Follow along as Jema takes her antique Charles Bayer corset, and the pattern she made from it in last month's instalment, and recreates it for herself.

Jema shows us the complete details on how one professional corsetmaker would make this one layer corset, step by step. Furthermore, she includes some techniques you may not have tried before, such as a lapped seam for one layer corsets that neatly encases all raw edges on both sides.

When I first sat down to make up this pattern I was a little daunted.

Not only did it seem too neat, too exquisitely “factory made” to try to reproduce as a one-off on my battered domestic sewing machine, but I had no idea how just one layer of modern fabric would stand up to the rigors of wear.

The original corset is made from one layer of very fine cotton – almost like poplin or shirting,but very densely woven and perhaps mercerised, as it has a subtle sheen and strength.

Whilst musing on what modern cotton to use, I discovered a load of scraps of silk taffeta that had been thrown into the bins at my studio block. They were a similar weight and weave – so I decided to make “a pretty one” in silk. I would NOT recommend silk as a fabric for this one layer corset if you intend to wear it – mine was just made for display and technique practice. For a more practical corset, try a top-quality, very fine-weave cotton shirting (coutil or broché is way too thick for the fancy seaming).

Please note that the photograph of it on me shows it without the side steel bones in place.
(There’s a postal strike and my supplies are in transit.....so I couldn’t quite finish the bias binding either!)

In the original corset, the bone casings were made from slightly heavier cotton cut into strips. I decided to follow that lead: I made my casings out of cotton sateen. I cut them on the cross (as per the original) and used a 20mm (¾") bias foot to make them up. You could use standard manufactured bone casing instead if you like.
First I had to adjust the pattern. Looking at it more closely, I was amazed to discover that the original was exactly two thirds of my bust, waist and hip measurements, smaller but exactly the same proportions as me (uncorseted as well, which was a little worrying). So it was but the work of a moment to pop the file into Adobe Photoshop and stretch the whole pattern horizontally by half as much again. I saved the file at the actual size I wanted it to print and took it to my printers, who put it onto an A1 sized (US: approx 23"x33", or ANSI D sized) sheet. This is only possible if every single measurement needs adjusting by the same percentage. Otherwise, I’m afraid you have to do it by hand the old fashioned way....
The next important thing was to study the seams. At a first glance they looked like a simple lap and fell (similar to the seam you get on the side seam of jeans) – however, on closer examination of the inside I could see the seams were actually wrapped around each other, interlocking completely. I suspect this may have been produced in the factory by means of a special foot or machine, so perfect are all the seams. I experimented a bit and finally came up with this method. I suggest having a practise on both straight and curved seams before tackling the corset.

Seam technique

Trim one of your seams down to 1 cm, leave the other at 2cm.	Iron over an allowance of 1 cm of each seam. One will crease on your dotted(chalked) line, the other will fold up to it.
Interlock the seams together – the dotted lines should now match up.	Pin through all layers
Sew 1mm away from the edge of the seam.	Turn the whole piece of fabric over and on the inside, sew the other side of the seam 1mm from the edge too.

The seam will now look identical on both the inside and outside. Every single seam is made in this way on the corset. If you look carefully at the photographs later on, as the garment is put together, you can see which seams were folded upwards and which downwards.

Seam technique 2

Excuse me butting in Jema, but here's an alternative method, gratuitously stolen from Past Patterns 106 and retold in your humble publisher's own words and photos. This is their version of how to make seams on a one-layer corset, leaving no raw edges. Try both ways and see which you prefer. (Click through to the big photos to lose the groovy psychedelic effect.)

1. My seam allowance is half an inch (from white basting to edge in photo.) Place pieces one lapping over the next, right sides both facing upwards, with the edge of one piece meeting the seamline on the next (shown by the white basting). Sew down the middle.	2. Trim the raw edges to half their width.	3. Fold twice so that the raw edges are concealed.
4. Sew down next to the folded edge. Then topstitch another line next to that to hold the other folded edge down (only visible on the back), thus holding both folds closed and holding both raw edges inside.	5. Remove the basting to get a fabulous neat seam that's the same front and back.

Now that you have perfected the seams, you can try out the corset! If you have adjusted the pattern, make a toile and check the fit before spending ages doing all these beautiful seams!

Making up the corset

Pin the pattern to your doubled fabric; pay attention to the grain lines. Cut out, leaving a good sized seam allowance.
Place dressmakers' carbon paper between the layers of fabric and trace around with a dressmakers wheel. Don’t forget to double the carbon paper over, with the chalk on the outside, so the pattern ends up making a mirror image on your fabric. Mark the waist etc in the seam allowances.
I used a very wide, stiff busk. The original busk is narrow but very stiff and has an extra bone each side that goes the full length of the front piece. My narrow busks were very flexible so I discarded them in favour of the wide one.
I also thought I could leave out the extra bones, but I shouldn’t have done. My corset pulled apart at the top centre front as a result. I added them in afterwards with a separate boning channel, but if you created an extra channel in the facing piece it would be neater.
Cut a facing, the width of your busk and a steel plus seam allowance. Inset the busk. If you don’t know how to insert a busk – there’s a tutorial on my blog.
It's also neater if you insert one end of the waist tape into the facing, before sewing round the busk. I didn’t, and had to unpick and re-sew a bit of that seam, as you’ll see.

Eyelets

I always put in my eyelets before finishing the complete garment. (If you mess up you only have to redo a panel, not the whole corset!) However, this means you have to unpick a section to insert your stay tape. It would perhaps be better to leave this eyeleting section till later, when the waist stay is in position; it’s up to you.

Putting it all together

Now you are ready for the seams! Remember to trim and interlock everything correctly, and do both sides of the corset at the same time so that you can check that your seams are all the right way around.

1- The first seam is the bust godet to the front busk piece – the busk piece sits over the godet.		1a - This is the inside of the busk/godet seam.
2 - The next seam is the front side piece, which goes over the godet and front seam.		3 - Then the hip godet goes under the front side piece.
The finished front section		4 - Now take the backs and attach the side backs. The side back lies on the top.
5 - Insert the back hip godet under the side back panel.		6 - Finally, the side panels attach over both the front and the back.

Waist Stay

The original stay is a fine cotton 1" wide twill tape. Modern cotton tapes are all too chunky, and the twill ones are too stiff, so I decided to use a polyester seam tape which is almost identical in size, weight and style to the original cotton one.

If you inserted your waist stay in the front busk facing, you can look away now, otherwise you will have to unpick a section, insert and resew (as I did). Carefully pin the tape across the waist of the corset and either unpick a section of the back facing and resew, holding the waist stay in place (if you’ve inserted the facing and eyelets), or do the facing and eyelet thing now, feeling smug.

Boning Channels

I used 6mm (¼") synthetic whalebone from Vena Cava for the double ones – it comes on a continuous strip that you cut to length - make sure you file the ends of each cut bone length to a round, top and bottom, to avoid tearing fabrics.

I used 13mm (½") steels for the side bones and 7mm (¼") steels for the bones each side of the eyelets and next to the busk.

1 - Pin the boning channels in place along the marked pattern lines.	1a - (When I tried the corset on, I decided it needed an extra bone between the second and third tapes to give more support to my bust.)
2 - Sew the channels down 1mm (1/32") from each edge. On the double channels sew straight down the centre of the channel to create two lanes on one tape.	3 - From the outside it’s looking like a corset!

Insert the boning and try on again just to check. It won’t look marvellous because the bones will cause the fabric to wrinkle unless they're held in place at each end with flossing, but you should be able to see if it needs a little dart or extra bones, for example.

When you’re happy, its time to do the finishing touches...

Finishing the Details

The original corset is bound top and bottom with gorgeous soft fine twill tape. Again, I could find nothing similar so I made my own bias binding with the 20mm (¾") binding maker.

1 - Attach the bias binding by machine, stitching right sides together.	2 - Trim and turn over the top of the corset, pinning in place.
3 - Slip stitch in place beautifully, along the stitch line, on the inside of the corset. Bind top and bottom edge, tucking the binding for a smart corner on the front bottom points.	4 - Pin and hand stitch the lace along the top edge. Layer different lace to get a lovely effect if you can’t find quite the right thing.
5 - Push the bones to the top edge, smoothing the fabric around them, and floss in place with a decorative stitch.

Things I’d do differently (And things I'd do again)

I should have made the pattern taller as well as wider. I thought it was the right height but it’s about an inch too short for my bust to waist measurement, as you can see in the photo. I suspect the original wearer was about 5’4” or 5’5” rather than my 5’6”.

I could have made the waist smaller too. (This is actually my normal shape – the corset isn’t actually corsetting me at all, so it is very comfortable! You try buying jeans to fit a natural hourglass shape though....)

I would have inserted the waist tape earlier on with the facings (as I mentioned earlier).

Overall, however, this is a fantastic shape and pattern – so light and comfortable. I’m going to adjust the pattern and make a black cotton one next!