I'm currently making a satin coutil corset. I've never worked with it before, so made sure I read up as much as I could about it.

I'm actually having trouble inserting the busk and with the fibers breaking on every seam, regardless of needle choice. Because of these broken fibers sticking up all over the place, it looks like I have furry seams now. (Sorry for the bad picture. I only have the mobile camera)

As for inserting the busk, no matter how slowly I insert the awl the fibers break instead of separating. It's quite frustrating.

I was speaking to Waisted Creations and she reminded me of these forums (can't believe I forgot!) And I don't know if it makes a difference that its not 100% cotton? I bought it from Aussie Corset Supplies, but they're no longer selling that particular coutil, so I can't even tell you what fibre content it is. They were selling it as "Solid satin Black English Coutil"

If anyone has any suggestions, that would be fantastic!! Or even where to buy better quality satin coutil from next time. Thank you!!

You might try dampening the fabric (use a scrap for testing, not the final product) and see if that helps with the awl breaking threads? Some things get weaker when wet, some things get stronger. It's worth a shot. You probably don't want to try to sew seams in wet fabric, so even if it works on the busk studs I don't have a whole lot of advice for the rest of the problem. I suppose there's the usual - are you using a really sharp, fine needle? Have you changed it recently?

You could also contact the supplier and see if this is the reason they discontinued sale - it might just be really crummy fabric.