Sewing Homemade Corsets
Accentuate your waistline and lengthen your torso by making and wearing corsets. This fashion item requires dressmaker bones to add firmness to flatten the tummy and cinch the waist. In the 19th century, boning and busks, which are flat pieces of whalebone, wood or ivory, were commonly used together. Busks were also inserted in Elizabethan and Tudor corset styles. Today, most sewing enthusiasts use flexible boning combined with novelty ribbons, adding a decorative finish.
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Fabric Shell and Lining
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Although you can use most novelty fabrics to make corsets, tightly woven fabrics with high cotton content ensure the fabric can withstand penetration from boning as well as corset stays. Stays are flexible coils inserted in areas requiring light support. Tightly woven textiles, such as coutil, which is a herringbone twill textile, ensure the fabric does not stretch over time. Stretching causes the corset to lose its original shape and sag along the waistline and torso. The finishing process for coutil creates either a soft or stiff feel. Unfinished coutil has a soft hand and absorbs fabric dye evenly. Heavily starched coutil produces a stiff feel and generally dyes unevenly.
Boning
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Although wearers can experience discomfort with boned garments, the added flexibility of the modern materials has significantly changed this. Plastic and flexible metal boning with soft tips ensures the points do not poke or pierce the skin. Boning is generally inserted into tunnel-like openings made between the fabric shell and inner lining. The vertical tunnels are set at specific points of the corset, such as at the sides, below the bust line and along the back. They prevent the corset from sliding, collapsing or shifting while the body moves. Measure the width and length of the tunnels to purchase the appropriate boning width and length.
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Corset Closures
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Include the exact location for the closure position when drawing the corset pattern. Although most corsets have interlaced ribbons or cords at the front or back, you can place them at the sides of the garment. Use temporary corset fitting aids, which are boned strip inserts you can hand-baste into position, allowing you to try on the corset and make any necessary fitting adjustments prior to punching the eyelet or grommet positions on the material.
Decorative Trims
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Complementary flat braid, lace and ribbons can be used as decorative trims to finish the corset. Add tips to the trim to prevent fraying or unraveling from interlacing through the eyelets or grommets. Calculate the necessary ribbon yardage by counting the number of eyelets or grommets on one side of the corset opening. Divide the amount by two, which will give the approximate yardage. For example, if you have 14 grommets on one side, divide by two. Your corset needs a minimum of 7 yards of ribbon.
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References
Resources
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