When did you start sewing?

I started in my early teens. My mother showed me how to sew and my father taught me woodwork.  I always say, “I can make a wooden wardrobe and the clothes to go in it!"

My early sewing consisted of doing repairs and modifications to existing clothing, then making garments for friends and family from commercially bought patterns. As time went on I taught myself how to pattern draft/cut. So now I can work from a drawing to the finished garment. The feeling of turning a flat two-dimensional drawing / pattern / length of fabric into a three dimensional garment that delights the wearer is very satisfying.

I consider the human body to be the most beautiful, complex three dimensional entity on the planet, and to make garments that fit it and are aesthetically pleasing is a challenge that I love taking on. My sewing has always been a very enjoyable hobby, but I would like to turn it into a full time career with my own line of designer clothing (one day).

When and why did you get started in corsetry?

In the early 1990’s I was going to see a stage production of the Rocky Horror Show and I needed an outfit to wear, so I made a corset for myself. 

In researching how to make a corset, I became fascinated with the history and technical side of corsetry, plus other forms of shapewear: all-in-ones, shaping slips, control pants, basques and bras.

When designing and making shapewear or intimate apparel, you are dealing in millimetre measurements and things like calculations for negative ease when using stretch Lycra, powernet and elastic trims. I now specialize in intimate apparel and corsets, although I still turn up the occasional pair of trousers or pants. 

Do you have any formal training in fashion/tailoring?

Family, friends and work colleagues were always telling me that I should set up my own garment business, but I felt that I was lacking technical knowledge in some areas. So I applied to De Montfort University in Leicester and was taken on as a BA Contour Fashion student (three year course). I spent two years (wasted time and money) at De Montfort University and the only really useful things I learnt were how to pattern draft and grade bras from Mr David Morris, Principal lecturer and how to use industrial sewing machines from the highly skilled sewing room technician, Diljit Kaur.

In my opinion, the course was so badly run and organised, that I ended up putting four formal complaints about the course to the university. I left the course feeling disenchanted with the idea of working in the intimate apparel industry. It was as Cathy put it in "The Corsetmaking Revolution”:

You can shell out big bucks to go on college courses – and still spend most of your time being groomed to become a little minnow in a big corporate fashion industry, where the sewing itself is considered to be a pesky manual labour, fit only to be farmed out to Third World factories.

What skill do you feel is most invaluable for corset making?

You must be ACCURATE with your work. I cannot stress this enough. From drafting the initial blocks, through turning the blocks into working patterns, to marking and cutting out the fabric and finally sewing all the parts together is four separate processes for errors to creep in and for the corset to turn into a disaster in shape and fit. Think about it: a few millimetres' error, plus or minus, on each of the seam lines on a ten-panel corset (that’s 20 seam lines) and the fit and shape error soon multiplies up.

I have 5mm seam allowances on my patterns so when I sew the corset panels together I can iron the seams open/flat 10mm wide and then cover them with 12mm wide bone casing.

One bit of advice I always give to someone who is starting out making garments is to get a cutting out table that's as large as you can get into the room you are using as your sewing room. The table must have straight, square edges so that you can accurately align the selvedge of the fabric to the table and then accurately align the pattern from the edge using a T square and/or set square.  If you are stuck for space and only want to make corsets, go to your local DIY store or wood merchants and get an 8 x 2 foot by ¾ inch thick sheet of chip board or plywood and place it on top of your ironing board when you are drafting patterns, marking or cutting out fabric. When not in use, this tabletop can be leant up against a wall, out of the way.

As I now do ninety-nine percent of my block and pattern drafting on a computer (I use Corel Draw x3) I can generate really accurate patterns for garments and print them out on an A3 printer.  I use the “Tiling” option in Corel Draws print menu and glue the tiled pattern sheets of A3 paper together using the printed alignment marks.

What layers do you use in your corsets?

The number and type of layers I use depends on areas of the corset:  For the eyelet / lacing centre back panels I will use four layers, the outer fashion fabric layer, two cotton interlining layers, and a smooth lining layer.

For the busk fastening centre front panels: - the outer fashion fabric layer, one interlining layer to help cover the rivets of the eyelet side of the busk fastening and then the lining layer. I will also sew in a “pinch guard” inside the corset underneath the fastening. The rest of the plain corset panels are two layers, fashion fabric outer and lining fabric. If I am doing cording for a corset I will use three layers: - outer fashion fabric stitched to an interlining fabric for the cording and then sew on a backing / lining fabric.

Do you use steels, spirals or a combination in your corsets?

I mainly use 5.5mm wide steel, cut from a continuous length to the sizes needed for the corset I am working on. I also use 7mm wide steel when heavier boning is called for.

For light boning, say in areas such as the eyelet platforms and underwires, I use high carbon spring steel wire known as “Piano Wire” (not to be confused with the strings of the musical instrument). Piano wire is obtainable from model shops (selling model aircraft, model cars and boats). It comes in a variety of thicknesses under the designation SWG (Standard Wire Gauge), 6swg being the thickest and 22swg being the thinnest. I usually use 16swg /18swg for light boning and 12swg/10swg for underwires.

What are you working on now?

Different ways to fasten a corset at the front. The design pictured for one of the fastening is not my own; I sometimes trawl through old corset patents for any interesting ideas and I came across a closure design patented by M.T. Sheardown & M. DE Palkowska in 1900, USA patent No 651,955.

In the prototype I have made, I have used a thick steel bone ether side of the front opening and skirt/trouser/pants waistband hooks & bars for the crisscross fastening. The corset has worked out well, although it is “risky” to wear with nothing-on underneath as a good deal of the bust is on display through the crisscross front! But it could be fun for “bedroom wear”. 

What's the most ambitious project you've tackled yet? Craziest materials, shape, etc.

A pure fantasy outfit in leather entitled “Armour For a Celtic Queen”. I was inspired to make the corset and accessories after learning the history of Boudicca, Queen of The Iceni Celts.

For those who do not know, Boudicca, known in Roman as Boadicea, was born into Celtic aristocracy around 30 A.D. Many believe that her name, Boudicca, was not her name at all, but that she may have been called Boudiga -- the Celtic goddess of Victory.  Between AD 61 and AD 63 Boadicea led her Iceni people in a bloody war against the Romans.  Prasutagus, Boadicea's husband and King of the Iceni, died. A dispute followed, during which Boadicea was publicly stripped and beaten by the Roman soldiers, and her two daughters raped. The Iceni were insulted and rose in revolt, led by their queen, Boadicea. So successful was the uprising that the Romans were almost defeated in England.

The corset is made from leather cut from a coat bought in a charity/thrift shop for £3. Each panel has a design etched on to the surface of the leather using a laser engraver/cutter. The Bag  and sword scabbard were also laser etched. I made the sword from wood; it has an amethyst pommel stone to match the ribbons on the corset.