We discussed pattern construction for cupped corsets in detail in Part 1 of this series. I will now guide you through the process of making a mock-up, fittings and adjustments for cupped corsets in this article.

While I make mock-ups for all of my corset designs, I think this step is especially important for designs with cups, as the fit around the bust is so important for a satisfying result. For this article I decided to make two test pieces – one with elastic shoulder-straps and one with higher round cups, to illustrate different approaches on preparing cups and to discuss various fitting issues.

 

 

My own my cup size is somewhere in the middle between 75C (34C) and 75D (34D), so I decided to try both options, to see which one works better in this case. I have used bigger 75D (34D) premoulded cups for the mock-up with the shoulder-straps and smaller ones in size 75C (34C) for the second mock-up.

Like for all of my mock-ups I'm using very heavy canvas as material (the quality also used for making tents), as it is strong enough to simulate coutil and also quite stiff, which helps to see possible pattern issues better, as it doesn't mould so well to the body like softer textiles would do.

This shows the already cut corset and cup pieces, with the paper pattern on top.

 

The red dotted lines show the straight grain. I always try to match the grain in the cups as accurately as possible, which means that all seamlines should have approximately the same grain line. For example the center seam is parallel to the grain here, with the side pieces following the angles of the center piece sides then.

Below is a suggestion for seam allowances in cm.

 

For all seamlines where I don't expect any changes, I used 1cm and for the seamlines where I possibly need to adjust a little, I used 1.5cm. This might be the case around the cups, in case they turn out a bit smaller than the premoulded forms after sewing and pressing and also along the top edge, in case the neckline needs to be adjusted later. Of course you can choose different seam allowances, if you prefer more extra fabric for alterations.

Once all pieces were cut and properly numbered (this is really important, as the cup pieces all look very similar and you don't want to mix them up) I started with assembling the cups. Firstly I joined pieces 1+2 and 3+4, trimmed the seam allowances to 0.5cm, pressed them open with help of a tailor's ham and topstitched them.

 

Then I also closed the center seamline following the same procedure.

 

I finally attached the top panel to the cups. For this step I had to clip the seam allowances along the curves before pressing and topstitching. Again a tailor's ham is your friend to achieve that smooth round shape when pressing the finished cups.

 

Afterwards I continued to assemble the rest of the corset.

 

To make it easier to insert the cups, I only stitched the pieces directly adjoining the cups together and left the side and back panels as separate pieces for now. That way I won't have to push all the fabric through the sewing machine, when inserting the cups. Again all seam allowances were trimmed to 0.5cm, pressed open and topstitched.

Before inserting the cups, I also stitched the bone casings to the inside of the mock-ups, using herringbone tape.

 

Along the top and bottom edge I cut the bone casings the same length as the seam allowances, but around the cup line I cut the tape exactly where the cups will be inserted. We don't want any additional bulk in this area, so folding the tape over is not an option and therefore it has to end directly at the seamline.

 

For boning I chose spiral steels for all seams except the center front and center back, as I do for all of my corsets. Since the center front has no busk closure, I decided on heavy duty flat steel - 15mm wide x 1.4mm thick in my case - for proper support of the cups. After joining the center front seam I attached a bone casing in adequate width (approximately 1.6cm in my case) to this seam as well, ending directly at the top edge again.

 

For now all canvas pieces are ready and we can go on to preparing the cups. The center back seam allowances I also folded over and topstitched to create the bone casings for the flat steel next to the grommets.

 

Now on to the task of taking our original ready-to-wear bra apart, to gain the required premoulded cups, underwires and wire casings. First of all, when taking the bra apart, please be careful not to damage the premoulded cups or the wire casing tape. We will need this later for the original corset again (unless you have bought a second bra for that purpose). For my mock-up with elastic shoulder straps I used a bra with straps and left them attached to the cups so I wouldn't have to attach new straps for the corset later.

 

For my mock-up with higher rounded cups I used a strapless bra instead.

 

The band of the bra we won't need any more, but I still keep them for other purposes or if I need back closures, elastics, etc. for other projects.

The photo below shows how I placed the premoulded cups into the canvas cups and secured it with pins. You have to make sure, that the seamlines of both cup components are matching as accurately as possible around the bottom edge, so both shapes fit into each other nicely. If the top edges don't match exactly, you can adjust it on the canvas, using the extra seam allowance.

 

Then I machine basted both components together around the bottom edge, where later the bra wire will be attached. You can also hand-baste the cups of course, if you prefer.

 

For the top edge of the cups I used a tracing wheel to mark the desired seamline on the outside of the canvas. You can also baste or just draw a line on the outside for that purpose. Then I folded the seam allowance over, secured it with pins and handstitched it to the premoulded cups. The shoulder straps I just left attached as they already were on the base bra.

 

Now our cups are ready for being inserted into the center front piece of the corset.

 

For the second mock-up with the higher rounded cups I followed the same procedure.

 

The next step is preparing the center front piece of the corset for inserting the cups. I clipped the seam allowances along the curves in very short intervals, folded it over and pressed it to the inside of the mock-up.

 

Then I carefully placed the so created curved edge along the basted line of the assembled cup, carefully matching the vertical seamline of the cup with the seamline of the corset. During this step please make sure that the center front and back corners of the cup are also matching the top edge of the corset and the cup is correctly positioned. I always secure the center front, back and the seamlines with pins first, before adjusting and securing the width in the remaining parts of the seam.

 

Next I join both pieces using a zipper foot for topstitching.

 

Once finished, the result should look something like this.

 

Now the seam allowances of the canvas cups can be trimmed to the same length as the premoulded cups, as we won't need it anymore. In the center front I then folded the seam allowance over and secured it there with a few handstitches.

 

Before attaching the wires, now it is also time to close the two remaining seams of the corset and add the bone casings to these seams.

 

All of these steps I repeated for the second mock-up with the round cups.

 

Time to finally attach the bra wires now. The bra wires are one of the most important part of a cupped corset, as they provide the main shape and support to the bust area. Unfortunately they are also the most tricky part to attach, but we will go through this procedure step by step again. First of all please check if the ends of the wire casing tape is properly secured. I topstitched it several times on both ends, to make sure the wires won't poke out after some time. Then I placed the wire casing including the underwire on top of the cup seam allowance and secured it with pins.

 

You will notice how this step changes the shape of the cups and now keeps them in place where they belong.

The seam directly along the curve of the cup I secured with handstiches, as I always had trouble with machine stitching this seam. Often the wire would shift or I would break the needle when stitching on the wire, so for me handstitching was the obvious solution.

 

For the bottom seam I did use the sewing machine though, as the wire was safely in place now and couldn't shift any more. I secured it with pins again and then topstitched from the outside of the corset.

 

As you can see below, I didn't stitch through the center front bone casing, as I wanted the strong front bone to go all the way to the top edge for ideal support.

 

Now the hardest part of the construction is done and we have nicely inserted cups.

 

For the remaining steps I proceeded as usual for mock-ups. Stitching along the top edge and trimming it to the final neckline, cutting and inserting the spiral steel on all side seams and the flat steel bones in the center back and center front, then securing the bottom edge with machine stitching and trimming it as well and finally adding grommets for lacing at the center back. If the space between your cups is very small, you can also grind the end of your center front bone into a pointed shape, so it fits easier into the bone casing. You can see an example of a pointed front bone in the below picture, next to the two normal ones I prepared for my own mock-ups. I didn't seal the ends of the flat steel bones yet, as I probably have to shorten them for the original corsets later, but that's ok for mock-ups.

 

The mock-up with the strapless round cups is ready for fitting now. For the second mock-up we only have to attach the elastic straps in the back of the corset, then it is finished as well. I used safety pins for this purpose, as I wasn't sure about the ideal position for the straps in the back and wanted to be able to adjust it quickly during fittings.

 

Fitting and Adjustments

I started the fitting with the mock-up with shoulder straps. In general I was pleased with the position and shape of the cups, but noticed immediately, that the cups were clearly too loose.

  

 

The shoulder straps still helped to keep the cups in place, but they didn't fit as closely as I had hoped. As you can see in the pictures, the strong bra wires also pushed the extra width towards the sides of the corset, so it was unexpectedly loose under the arms, even if I completely closed the lacing in the back with slight overlapping on the top edge.

 

My conclusion was that smaller premoulded cups would be the better option. That showed clearly in comparison with the second mock-up, which I made with smaller premoulded cups, as you will see a little later.

I still wanted to experiment with adjustments apart from exchanging the cups though and therefore decided to make the side and back of the corset smaller, to take the excess width away and to pull the cups closer towards the chest. In the pictures below, you can see how I pinned the excess width away with safety pins. I took out the surprising amount of 3.5cm on each side to achieve a snug fit on the side and back of the corset. On the flat pattern the alterations looked something like this.

 

Now the cups in the front also fitted nicely and provided good support without gaping away from the bust any more.

 

These adjustments clearly show, that too big cups also can be fixed with making the side and back panels of the corset pattern considerably smaller. Once you are satisfied with the general fit and support, you can check as well, if the cups are in the right height or if you prefer more or less push-up effect.

 

Also the top edge of the cups could be adjusted now, in case you prefer it higher or lower.

 

The altered side seam I made slightly higher for a little more support and to even out the adjusted seams.

 

Finally, I decided to take a small amount of width away from each side of the cups, to make them even more close-fitting than before. After that I was quite pleased with the fit and went on to mock-up number 2 - the one without shoulder straps and with cups one size smaller than used for the first mock-up.

 

The second mock-up fitted very nicely in the front, side and back from the beginning, which confirmed my assumption that smaller premoulded cups would work better for this project.

 

I'm not sure, if the same applies to very large bust sizes, but for small to medium sizes I would recommend the smaller cup size, in case you are dithering between two size options.
So far D cups was the biggest I have worked with. I would be very interested to hear your experience in case any of you have already worked with bigger cup sizes for cupped corsets and if there are different fitting issues.

The only tiny alteration I made for the second mock-up was taking away that little extra width from the side of the cups again, as I wanted them to fit a little closer around the top edge. For bigger cup sizes it might be better to leave that extra width though. Otherwise the bust could look like spilling out, which I personally don't find very flattering. Just try what works best for you.

 

Now my mock-ups turned out rather too big than too small, but in my experience all named adjustments work the other way round as well. If the back of the corset is too small and causes that unflattering rolls we all try to avoid, making the pattern wider in the side and back seams helps to correct that problem. Again, choosing one cup size bigger could be the better solution, though, in case the problem is caused by a too small front part of the corset. And - as always - the top edge of the cup can be altered to any desired shape; shorter, higher, pointed... whatever you like.

 

I hope this article could answer some of the many questions around the construction of well fitting corsets with cups for you. In the third part of this series I will guide you through the construction of a cupped corset, based on the patterns developed in this article and I will also discuss different ways of finishing and decorating the cups and adding a suitable lining and modesty panel to your cupped corset.

 

 

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