Foundations Revealed™ is all about encouraging you to make better corsets and foundationwear, by giving you the tools you really need to grow your skills, and by giving you the confidence to use them. We'll run at least one relevant article for each theme per month, culminating in our Competition so that you can show off what you've learnt!
All of the current members voted in October 2011 for the new themes for 2012-13, and these are the themes you chose:
Shape |
Ornamentation |
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ShapeDefined as:
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OrnamentationDefined as:
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The Corsetry and Foundationwear Competition
Here's everything you need to know to take part in the unique Corsetry and Foundationwear Competition that will round off our year of themed articles! And you are going to take part this year, aren't you? We had over forty entries this last year, but don't let that discourage you from flexing your sewing muscles and giving it a try. You've got a full eleven months from now until our deadline in February 2013, and we'll be publishing lots of inspirational articles to help you get started and finish by the deadline!
Differences between Foundations and Wardrobe for 2012-13
If you subscribe to our sister site Your Wardrobe Unlock'd™, you'll notice that for the first time this year, their themes are radically different. Foundations and Wardrobe are each developing their own distinctive identities, and therefore should have their own separate annual themes.
Foundations readers will be exploring the two abstract themes of Shape and Ornamentation, while Wardrobe readers will explore the periods of 1730-60 and Steampunk. You'll have lots of chances to learn more about the themes throughout the year, and to make your own work of art to enter in our annual Competition in February 2013.
What can I make that'll be eligible for the Competition?
The only thing that all our projects will have in common are the themes we all started with. Some of you will want to make something for the modern world or a future or fantasy world; others will want to strive for historical accuracy; some of you will want to take a theatrical approach and make it a garment or outfit for a particular real or fictional character. As long as you make it clear what you had in mind in your accompanying notes (more on that later), we'll all be able to judge your entry based on what you were aiming for.
Foundations Revealed™ is the corset maker's companion (and a lot more besides!), so make any corset or foundationwear you feel inspired to make. Design it how you like, tweak it as you like, put it together any way you like, just as long as its inspiration fits into the themes of Shape and/or Ornamentation.
Can you publish an article on cording/applying crystals/fitting the hips to help me?
As we did this last year, we'll run at least one relevant article for each theme per month. We've got some VERY exciting things already scheduled for this year, such as:
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But we're looking for more writers and we're open to requests on specific topics. If you're interested in writing for us on one of these years, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn more or to submit an article idea.
We've already published some articles on these themes in the past, so here's a list of what's already on the site to give you a head start.
Shape |
OrnamentationRecreating the 1880s corded corset, step-by-step by Jema Hewitt |
General Planning |
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Categories and Prizes
Entries must show that one or both of our annual themes of Shape and Ornamentation have been used in the design. No purchased, rented, or inherited items may be entered; the entry must be your own work. You may enter more than once, to a maximum of three entries per person.
We have scrapped the confusing skill level categories this year, since they were difficult to define and use, but we have also changed and spread out the prizes to give you more chances to win. The two themes will be judged together for one overall set of prizes:
- 1st Prize: a $300 gift voucher for the online store of your choice, plus a year's free subscription to Foundations,Your Wardrobe Unlock'd™ and History Unstitched™.
- 2nd Prize: a $100 gift voucher for the online store of your choice, plus a year's free subscription to Foundations,Your Wardrobe Unlock'd™ and History Unstitched™.
- 3rd Prize: a $50 gift voucher for the online store of your choice, plus a year's free subscription to Foundations,Your Wardrobe Unlock'd™ and History Unstitched™.
- Runners-up: three further winners will receive six months free subscription to Foundations,Your Wardrobe Unlock'd™ and History Unstitched™.
All winners will also get a special "Award Winner" icon to place on their website, blog or forum profile.
Who can enter?
You will need to be a Foundations member on the closing date in order to enter. You may enter as an individual or as a group.
Joint entries of up to three people are welcome, provided that you are all members on the closing date. The skill level of the group is defined as the skill level of the member who was most involved in construction, or the most experienced member if it really was an equal joint effort. You will need to decide on a spokesperson.
Prizes for joint entries will be awarded to the spokesperson to divide up as s/he sees fit. All members of the group will be able to use the "winner" icons, and any prize subscriptions will be split - four months each for a three-person entry, for example, or six months each for a two-person entry.
How to Enter
You will not need to send the garments themselves to us - our members are located all over the world and we'd be as heartbroken as you would be if your clothes got lost or damaged in the mail. In any case, we're not going to judge them: YOU are!
Photos
We're going to ask you to photograph the clothes you make; we'll use these photos and your dress diary or documentation as your entry. Your permission to use those things on the Wardrobe and Foundations sites is granted by entering them, but the copyright on the photos and text remains your own.
You can enter a maximum of ten photos. You'll need to host them yourself at a site like Photobucket or Flickr, or on your own webspace. Photo hosting sites are very easy to use; don't be intimidated if you're not used to them.
Dress diary (optional)
We recommend that you keep a "dress diary", perhaps on your online journal if you have one; we'd love to link to it. The great advantage of this is that you can include as many pictures as you like on your journal, over and above the ten picture limit for your main entry, and we'll link to it. Remember to use a tag on sites like Livejournal so that voters can access your complete dress diary at once without needing to sift through other entries in your journal!
If you're not familiar with the term, a "dress diary" is simply an journal (online in this case) that you keep during the making of an outfit that documents how you made it, what problems you came across and how you solved them, including any making-of pictures, and all your triumphs and tribulations during the project. They're great to look back on and they help us all to learn from each other's experiences.
When to enter
In order to enter we need to receive your entry email by 5pm GMT (that's 12pm EST) on Monday February 4th, 2013. The title of the email should be "FR Competition" and it should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The email will need to contain:
- Your name (ie. the name of the maker or makers, clearly indicating the spokesperson for joint entries)
- Your username
- Your email address (if different from the one you're writing from!)
- The title of your entry - give it a name!
- Brief description of your entry (max 500 words), including anything you'd particularly like us to know about it: inspiration, fabric, unique or historically accurate techniques or materials, any particular challenges you overcame, etc.
- Link to your photos (don't attach them to your email, just include a list of direct links to each photo)
- Link to your dress diary, if you've made one
- Please include the following legal text in your email, which officially gives us your permission to publish your entry on the site: I hereby grant Harman Hay Publications the irrevocable right to use the text and images that are attached to, or linked from, this email on any products, and in any digital or traditional media or content.
Your entry will be uploaded to the website, giving our members and the public the opportunity to see your work. The winners will then be decided by a vote. The Publisher, Editor, writers and every subscriber at the time of polling will be able to vote.
And Finally...
If you have questions, you can always This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or post them on the Wall of our Facebook page - especially useful for those annoying issues that only come up when you're halfway finished! We'll add to this article with the answers to your questions (if relevant to everyone) as well as replying to you personally.
Now go and get a needle and thread and have some fun!
Have a go!
Remember, you don't have to be a world class artist to take part! The point of the Competition is to get you trying things you wouldn't normally have a go at, and to stretch you a little way outside your comfort zone in a safe environment where we're all working together and supporting each other. Some of you will be able to share your experience and ideas; others will show us your journey along a huge learning curve. Don't ever underestimate yourself and overestimate everyone else! Have a go!
Its such a shame as I bought membership this year so I could enter the competition (there are enough free articles to get me started making corsets without competing) and now it seems that there is little point in entering.
The main reason I even considered planning on entering was the skill division, it made it fair for everyone no matter their skill level. Now it seems that only the most experienced are likely to be rewarded for their efforts. Noone will vote for a beginner's messy attempt over an expert's neat masterpiece, it just wouldn't happen. :(
Also it comes across as being more to do with cutting the prize fund rather than catering to member's wishes. Before there were winners in 3 tiers & 2 categories with 2 grand prize winners, Now there are 3 winners & 3 runners up.
And there being no differentiation between categories. So an entry showing both is more likely to win than one showing only one as it would be harder to compare & judge - which would you pick - one showing shape alone, or one showing ornamentation alone? Or one showing both? Its impossible to compare shape against ornamentation they are too disparate.
The previous skill levels were not in the slightest bit confusing, you were a beginner if you had little experience sewing, improver if you'd been sewing for a bit longer, had maybe mastered a few specific skills, and experienced if you'd got a lot of experience.
The current set up is just a major deterrent to anyone who is new to corsetry. I was looking forward to this, now dreading it!
Firstly, you may not know that the Grand Prize Winner of this year's competition at Your Wardrobe Unlock'd entered as a Beginner.
You also will not have seen the lengthy negotiations I have entered into with multiple entrants over the past two years, in which we try to shoehorn their unique backgrounds in sewing into one of three simplistic categories. Is a fumbling first time corsetmaker, who has twenty years' sewing experience, a Beginner? Is a person who has taken a couple of commissions for friends automatically "professional", and therefore Experienced? How many commissions before she *becomes* Experienced? Is a highly talented 18 year old costume student a Beginner when her work clearly leaves Improvers in her dust?
Contd....
And then a lady who entered as a Beginner won the whole shebang!!
You're right, it IS impossible to compare shape against ornamentation, which is why they have been named as Themes, since they are impossible to separate. I defy you to create a corset featuring ornamentation but no shape, and since your fabric choice is the first stage of ornament, vice versa also!
Whereas the Costume Prize at YWU was $500 and the Stays/Corset Prizewinners at FR won $200 each last year, this year the prize structure you see above is the same for both sites, making the total prize fund still $900.
However, this change in structure has caused the prize fund in the competition here at FR to INCREASE by $50, while that at YWU falls by $50 to compensate.
Furthermore, it is not only the overall winners who now win cash prizes.
Contd...
I think that previous entrants would agree that the most valuable part of the experience was not the opportunity to win a prize, but the compliments and well wishes, both from other users of the sites and from members of the public who visited their page and commented during the event. (Beginners tend to receive particular praise and encouragement.) The exposure and the praise and the boost to your ego serves to let you know that your efforts are admired and appreciated as an artist and spur you on to ever bigger and better things. This, and not a chunk of cash or a free subscription, is the point of the exercise, and thus I would encourage you to enter this year in order to enjoy this full experience for yourself.
Best wishes, Cathy Hay