This is the first corset that I have ever made for a university module, so I thought I should enter as a beginner, but after talking to my tutor she encouraged me to enter in the Improver category as the corset turned out better then expected.

What inspired me for this corset were different types of fungi, moss and lichen. The aspects of nature that are not necessarily thought of as being beautiful, but after picking out the organic and un-uniformed shapes for silhouette ideas and getting inspiration for appliqués and patternations from the different and delicious tactile textures, I had an abundance of ideas running through my head.

As I wanted quite a soft look and pale colour pallette it took a while to find the right colour of fabric to depict this. I found this dusty, dirty light pink silk, I knew it was perfect as it reminded me of pink oyster mushrooms. Though the fabric was quite slippery, what with it being silk, I loved it too much to choose an easier fabric, so even though it was quite difficult to use for a first timer I persevered through it.

To get the ridges I used cording, shaping them into curved lines and encasing them to reflect the folds in mushrooms. I repeated this on each section before constructing the whole corset. I love this effect as it’s different from the usual way that cording is used and although it was time consuming, it's worth it in the end. I also created degradé pieces for the turn over shoulder section and to peek out at the top and hem lines by free machining different layers of lace and chiffon to add texture. I think this technique of creating texture will become a signature of mine, as I love the rough consistency it creates.

Getting the silhouette right was very important to me. I knew it was very ambitious of me to do this in the time scale given, I was even advised to make a simpler shape, what with the added slanted neckline and arm hole, but felt that I wanted to stretch my abilities further with this hourglass shape and asymmetric silhouette as I wanted to create a stand out piece that wasn’t necessarily conventional.

I started by adding more volume to each of the four panels below the waistline to create a more extreme shape and added a layer of strong fusing below the waist to help keep this volume. This corset consists of a silk outer layer, two calico layers, a layer of strong fusing and the last layer being the lining. The boning channels are all hidden so as to not interrupt the floating corded ridges on the outer layer; the binding is also hidden for this same reason. It contains 20 spiral bones, and 6 flat steels as I was advised that the more boning in the corset, the more sturdy the shape would be, but after the fact I discovered this wasn’t enough so I added hip pads onto the lining underneath the corset to help lift the flared shape.

Overall I am very happy with the outcome I produced and love the final images, as the whole team for the shoot reflected my themes and ideas perfectly. Now that I've had a taste of corsetry, there is no going back, so hopefully you’ll see more of me and my new collection in the future.

Dress Diary