This month we feature Cristiane Tano, aka CrissyCatt, a corsetiere from Brazil who does unrivalled work in leather.

She shares the reasons why she created this series of stunning corsets, as well as how she did it. We've got the inside scoop on her future plans, and amazing pictures of her uniquely breathtaking series of hand-tooled filigree leather corsets.

Crissy, what inspired you to create this series of corsets?

I have been fascinated with corsets for a long time, and it only made sense to make my graduation project about them. But in order to meet the requirement of pointing and solving a problem in the fashion industry in my course curriculum, I decided to focus on adding value to a fashion product through design and craft.
And after a lot of research, I found images of leatherwork pieces and thought that would be the ideal media for what I intended to do.

Is there a large corset making community in Brazil?
It's a growing community, the interest over corsets has grown significantly in the past five years. There aren't many professionals yet, but there are a lot more than five years ago.
There is a lack of literature and information available in Portuguese, which makes it harder for a lot of people to educate themselves. Bustiers are often confused and mislabelled as corsets; if you walk into a shop and ask for a 'espartilho' (Portuguese for corset) you'll be shown a bustier, which is why most Brazilian corset makers adopted the English word as a way to differentiate their product from what's commonly found in shops.

Do you face challenges in getting supplies for corset making?
Yes, the supplies are very limited, not as many choices of width and strength of steels, although you can get it customized, but the minimums are way too high. On top of that, it's very hard to find retail shops that sell boning and busks so most of us get the supplies directly from the manufacturer, but there are minimums. So I end up importing most of my supplies, specially coutil.

How long have you been sewing?
I started sewing Barbie clothes when I was about seven years old, I think, but back then it was all hand-horrible-sewing. Around the age of thirteen I started playing with my mom's machine and haven't stopped sewing ever since. Before this, I've made two corsets, and a few bodices before that.

How many corsets have you made so far in this project?
Five corsets, an Edwardian style overbust, an underbust with gussets, a Victorian midbust with external casings, a ribbon style waist cincher and a Victorian bodice style with straps.

What's the biggest thing you've learned so far in making these corsets?
I've learned so many things I can't really pinpoint just one. This project turned out to be a huge professional and personal growth process. But working with quality materials really paid off, and trial and error, along with practice are one of the best ways to master a craft, taking short-cuts just doesn't work, at least for me.

Which one was the hardest corset to make?
The midbust (left). Figuring out the best way to make leather casings and dealing with all the bulk was a nightmare. There were many parts where I had to resort to hand sewing, as my machine couldn't handle the ups and downs and bulkiness from the casings, so much I had to call the repair man to fix the timing; later on I ended up learning to time my machine, which is quite handy as the repair man is not always available.

What layers do you use in your corsets?
It depends on the construction method I use, but basically, the corsets I make have a fashion layer, a coutil layer (for strength) and a lining. For this particular project the corsets consisted in a layer of leather, a satin layer (when there are cut-outs on the leather) and two layes of cotton coutil; and I did fuse the leather to an interfacing in one of the corsets and had good results too.

Are they only made of leather, or is there a fabric layer in there as well?
The weight of leather I used required a strength layer, without it, the corset would stretch out of shape.

What grade, weight and type of leather did you use?
I used vegetable tanned leather on the ornamented panels, which was hand tooled, dyed and finished and garment weight cowhide on the rest, both leathers were full grain.

What do you use to cut the leather and create the designs in it?
The ornaments were made using leather stamps and tools and the filigree parts were cut out with a surgeon's scalpel.

Do you use steels, spirals or a combination in your corsets?
I tend to use a combination of both but two of the corsets I made for this collection are white steels only. But it really depends on the type of body you're making the corset for and the silhouette you're aiming, I think.

Which one is your favorite?
The last one, the Victorian bodice styled corset (left). But it might be because it was the one that I had relatively less issues with making, although it was the one that consumed more time design wise, it started as one thing and turn out to be something completely different in the end.

Was there a corset that surprised you when it was finished?
It's always a bit of a surprise whenever I finish a corset, because they usually end up different from what I first conceived them to be like, I tend to change the design as I go along.

Now that you have graduated, what are your future plans?
I have come to the conclusion that corsets are really what I love making so I'm going to try to pursue a career in corset making and hopefully will succeed ;-)

Are you working on one now?
I'm working on a satin coutil Victorian overbust, it has been a while since I made a corset for me so I'm treating myself with one, as graduation present.

What's next on your list?
A nice sample with a different style of ornament and background colour. Suggestions are very welcome and appreciated ;)

Our thanks to Crissy for taking the time to talk to us. You can see more of Crissy's work at her Deviant Art Gallery.