels to the inner layer.

I contemplated a few different ways of marking them, placing them and sewing them. I was unsure of matching the position of the bones on the technical drawing for the pattern because I would instinctively have opted for more than it calls for, but in the end I decided that I would do as I was told because I am new to Edwardian corsetry.

To mark the channels I used a pencil and ruler and I drew a line down the middle of each channel.

When I had done this I sewed the casings on using the lines as a guide.

 

 

Now that the inner layer had the channels sewn it was time to attach it to the outer layer. I pinned the layers with their right sides together, and then sewed along the seam allowance at the centre back edges.

 

 

I turned the corset inside out so that the right sides were on the outside and then pressed the back edges, before sewing along the very edge at the centre back on each side.

 

 

This row of stitching formed the edge of one of the two channels at the back for the steels beside the eyelets and so I went on to sew the remaining rows of stitching for the bones/eyelets.

I was getting a bit excited at this point, as I knew it was coming up to the point where I would embellish the corset, so I had to make sure I didn’t make any silly mistakes or cut any corners in my rush to get to the fun part.

I matched up the seams on both the layers at the top edge, pinned them together and then used the basting thread to sew the layers together at the top.

 

 

Finally! Time to play with lace…

 

For this corset I had done a lot of research on antique Edwardian corsetry and I had decided I wanted to use a wide beading lace (the lace you thread ribbon through) as wide beading laces are a common feature on Edwardian corsetry. I found this lace very hard to source, and it took me a couple of months to find anything, but eventually I found three appropriate laces. One piece is an Edwardian era beading lace, and the other two are “vintage” but not particularly old – truthfully they are a little cheap looking in person, but transforming things is all part of the fun of embellishment so I was willing to give them a shot.

So I had a play around and pinned the trims to the top edge, as well as a few things I had in my stash which were the right kind of colour, and I decided that none of them looked right – none of them made the corset look like the original Edwardian beauties I had been drooling over.

 

 

I was feeling a bit deflated about this, but I tried tea dying the cheaper of the two beading laces, and I also tried them out with ribbon threaded through them. Sadly, I felt that this idea what just not going to work for this corset.

 

 

Rather than use something which didn’t look right, or leaving the corset plain, I decided I would deviate from my original plan to create and Edwardian replica, and embellish the corset in a way which I thought looked good regardless of historical accuracy. I hand cut a matching pair of Chantilly lace appliqués from some lace in my stash, and pinned these to the corset – voilà! It looked beautiful, and I was in love with this project again.

 

 

And so now I was ready to embellish the corset. At this point I removed the basting stitching, other than that at the top edge. Then, I  hand-stitched the lace to the fashion layer. I used a silk thread in a matching colour and I sewed tiny stitches around the edge of the lace, as well as around the thicker lines of the lace so it was stitched all over rather than just as the edges, but without leaving visible stitching.

 

 

The corset now had a beautiful bridal aesthetic and so, flying further into the face of historical inaccuracy, I added some flat back pearls. I applied E-6000 solvent to the back of the pearls with the head of a pin, and then affixed them to the corset. Although you can use gemtac or a similar craft adhesive to do this I have always found that gems and embellishments are prone to fall off with this. I want to note at this stage that E-6000 is an industrial strength solvent. I always take necessary precautions when using it, working in a well-ventilated room and never working for longer than fifteen minutes at a time when 'rhinestoning' – I would recommend that anyone who chooses to use this method to embellish their work does the same to avoid headaches and other nasties.

 

 

The corset was now looking tantalizingly close to being completed!

The next step was to make bias binding so that I could finish the corset off neatly. There are a number of tutorials online which explain how to do this if you are not already confident with making your own, but would like matching binding rather than relying on shop-bought binding.

I pinned the binding to the corset at the edge, on the right side, but I did not pin it all the way along. I prefer to manually position the binding as I sew as I have neater results this way.

 

 

To finish the binding at the top edge I flipped it over and then hand-sewed it on the inside so there would be no visible stitching on the outside of the corset.

 

 

With the binding at the top edge done, I didn’t have much left to do at all. The biggest task remaining was to bone the corset.
I opted for flat steel bones because spiral steel was not used in Edwardian corsetry.

Once the bones were cut, tipped and inserted, I stitched the binding to the bottom edge in the same manner I had done with the binding at the top edge.

I hand bent the bones at the back edge so they sat properly in the channels, which were not the straight channels generally used on modern corsetry. This means the bones bend in at the middle and I was dubious as to how comfortable this would be, but willing to give it a shot.

 

 

Finally, I inserted the eyelets and laced it up – it was time to try it on!

 

 

I had originally made this for someone smaller than myself and so I was surprised by how comfortable it was. It also created a wonderful Edwardian silhouette.

I feel that the shaping of the centre front panel, along with the fact the corset is quite short - both because it is a midbust and because it doesn’t come down very far below the waist compared to the corsets I draft myself - “widens” the corset visually which is not particularly flattering. I think I look about a UK size 14 on the images of me trying this on, when I am a UK 10-12. However, it is a beautiful corset and the seam lines are exquisite.

 

Issues I had with the corset/ things I would do differently:

• Even though I was careful, there are still wrinkles in the corset. I think that this could be resolved by adding more bones, but I also think that using a single layer (or a single layer with the fashion layer fused to it), and not worrying about the stitching for the boning channels being visible externally, may have helped to prevent this.
• The corset is too big at the bust for me as the model I made it for has a larger bust than myself. When closed at the back, it still gapes at the sides. However, despite this, and wearing the corset with a chemise, there are certain positions which cause my bust to spill over the top a little, in a pretty unflattering way. I’m not sure how this would be resolved without altering this to be an overbust so any suggestions would be gratefully received.

 

 

 

• I made this corset before the article Royal Black did on roll-pinning. Since this I have roll-pinned all of my work, and steam-moulded it on a steam-able corsetry mannequin I made. I would definitely roll-pin/ steam-mould any future corsets I made with Edwardian seamlines because it has made an enormous difference to my contemporary corsetry.
• I would alter the bottom line to a more pronounced shape, as I think this is more flattering and still retains an Edwardian aesthetic.

 

 

I learned a lot making this corset, and it had given me the confidence to try our more Edwardian corsetry in the future.

 

 

 

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