21st century corsetieres must gather inspiration from the past, using the knowledge handed down by our predecessors, to create beautifully crafted pieces today. But it is also important that we learn to utilize the new resources available to us.
What better way to create a corset that stands out from the modern crowd than to give it a visually striking front opening?
The swing hook front closure is not only beautiful looking, but very sturdy. The first corset I tried it out on was a tightlaced corset, which has been worn hundreds of times now and is still going strong. But the most practical advantage to using a swing hook front closure is that I have found it much easier to fasten and unfasten than a standard busk closure.
In order to demonstrate my method I will be constructing a simple underbust corset, and I will be using four large swinghooks at the front. To make an overbust I used five large swinghooks, with slightly wider gaps between each. The amount and size you use is really down to how long your corset is, what size your swing hooks are, and how you want it to look when it is finished.
I used sturdy plastic bones, as I found it impossible to drill a neat and accurate hole through steels, though I am sure it would work just as well using a carbide drill piece and a lot more patience than I had. I have, however, had no problems with using plastic bones, even in corsets giving a reduction of six inches (15cm) or more, but if you really feel unsure you can always get the big "busk" bones available from most corsetry suppliers and slip one of those behind the plastic bone before you sew it in place. I did this for the first two I made, but in my opinion, it is strong enough without them.
What will you need?:
- 4 to 5 swing hooks
- Rivets and setter
- Drill (preferably a drill press)
- ½m (20") of extra wide reinforced boning (available at Vena Cava)
- A hammer
- Non-fabric scissors
- A surface to hammer rivets on
- A Sharpie or other permanent marker pen
- Some tape (preferably medical/ masking tape or similar, as it can be drawn on easily)
Sources for swing hooks
Vena Cava in the UK, has them available in chrome or brass finish.
In the US, look for suppliers of small box hard wear. UMEI carries them as does AZwoodman and HardwearElf . Be sure and shop around to get the best deal.
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The method I use to make a corset with this front fastening involves using a larger seam allowance of 1.5" – 2" (approx 4-5cm), as opposed to a facing, as I find it is much stronger and neater this way. It is easier to make up your corset including eyelets and boning first, as swing hooks are quite bulky and I have found that it is a real pain to sew your corset neatly with bulky bits of metal hanging off it. |
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Measure the finished length of your center front, minus ½-1" (13-25mm), as you would for a standard busk. I generally work in imperial measurements, but for this I recommend metric for accuracy. In my example piece the busk was 19cm long. |
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Next, take your boning and measure this length along it. Mark with a permanant marker, and then cut it using your non-fabric scissors. Use the first bone as a guide for the length of your second one, as you want them to be the same length. |
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Once they are both cut to the correct length, tape them together. (There is a rounded side and a flatter side on the boning I use. If yours is the same, tape them with the flatter sides together.) |
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Next, you need to figure out how far apart your hooks will need to be. The way I do it, to avoid making mistakes on the actual piece which will be irritating to rub off, is to do a mock up on a sheet of paper after I have done the maths bit. To figure out the distance between the hooks: divide the length of your busk by the number of hooks you are using, so in my example 19 (the length of the busk) divided by 4 (the number of hooks I am using). This leaves me with 4.75cm. To check this, I use the edge of the paper as a guide, and mark the top and bottom of my busk, making sure it is the correct length. Then I place one of the "stud" halves of my swing hooks where I want the top one to be, and mark the position of the top hole. Next, I remove the "stud" side, and measure down 4.75cm from my mark, and make another mark. I do this two more times, until I have four marks, with 4.75 between each of them. |
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To check accuracy, I place all four "stud" sides with the top hole over the marks I have made. They should be equally distanced. |
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As long as you are happy with this, you can move onto the next stage, which is to transfer these markings onto the busk. Measure the distance from the top of your paper mock-up down to the first mark, and then measure this distance down from the top of your busk and make a mark. |
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| Measure the distance you worked out down from this again, as you did on the paper to check accuracy, and you should end up with what you had on the paper, but on your plastic busk. |  |
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Next you need to mark the bottom holes. Just place the stud sides of the swinghooks with the top holes over your marks, and then make marks through the bottom holes. |
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| I use a different colour for the bottom holes, as it's useful when I'm figuring out which is the top and bottom of the busk. |  |
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I then draw a vertical line down the middle of the busk, which gives me the points to drill marked out neatly. I use large swing hooks. You may need to play with two busks laid out next to each other and your swing hooks placed over them to make sure you know for sure whether you need to drill closer to the edge to achieve a busk that closes but doesn't leave a huge gap down the center front. |
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The next stage is drilling the holes in your busk. To figure out the size of your drill bit, measure the diameter of one of the holes in your swing hook, in millimeters. Buy the drill bit closest in size to this. You should have twice as many marks to drill as there are swing hooks on your piece, and your marks should be the place where each horizontal line, marking the position of each hole, crosses the long vertical line which runs the length of the busk. |
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You are nearly done now, the next bit is the easy bit! Separate your two busks, and make sure you mark the top of each, as they will look nearly the same. Then, place one of your busks with the rounded side towards the lining, as shown here. |
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You can either mark the holes with a pencil, or just put the awl straight through them. I do it both ways, depending on the colour of both the fashion fabric and the coutil I am using, but if you do it the second way you will need to make the holes bigger using your awl once you have marked their position. |
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When affixing the swing hooks I do the stud side first, by force of habit, but it isn't important really. The stud side goes on the same side as it would on a regular busk. You need your rivets now. Figure out what size you need by measuring the depth of your boning and accounting for the bulk of the fabric for the stem length, and also the width of the hole it will be going through on the swing hook for the stem width. I use the ones with no cap on the male part, but I have used the double capped ones before with no problems. Push the "male" part of the rivet through your top hole in the bone, and the fabric. Then do the same with the next hole down. It should look like this: |
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| Once you have done this, pop one half of your swing hook over it, like so: |  |
| And then push the top halves of the rivets onto the protruding stems. Don't worry about the fact they are loose at this point, as we will be hammering them after the busk has been sewn into position. |  |
| Do this with the remaining swing hook halves for the rest of this side |  |
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Then sew the busk in place using your zipper foot. It is at this stage that you may want to slip a metal bone behind the plastic one if you are worried about the strength or rigidity of the piece. I found that the screw that holds my needle in place got in the way, so I now sew it with the other side of the foot so the hooks are not facing the machine, but it is pictured the inconvenient way: |
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| Do the same with the other side, making sure you get the top and bottom of the busk the right way around. |  |
| Next find a workbench, or a table you don't mind getting dents in, and place the bottom of your rivet setter on it (with the curved side facing upward.) |  |
| Place each rivet over the plate in turn, and then hammer in place (with the curved side of the rivet setter against the cap of the rivet.) |  |
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Check your rivets are all firmly hammered, redoing any that appear loose, and you are done! It really makes for a stunning front fastening, as I'm sure you will agree, and once you have done it a couple of times it takes barely any extra time to create a truly breathtaking piece. |
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Look in my most recent pictures folder for examples, I think its what youre thinking of.
Luthien