In my previous article I discussed the creation of a Victorian corset based on an original 1884 patent. The result was a partial success – the finished corset looked good and was very comfortable, as advertised on the patent – but it didn’t give me my normal 27 inch waist. Still, as a comfy version (especially since it is adjustable with side lacing) it seemed suitable, both in aesthetics and in comfort, for a more generic market – especially for Steampunk. I must admit that even the original Victorian corset does look good with the Steampunk attire. Here I used it as a part of our newest Steampunk Amazones collection; it looked the part and it felt great for riding too!  More pictures can be found on my Facebook page.

A proper Steampunk or modern version still needed to be made, though as since we adapted the original pattern during the mock-up session last time, it was not too difficult to have a go at it. To raise the stakes a little, I decided to make it in leather.

Materials used

• soft buckskin type leather, which I had in stock, kept aside for this corset – about 2 sq. ft.,
• coutil for the strength layer (just over half a metre),
• cotton for lining (½m),
• satin binding,
• lacing,
• eyelets (x64),
• topstitching thread for flossing,
• boning – various types and sizes; two wide flat bones for the centre panel, flat steels (7mm) for the back lacing panel, spiral steels (7mm) for the side lacing panels and 5mm for the rest of the corset.

Pattern

This is what we ended up patching together at the mock up session previously:

I unpicked the seams, making sure the pieces we added to the original pattern were securely pinned to corresponding pieces.

The next step was to take each piece and trace it onto paper.

This takes a while, but at the end you have a rather neat-looking master pattern.

You can use this to adapt to different sizes – I traced a scaled-up version since I already had a model for the corset arranged.

Construction

1. Cut the pattern pieces in coutil first and mark the boning channels.

2. Place the coutil pieces onto the leather. This step turned out to be quite a puzzle, since the leather I had was supposed to be for corset my size but it was just a tad too small for this. So, a compromise was reached – the front panel was shortened by 2 inches and all the pieces then fitted.
Note: some leathers have a stretch to them, some don’t. This was a mid-thick piece with no discernible stretch. If your leather stretches, make sure you cut on the grain.

3. Trace the shape of the pieces onto the leather, then cut using a rotary cutter or sharp scissors.

4. For this corset I wanted to improvise and use a ‘cheat’ version of the lapped seams; by using leather, all I needed to do was to pink the edges that would be exposed (optional – rough edges will work too).

5. Pair the leather and coutil pieces, and trim the coutil on the side where leather is pinked. Repeat for all the pieces. 

6. Sew the channels. I used a leather needle, standard thread and top-stitching thread for sewing the channels, and the top-stitching thread was wound on the bobbin. To make sure leather glided smoothly I needed to reduce the foot press to minimum, then stitched as normal. Repeat for all the pieces.

7. Assembly time! I started at the front pieces, making sure they overlapped as intended and that the pinked edge was on top. I reversed the thread at this point; the topstitching thread is now on the needle, the standard one on the bobbin. Still using reduced press (a Teflon foot would have been a bonus here), but somehow I managed. Still, despite the reduced pressure and the leather with apparently no stretch (ha!), the curved pieces did stretch just a bit, resulting in tiny wrinkles. Teflon foot next time, no excuses! Panels were stitched together twice – just next to the pinked edge, with a parallel seam some 6mm (¼") below it – just like traditional lapped seams.

8. Prepare the side and back lacing panels. Here the pieces are placed right sides together, sewn, and the seam is hammered flat as far as possible. Then the piece is flipped onto its right side and hammered again. Once you are happy with the results, sew a channel (or channels in the case of the back panel). I also inserted a strip of coutil between the two layers, so that the eyelets sit stronger.

9. Sew the side lacing panel onto the front pieces. Then connect the two by adding the centre front piece.

10. Repeat the steps for the back pieces. Assemble the whole panel, but do not add the back lacing piece yet – it is necessary to bone the upper part first!

11. Once the boning is in place, add the back lacing panel.

12. Boning next. Since there were so many channels and four different varieties of boning were used, I found it easier not to use my usual bone holder - it was less of a fuss to cut the boning and partially insert it into its own channel. Once all the bones were cut, I took the panels with the boning sticking out finish the bones properly. Each bone was tipped and reinserted correctly.

13. Flossing next, using the same top-stitching thread that I used for the channels.

14. When it came to the lining, I cut out the back pieces in cotton, as for the corset. The front piece was almost flat anyway, so I simply cut that as one piece, instead of piecing together nine small sections… I also overlocked the sides and sewed the binding. The binding was later hand-stitched on the left side

15. Sew the lining into the back pieces. The sides - next to the lacing - can remain unattached but I stitched mine by hand, securing them to the coutil layer.

16. Mark the eyelet positions and pierce the holes. Insert the grommets – and the corset is basically ready!

17. Lacing – any good quality cotton laces will do. Here for the Steampunk, funky look I used shoelaces.

The corset was ready; here it is on Gemma.

   

Conclusions:

What I learned... loads about working with leather; how to handle it and cut it (rotary cutter wins over scissors big time). Teflon foot is now on the shopping list too...

I do like the shape of the corset and am mightily tempted to try the same design in sheer… mad, I know!

 

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